Pharoah generating excitement at Monmouth

— -- When owner Ahmed Zayat first announced that American Pharoah's initial start after capturing the Triple Crown would come in the William Hill Haskell Invitational at Monmouth Park, he mentioned a desire to have rock superstar Bruce Springsteen be a part of Sunday's festivities at the New Jersey shore.

Springsteen, the Jersey-born-and-bred music icon, is already associated with the Haskell, as his epic hit "Born To Run" is played when the horses take the track for the race.

Barring the unannounced guest appearance Springsteen has been known to make, the legendary rock star will not be on hand for the Haskell -- which isn't surprising. The days of "The Boss" being relegated to an opening act are long gone.

"I happen to be a day-one, Jersey Shore fan of Bruce, and it's my goal to get him here one day," said Monmouth Park president Bob Kulina. "So, I can't believe I am saying this, but it's fine that he won't be here, because Haskell day will belong to one horse. More people would be here to see American Pharoah than him.

"It's amazing, but I mean, how often can you say Bruce Springsteen would not be the star attraction?"

In the nearly 70 years Monmouth has been open, it would indeed be the first time the track has been graced with racing royalty along the lines of American Pharoah. Monmouth was the host site for the 2007 Breeders' Cup -- albeit the event took place during a two-day monsoon -- with horses such as Curlin and Street Sense in action. Rachel Alexandra, Point Given, Lady's Secret, Personal Ensign, Spectacular Bid, Ruffian, Forego, Riva Ridge and Buckpasser are just some of the champions and Horses of the Year that have thrilled Jersey racing fans over the years.

But never before has Monmouth been the stage for a Triple Crown winner, and never before has it experienced such a grandiose sense of anticipation over the arrival of a single horse.

"It's absolutely bigger than the Breeders' Cup," said John Forbes, head of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horseman's Association, which leases the track from the State of New Jersey and operates the facility through Darby Development, LLC. "I've had more than 25 people calling me for tickets in the last two weeks. I have relatives from Florida and Massachusetts who want to come up for the race, and they never called about the Breeders' Cup. I was standing on line in a coffee shop the other day and people were talking about American Pharoah. We've never had anything like this before. The excitement level is wall-to-wall."

The current attendance record for Monmouth stands at the standing-room-only crowd of 53,638 that jammed the facility to watch Funny Cide race -- and lose -- in the 2003 Haskell. Track officials are expecting at least 50,000 fans for the Haskell, and they said if the weather cooperates, there's no telling how many people might pass through the track's turnstiles on Sunday to see Zayat Stables' charismatic champion.

"We expect to have the biggest crowd in the history of New Jersey racing," Kulina said, "but we can't even get our hands around how many people will come. We've been wrestling with that every day."

John Heims, Monmouth's director of media relations, said having the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years on hand has generated more than 200 media requests for credentials for the Haskell, a figure more than double the amount for a typical edition of the mile-and-an-eighth stakes.

"You can't compare this to any other Haskell. It's more like a Breeders' Cup with the international interest," Heims said. "I've had credential requests from Australia, New Zealand, Japan, South America, and we're going to need an auxiliary media area for the first time."

While the Haskell might be the focal point, providing further evidence of the Pharoah-mania gripping Monmouth and the Jersey Shore will be the events leading up to the race. Beginning with American Pharoah's expected arrival at the track on Wednesday, his presence will change the day-to-day activities at the track quite dramatically. Kulina said Monmouth will allow fans to sit in the clubhouse and watch the Bob Baffert-trained colt gallop around the track on Thursday and Friday. On Friday, when the Triple Crown champion schools in the Monmouth paddock before the first race, Kulina said he would not be surprised to see 7,500 to 10,000 fans on hand.

Saturday is also being billed as Ladies' Day with a special fashion show.

With all of that in play, Kulina is hopeful the weekend will spark renewed interest in Monmouth, bringing out not just devoted fans of the sport, but people who have never been to the races or people who have not visited the Oceanport track in years.

"People we haven't heard from in years are calling us. They want to be a part of it. It's reviving a lot of lapsed fans who forgot about the sport. It's a major marketing opportunity for Monmouth Park, obviously, and the sport, too," Kulina said. "We've had top horses, but those horses were racing guys' horses. American Pharoah's popularity has reached beyond the normal customer. It's sort of like when Michael Jordan was playing. You didn't need to be an NBA fan to watch. Even if you didn't know much about the NBA, if you saw a game on TV with him in it, you'd watch it.

"I think we're going to create a lot of new fans thanks to American Pharoah. If takes another 20 years to get another Triple Crown winner, a lot of people in the future are going to say it was American Pharoah that got them interested in racing when they saw him with their father or grandfather."

For Monmouth, American Pharoah's arrival could not have come at a better time. Without revenue from outside sources, Monmouth's racing schedule has been pared down to three days a week as it struggles to compete for fans, wagering dollars and horses while operating in the shadow of New York racing.

"For [Darby Development advisor] Dennis Drazin and Bob Kulina, keeping Monmouth alive has been not only a labor of love but a great challenge," Forbes said. "So the fact that American Pharoah is coming is a reward for them and in the end, all of the attention this generates and the people it brings out might just save Monmouth. To me, that's so important because we are showing how a racetrack can survive without alternative revenue from slot machines or a casino and can have horsemen involved in the operation and still be successful."

For all of that, among those associated with New Jersey racing, there will long be a sense of gratitude to Zayat and Baffert for choosing the Haskell as their champion's first post-Triple Crown race. In the days after American Pharoah's coronation in the Belmont Stakes, Zayat was flooded with offers from tracks, promising races and bonuses more lucrative than Monmouth's purse and owner/trainer incentives for the Haskell. Coolmore's Ashford Stud, which purchased American Pharoah's breeding rights, would have no doubt been delighted if Zayat elected to retire his homebred champion after the Belmont without risking a blemish on his record.

But in the end, Zayat, who lives in Teaneck, New Jersey, gave his home state a huge boost by chasing a second win in the Haskell to go along with Paynter's victory in the 2012 edition of the Grade 1 stakes. He didn't seek any change in the Haskell's purse structure, which was in place long before American Pharoah began his Triple Crown quest with a victory in the Kentucky Derby: $1 million in purse money and $25,000 to each participating owner and trainer for every win in a Triple Crown race.

"The real credit to Mr. Zayat is that they are still racing the horse," Kulina said. "There's money involved and money is a part of any sport, but it would have been easy for them to retire the horse. How can he top what he did in the Triple Crown? So the Zayats desrve all the credit in the world for continuing to race him, especially here in the Haskell.

"After that it's up to us to keep the ball rolling. Monmouth is a grand, old historic racetrack by the sea, and it's fitting in my mind that he will race here and bring the excitement that goes along with a Triple Crown winner. Everyone knows they are coming to see the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years and it's going to be a fun three days here."

Even without "The Boss" in the house.