Dennis Drazin spent his honeymoon in Hawaii
talking about Monmouth Park. This was during the first three weeks of January,
and he was needed 5,000 miles and six time zones away.
“Some of my conference calls were 3:30 in the morning, my time,” said Drazin, 60, whose marriage to Nona Balaban on New Year’s Eve was his first. “My wife had to put up with my being on the phone almost daily, trying to put this deal together.”
This deal was for the future of racing in New Jersey. For the third consecutive season, uncertainty and apprehension cloud Monmouth as it prepares to open a 65-day meeting Saturday. An earlier deal collapsed over the winter, leaving Monmouth without an operator. Enter Drazin, the quintessential backroom dealer who has been called upon to save the track.
Drazin is probably unfamiliar to Monmouth railbirds, and if the name registers at all it might be from local television commercials for his personal-injury law firm Drazin & Warshaw. But in Garden State politics and horse racing he is on the speed dial of so many legislators, officials, powerbrokers. He has bred and owned horses for more than 30 years and for the last decade worked on behalf of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association as either its general counsel or president.
Now Drazin is about to take the starring role, the director moving out from behind the camera to take his own acting cues. The track’s fate will rise or fall on his ideas, his work, his political connections. The state, Monmouth’s owner since 1985,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. wants out of this racing business.
On Dec. 1, after negotiations for a lease between casino and real-estate mogul Morris Bailey and the state finally came apart, the governor’s office asked Drazin to resign as the chairman of the New Jersey Racing Commission. He was asked to step into Bailey’s shoes as an adviser to the horsemen’s association. On Feb. 2, the horsemen submitted their lease proposal; by the end of that month, Monmouth Park was theirs.
“I felt the best advice I could give to the horsemen is to control their own destiny,” Drazin said. “And even though it’s a large undertaking, I’ve guided the industry for many years now, and they trust me. I think that with my advice and counsel they can put this all together.”
How did this historic track become so unloved? For most of its 67 years in Oceanport, Monmouth’s by-the-sea rhythms were as regular as the tides. But then two years ago there was the experimental “Elite Meet,” where purses more than doubled and the calendar was halved, and then last year,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. as the state fled for the exit, Bailey’s takeover was supposed to be right around the corner.
The horsemen are in control now – their lease could run as long as 35 years – and this is groundbreaking in its own right. Nobody can recall horsemen running their own racetrack. The racing world will be watching closely. As one racetrack owner cynically put it: “It is giving the keys to the asylum to the horsemen.”
Drazin counters with an optimistic tone. “We have a vision and the adequate wherewithal to make it happen,” he said.
This vision is to turn Monmouth Park into a year-round resort destination. Without slot machines, it is one of the few avenues for finding alternative revenue streams. Under discussion are a water park, hotel, two-screen movie theater, retail and commercial space, 36-hole miniature golf course, restaurants, and boardwalk. The horsemen also gain control of the Woodbridge Off-Track Wagering (OTW) facility and plan to add two more within 24 months.
The merger of horsemen and management, often at odds in racing, makes Drazin the most powerful person in New Jersey racing. He was influential in Monmouth’s Breeders’ Cup bid in 2007 and the “Elite Meet,” to name the most prominent cases. This task, however, to turn a profit at a racetrack surrounded by ones that double as casinos, dwarfs those challenges. The horsemen’s association has placed in him its unflinching trust.
“He’s a natural leader, and we’re getting behind him,” said Tim Hills, the veteran trainer and member of the association’s board. He called Drazin a “pitbull” in his negotiating on behalf of the horsemen. “He’s relentless but in a smooth way. Thankfully he’s on our side.Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia.”
This year’s schedule is like the last two years – 65 days, mostly three-day weeks, and average daily purses of $400,000, with one notable addition: four cards on Thursdays in August, with first post at 4 p.m. and a large concert following the final race at 7 p.m.
Drazin heads the new management company, Elite Equine Consulting LLC, that will oversee the operation of Monmouth.Choose from our large selection of cableties, Drazin is its chairman and general counsel, and Bob Kulina, previously Monmouth’s longtime general manager, is its president. Drazin’s brothers and law partners,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. Ronald and Brian, will oversee the development of property surrounding Monmouth. Morris Bailey will most likely have a hand in these real-estate deals.
Racegoers will see few visible changes this meet, besides four new video boards and a switch from concessions provider Aramark to a company called Gourmet Dining, with much of the rollout coming sometime in the fall of 2012. That is going at breakneck speed, and Monmouth’s survival depends on it.
