Monticello celebrates 50th

On June 27, 1958 a gray pacer named King Majesty, driven by Bart Wagner, won the first race to ever run at Monticello Raceway. Now Monticello Raceway begins its celebration of 50 years of racing.

Monticello Raceway will kick off its anniversary celebration with the Nevele Pride Stakes on Monday, June 25. The race is the first of The Magnificent 7 races and will be raced for an estimated purse of $450,000. From June through September Monticello Raceway will be offering an estimated $4.5 million in purse money in 22 stakes races that will be raced in conjunction with the regular racing schedules.

Monticello Gaming & Raceway will salute the ponies by giving away a Ford Mustang. The winner of a brand new 2007 Ford Mustang GT–provided by M & M Auto Group of Liberty–will be drawn at midnight on June 30. Players Club members will have the opportunity to enter the drawing for the car (or $20,000) by playing any Bally’s or SDG Gaming Machine during the month of June. Participants must be present to win.

To further celebrate Monticello Raceway’s 50th season of racing, Monticello Gaming & Raceway will also be hosting its 2nd Annual Car Show from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. on June 30. Many classic and antique cars will be on display with prize money totaling $1,000 for the participants. Car show attendees will receive 10 percent off a ticket purchase for the Beatlemania Now show later that night.

Beatlemania Now is a Beatles tribute show that will take place in the Hype Room at Monticello Gaming & Raceway on June 30 at 7:30 p.m. Beatlemania Now will perform such hits as "Strawberry Fields Forever," "Penny Lane," "I am the Walrus," and "All You Need is Love." The show will take fans through every phase of The Beatles from their beginnings in 1961 to the end in 1970. Tickets to the show are $15 per person and can be purchased at the Monticello Gaming & Raceway Gift Shop.

Monticello Raceway: A Brief History

On July 3, 1957 the New York State Harness Racing Commission granted a license to the Sullivan County Harness Racings Association. In June of 1958, less than a year after the license was granted, the 245-acre site had been developed and was opened as Monticello Raceway.

“Back when the track first opened harness racing was right up there with thoroughbred racing and boxing,” said John Manzi, a former driver and the current publicity director for Monticello Raceway. “There was a lot of anticipation surrounding the opening of the track, similar to the excitement of a future casino here in Sullivan County.”

The opening season of harness racing at Monticello Raceway featured 74 race dates on its lightning fast half-mile track. The following season would post 83 race dates in front of an average crowd of 5,279 and bring in more than $19 million in wagers, an average of $228,916 per night.

In 1974 betting would reach an all-time high of $435,414 per night. In 1978 Monticello Raceway celebrated its 20th anniversary with a 2,500-pound cake shaped in the form of Silk Stockings, the winner of the inaugural Monticello-OTB Classic, then the richest purse in horse racing of any kind and served to the 4,000 fans who attended.

In 1970 the once passive racing industry evolved into an entertainment giant. Racegoers were not just entertained by the action on the track but by other forms of leisure within the confines of Monticello Raceway. One of the raceways biggest promotions, Rock-n-Racing, combined the biggest names in show business with the racing programs, and Boxing N Racing brought the biggest prize fights to be shared with the racing fans.

Some of the biggest names entertaining at the Mighty M were Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Ike and Tina Turner, Natalie Cole and Bobby Vinton. The boxing cards included the closed circuit bouts between Muhammed Ali vs. Joe Frazier and Sugar Ray Leonard vs. Roberto Duran, and other top fights during the 1970s and early 1980s. In conjunction with the first Leonard vs. Duran bout this one-day event produced the track’s biggest attendance of 17,495 on June 20, 1980.

 “When the track was built most of our business was based on people coming in,” said Cliff Ehrlich, senior vice president for Monticello Gaming & Raceway. “With the introduction of off-track betting, and simulcasting, our track has witnessed a lot of change.”

With the advent of OTB and the rising popularity of simulcasting, Monticello Raceway began to see a decline in attendance toward the latter part of the 80s and into the 21st century. Simulcasting changed the face of racing and allowed bettors to place wages from off-site locations including OTB facilities around the country.

In June 2004 Monticello Raceway received a jolt of energy with the addition of video gaming machines at what is now Monticello Gaming & Raceway. The raceway is now witnessing a rebirth as patrons come not only for the video gaming machines but for the harness racing as well.

Attendance and betting have been on the rise since June 2004. Prior to the arrival of the video gaming machines, Monticello Raceway posted $5,604,700 in purses during to 2004 racing season. In 2005 purses more than doubled to a total of $11,960,600 and those numbers increased to $14,716,800 during the 2006 racing season. (Monticello)

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