Attendance and betting surge on opening day at Monmouth Park

Opening day a big hit at Monmouth Park

OCEANPORT, N.J. — Attendance and betting soared Saturday for opening day at Monmouth Park.

The track is running a 50-day meet offering a record $50 million in purses this summer through Labor Day. The season got off to a fast start as 17,903 turned out for the opener, a 74 percent increase over 2009. That figure included New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The total handle was $9,357,444, more than doubling the $4,279,438 wagered on last year’s opener.

“We had high expectations, and we exceeded them,” said Dennis R. Robinson, president and CEO of the New Jersey Sports & Exposition Authority. “If today’s numbers are indicative of what’s to come, then we can stamp this a rousing success.”

In the first stakes race of the season, Congressional Page ran down the front-runners nearing the wire to win the $100,000 Decathlon Stakes. Carlos Marquez Jr., who later wound in a hospital, was aboard for trainer Michael Trombetta as Congressional Page beat Mr. Fantasy by three quarters of a length. He ran the six furlongs in 1:09.55, paying $6.20 to win.

In the day’s second feature, Get Stormy led the entire 1 1-16 miles to win the $100,000 Elkwood Stakes on the turf by 3½ lengths. Eddie Castro rode for Tom Bush as Get Stormy paid $8 to win. The time was 1:40.04

Castro picked up the winning mount after Garrett Gomez was involved in a spill in the seventh race.

Both Gomez and Marquez, hurt when his mount dumped him in the eighth-race post parade, were X-rayed and released from Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune.