Did You Know About The Atlantic City Race Course?
Atlantic City Race Course is located off Black Horse Pike next to Hamilton Mall in Mays Landing - 14 miles from Atlantic City and 46 miles from Philadelphia. The track is readily accessible from Atlantic City Expressway Exits 12 or 14, White Horse Pike via Cologne Avenue or Pomona Road, and Garden State Parkway Exit 44 (via Pomona Road) or 38A (via AC Expressway). The Atlantic City Race Track station was built off a 2.8 mile spur from the PRSL main line. Special race trains served the track until the early 1960s. A weekend race day could draw half a dozen or more long passenger trains, filled with passengers playing special excursion prices.
For those of us that were hiding behind the rocks for the past few decades, The Atlantic City Race Course is for horses. Jockeys ride on their backs and beat them with little whips to make them go faster. The horse that crosses the finish line first is the one that wins. A race rarely lasts longer two minutes, and it takes them about twenty minutes or more to set up for the next race. A night of racing usually sees about ten races.
The admission charge for races at the Atlantic City Race Course is only $2.50. You must be 18 years of age in order to bet at ACRC, but you can get in to watch the races no matter what age you are. If you’re 21 years of age, you can also buy alcoholic beverages at the track, though they might be a bit pricy.
Atlantic City’s 2008 live thoroughbred Turf meet closed Friday, May 2nd and for the second year in a row, broke 15-year attendance records and was the highest attended track in the country for the week. The attendance for the six days was one of the best in the country and reveals that racing is still popular in South Jersey, one of the best turf courses in the country.
In 2007, the four-day horse-racing meet drew 18,442 fans. The final day’s reported attendance was just less than 6,000. As long as Atlantic City Race Course receives some of the same supplement being requested by the three other tracks in New Jersey – Monmouth Park, the Meadowlands and Freehold Raceway –fans can expect an increase of up to 20 days in race days and even better turf competitions.
Atlantic City Race Course doesn’t receive any of the purse subsidies provided by the Atlantic City casinos to the New Jersey racing industry because of its short meets. With the recent legalization of in-home betting in New Jersey and the opening of a Greenwood OTB in nearby Vineland, however, the future of the track is being openly questioned by horsemen. Pure racing venues are becoming less typical in the era of racinos. It is highly unlikely that a horse racing only facility will be constructed in the foreseeable future. ACRC is as pure a race venue as they come. To see it torn down would be a real loss to the local fans who really seemed to enjoy the races and to those who respect the history of thoroughbred racing.
The success of the current 6 day meet with very little publicity is evidence that live racing can draw a crowd at ACRC. Let’s hope that it chugs along for another season and that the rest of the 2008 season and the 2009 season bring more prosperity to this historical racetrack.
