How to Improve Haskell Weekend

For weeks, Monmouth Park has been touting the "Pharoah Phan Phest" in conjuction with American Pharoah's appearance in the Haskell Invitational next Sunday. On the face, it's a terrific idea--after all, there's no better way to promote the arrival of the Triple Crown winner than with a major racing festival.

When one looks at Friday's card, with a whopping 86 horses, one wonders if this whole thing will wind up a tad underwhelming. And it shouldn't be.

For starters...

• One idea I had at the start of the season was to have purse bonuses. One, implemented by NYRA in the past, was to increase the purse by 10% should eight or more betting interests leave the paddock. The other, used by Del Mar, gives any horse shipping in a bonus if they win. Especially in the face of Laurel siphoning off horses from Monmouth, why not put those bonuses in place for Haskell weekend? It would make the racing a lot more appealing.
• While I'm at it, the Thursday before the Belmont, NYRA ran only eight races. Those eight races, however, had full fields and quality racing. It may not hurt Monmouth to only run nine races on Haskell Friday, then have ten/eleven races on Saturday. Not only would it give a quality-not-quantity approach to the weekend, it would help increase fields for Sunday, along with the rest of the season.

As for Friday's racing:

• With the "Joes v. Jocks" mini-golf contest taking place after the races, and going until nightfall, it would be cool to move the races back to a twilight post (around 4:00 PM). As I've alluded to before, twilight racing would increase the Friday crowd. You'd get more people for the Pharoah button, magazine giveaway, and Lady's Secret Happy Hour. If the ninth race went off at around 7:30 PM, that would be a nice segue into the Joes v. Jocks contest.
  As to the people who signed up for the Joes v. Jocks contest, give them free admission, free programs, plus some betting vouchers. It would serve as a nice thank-you for signing up, and improve their day at the races.

With regards to Saturday:

• If Saturday is going to be made into "Ladies Day", move some big filly and mare races to that day. The Molly Pitcher, once a Haskell day co-feature now relegated to an obscure Friday spot, would serve nicely as a cornerstone of this day. Even better, move the Monmouth Oaks to this day, and the Matchmaker. Those races, plus the Regret Stakes, would create a strong four-pack of stakes for filly and mare horses. It also makes for not just one, but two high-quality days of racing that weekend. 
• While the number of events that Churchill and Pimlico have for their "Ladies Day" pre Derby and Preakness would be too numerous to list here, it wouldn't hurt to have a few of those events on Haskell Saturday as well.

As to how to promote the race:

• Make sure people know that the website exists. And improve it, too. Give detailed bios of not just American Pharoah, but all of his challengers. Post videos of past Haskells, along with the charts. Update the information on each of those past races (for example, the 2000 Haskell is no longer the highest handle day in NJ racing history, as one could've guessed). Update the blog more often, with American Pharoah news, plus news about field developments. 
• Get billboards down the shore to show American Pharoah's likeness. I've already seen one billboard for Monmouth Park (near the track, approaching Asbury Park). Re-purpose it to talk about American Pharoah and the Haskell. Buy a few more around the Shore to do the same thing.
• Get some planes to fly along the beach talking about American Pharoah, along with the URL to the Haskell website. Admittedly, I have not been to the beach since American Pharoah was announced as going to the Haskell, so they may be doing this already. If they are, good for them!
• Vice President Bill Knauf was on Channel 10/55 news Saturday night to discuss the Haskell. That's a good first step. Start a blitz around New York/New Jersey media to promote this race. The more people that know about it, the better.

These are just a few of the ways the Haskell can be better promoted. Of course, Monmouth Park has taken steps to make it a bigger event than normal. I, for example, am not "shore" if I would have had the idea to let the public in to watch American Pharoah work out. But there's many other things that can be done. It can make the Haskell a terrific weekend, not just this year, but every year. And that's for "shore".

NOTE: while I use American Pharoah's name a lot in these ideas, they can be applied to whoever the Haskell headliner is in any given year.