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Freehold Raceway will hold its final live races and simulcast operations on Saturday, Dec. 28, the half-mile track said in a news release. Harness racing has been held since the 1830s at the Park Avenue facility in the borough.
Employees and affected stakeholders were notified of the closing on Thursday, Sept. 19.
"This was an extremely difficult decision, especially given the historical importance of Freehold Raceway to the local community and the New Jersey horse racing industry," said general manager Howard Bruno. "Unfortunately, the operations of the racetrack cannot continue under existing conditions, and we do not see a plausible way forward. We are incredibly thankful for our dedicated employees, horsemen, and fan base for their support and patronage for so many years."
The remainder of the raceway's schedule will be finished and daily simulcasts will continue until the track closes. Workers will receive severance pay, along with compensation under the state's Worker Adjustment and Retraining (WARN) Act, and collective bargaining agreements.
The Monmouth County Agriculture Society was formed in December 1853 to hold an annual fair with harness racing, according to the raceway's website. The society bought a 10-acre plot of land for "a sum of $50 per year" that became the track's home.
Freehold Raceway went through several ownership changes as it grew in the early to mid-20th century. A fire caused by an electrical short in an odds board destroyed the track's grandstand and dining room on Friday, May 4, 1984.
Pennwood Racing purchased Freehold Raceway for $46 million on Friday, Jan. 29, 1999. The group is a partnership between Penn Entertainment and Greenwood Racing.
Freehold will be the third horse racetrack to shut down in New Jersey in at least 15 years. Garden State Park in Cherry Hill closed in 2011 and Atlantic City Race Course in Mays Landing ceased operations in January 2015.
Freehold Raceway officials are working with the New Jersey Racing Commission and other officials "on all necessary items" related to the closing.
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