“Some of my conference calls were 3:30 in the morning, my time,” said Drazin, 60, whose marriage to Nona Balaban on New Year’s Eve was his first. “My wife had to put up with my being on the phone almost daily, trying to put this deal together.”
This deal was for the future of racing in New Jersey. For the third consecutive season, uncertainty and apprehension cloud Monmouth as it prepares to open a 65-day meeting Saturday. An earlier deal collapsed over the winter, leaving Monmouth without an operator. Enter Drazin, the quintessential backroom dealer who has been called upon to save the track.
Drazin is probably unfamiliar to Monmouth railbirds, and if the name registers at all it might be from local television commercials for his personal-injury law firm Drazin & Warshaw. But in Garden State politics and horse racing he is on the speed dial of so many legislators, officials, powerbrokers. He has bred and owned horses for more than 30 years and for the last decade worked on behalf of the New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association as either its general counsel or president.
Now Drazin is about to take the starring role, the director moving out from behind the camera to take his own acting cues. The track’s fate will rise or fall on his ideas, his work, his political connections. The state, Monmouth’s owner since 1985,I found them to have sharp edges where the injectionmoldes came together while production. wants out of this racing business.
On Dec. 1, after negotiations for a lease between casino and real-estate mogul Morris Bailey and the state finally came apart, the governor’s office asked Drazin to resign as the chairman of the New Jersey Racing Commission. He was asked to step into Bailey’s shoes as an adviser to the horsemen’s association. On Feb. 2, the horsemen submitted their lease proposal; by the end of that month, Monmouth Park was theirs.
“I felt the best advice I could give to the horsemen is to control their own destiny,” Drazin said. “And even though it’s a large undertaking, I’ve guided the industry for many years now, and they trust me. I think that with my advice and counsel they can put this all together.”
How did this historic track become so unloved? For most of its 67 years in Oceanport, Monmouth’s by-the-sea rhythms were as regular as the tides. But then two years ago there was the experimental “Elite Meet,” where purses more than doubled and the calendar was halved, and then last year,Aeroscout rtls provides a complete solution for wireless asset tracking. as the state fled for the exit, Bailey’s takeover was supposed to be right around the corner.
The horsemen are in control now – their lease could run as long as 35 years – and this is groundbreaking in its own right. Nobody can recall horsemen running their own racetrack. The racing world will be watching closely. As one racetrack owner cynically put it: “It is giving the keys to the asylum to the horsemen.”
Drazin counters with an optimistic tone. “We have a vision and the adequate wherewithal to make it happen,” he said.
This vision is to turn Monmouth Park into a year-round resort destination. Without slot machines, it is one of the few avenues for finding alternative revenue streams. Under discussion are a water park, hotel, two-screen movie theater, retail and commercial space, 36-hole miniature golf course, restaurants, and boardwalk. The horsemen also gain control of the Woodbridge Off-Track Wagering (OTW) facility and plan to add two more within 24 months.
The merger of horsemen and management, often at odds in racing, makes Drazin the most powerful person in New Jersey racing. He was influential in Monmouth’s Breeders’ Cup bid in 2007 and the “Elite Meet,” to name the most prominent cases. This task, however, to turn a profit at a racetrack surrounded by ones that double as casinos, dwarfs those challenges. The horsemen’s association has placed in him its unflinching trust.
“He’s a natural leader, and we’re getting behind him,” said Tim Hills, the veteran trainer and member of the association’s board. He called Drazin a “pitbull” in his negotiating on behalf of the horsemen. “He’s relentless but in a smooth way. Thankfully he’s on our side.Find the cheapest chickencoop online through and buy the best hen houses and chook pens in Australia.”
This year’s schedule is like the last two years – 65 days, mostly three-day weeks, and average daily purses of $400,000, with one notable addition: four cards on Thursdays in August, with first post at 4 p.m. and a large concert following the final race at 7 p.m.
Drazin heads the new management company, Elite Equine Consulting LLC, that will oversee the operation of Monmouth.Choose from our large selection of cableties, Drazin is its chairman and general counsel, and Bob Kulina, previously Monmouth’s longtime general manager, is its president. Drazin’s brothers and law partners,GOpromos offers a wide selection of promotional items and personalized gifts. Ronald and Brian, will oversee the development of property surrounding Monmouth. Morris Bailey will most likely have a hand in these real-estate deals.
Racegoers will see few visible changes this meet, besides four new video boards and a switch from concessions provider Aramark to a company called Gourmet Dining, with much of the rollout coming sometime in the fall of 2012. That is going at breakneck speed, and Monmouth’s survival depends on it.
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