by Tom De Martini

Friday’s opening of the 99-day Monmouth Park meet was accompanied by windswept rains reminiscent of last year’s two-day Breeders’ Cup World Championships that pounded the Oceanport, New Jersey track.

Monmouth kicked off its spring-summer meet on a Friday instead of the traditional Saturday due to a mandated 21-day increase in racing by the state's racing commission.

As a result, opening day at the Jersey shore drew an announced crowd of 3,463 that wagered a total of $430,812. Last year's opener drew 13,066 patrons who wagered $1,010,722 on-track.

Wagering on the track's exported simulcast signal was strong as Friday’s off-track handle weighed in at $3,278,848 for the ten-race card.

The poor weather and a sloppy, sealed track prompted 20 program scratches dwindling 92 original entries down to 72. No turf races were carded this weekend.

Senior Vice President Dennis Dowd has stated that racing Fridays in May is not an optimal plan but is necessary in order to fit the mandated 141 live Thoroughbred racing dates needed to operate off-track wagering sites and account wagering into to a six-month timeframe.

“We can only worry about what we can control,” Dowd said of the dates situation and Friday's less than optimal weather conditions.

Racing Secretary Michael Dempsey said track conditions were tolerable despite rains that totaled between two and three inches.

Live racing continues Saturday and Sunday with ten-race cards. Post time is 12:50 p.m. EDT.

Tom De Martini is a New Jersey-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent