Preparations are underway for American Pharoah's Haskell

Horse Racing Nation had the opportunity to speak with Bob Kulina, the President of Darby Development, which owns and operates Monmouth Park, about American Pharoah’s return to racing in the Haskell Invitational. Kulina is the man behind the Haskell and he talked about the preparations that are already underway for Haskell weekend, which has been dubbed the ‘Pharoah Phan Phest’.

•On Haskell Day, Sunday, August 2, the gates will open at 9am and post time for the first of 14 races will be at 11:30am.

•You better get there early because only 34,000 Haskell hats will be available. With the need to order the hats far in advance, the giveaway number could not be increased to supply the anticipated record crowd, which is predicted to be 55,000 to 65,000.

•Saturday there will a giveaway baseball replica jersey for the first 5,000 paid admissions to honor trainer Bob Baffert’s seven Haskell victories. The jersey will have a number 7 the back and will be decorated with the silks of the winners. Baffert’s name will be on the back and Monmouth Park will be on the front in the style of a Dodgers uniform.

•There will also be a yet to be disclosed giveaway on Friday, July 31^st.

•The popular picnic area will be expanded into the area that has been used on the very successful Food Truck days.

•Additional televisions will be installed along with 200 more mutuel machines. Mutuel clerks from all over the country will be brought in to work, especially from the Kentucky tracks that are not running during the summer.

•There will be offsite parking with shuttle buses, especially for employees, so that the closest parking will be available for as many fans as possible.

•This year the race will be televised nationally on NBC, not on the NBC Sports Network.

•NJ Transit will offer expanded service to Monmouth Park from Penn Station in both Newark, NJ, and New York City. Officials will be encouraging fans to use mass transit or car pool on Haskell Day.

•Every traffic light on Route 36 will be controlled by a police officer throughout the entire day.

•There will be no cap on attendance, with general admission available on Haskell Day, $6 for the grandstand and $9 for the clubhouse.

Kulina also talked about what it took to get the Haskell commitment from the connections of American Pharoah. “I have been doing this for a long time and there are certain individuals that I think I have an in with and obviously Bob [Baffert] is one of them. I think horsemen, for the most part, are pretty loyal. At the end of the day, the decisions are made to do what’s best for the horse.”