GURAL’S CAUTIOUSLY OPTIMISTIC BIG M FORECAST
Things are tough all over in harness racing. And despite being the No. 1 venue in the entire sport, all things at The Meadowlands are not exactly strawberries and cream ...
EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ -- March 13, 2026 -- Things are tough all over in harness racing. And despite being the No. 1 venue in the entire sport, all things at The Meadowlands are not exactly strawberries and cream.
Handle is down, and the mile oval still has no casino to bolster its purses as every bordering state with harness racing does.
But Jeff Gural has made some moves designed to get the track through the upcoming stakes season with the hopes that down the road, the track can return to the juggernaut it once was.
“We are pleased to report that we have received approximately $400,000 in stallion payments, which we plan to use to cover our significant operating losses,” said The Big M’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
“Our handle has been significantly lower thus far this year, partially impacted by the winter weather when we had six cancellations. We have reached out to our (“A-list”) driver colony for them to come back and drive starting on March 27 in the hope that will help restore the handle back to where it was last year.
“Obviously, The Championship Meet (which begins the first weekend in May) will follow, and we are making progress on our effort to get a casino and expect to be able to provide a progress report within the next week or so.”
For this season, The Meadowlands instituted an Early Closer Participation (ECP) payment on foals of 2024, which had to be made to The Meadowlands to gain eligibility for nomination to all Meadowlands 2-year-old Early Closers in 2026.
For stallion owners and syndicates, participation in The Meadowlands Early Closing program for foals of 2024 is contingent upon the sire having been nominated by paying the equivalent of half (50 percent) the cost of an annual breeding with a minimum of $1,000 (USD) for any stallion standing in North America for the 2023 breeding season.
Horses standing in Canada shall adjust their annual breeding fee to the USD equivalent on the day of application.
Horses standing outside North America are exempt. Private treaty horses may be addressed on a case-by-case basis.
This stallion payment provides their foals of 2024 the opportunity to gain the option of nominating to Meadowlands Early Closers for the life of the horse by making the one-time $400 Meadowlands EC Participation payment.
“We received what we expected from the industry and we appreciate the breeders and yearling buyers for their support,” said Gural, “and, hopefully, we can get a casino and these payments will go away because we’d be able to increase purses as a result of the slot revenues once we are up and running.”
The Big M’s staking department has $1,302,550 in total deposits, with $340,610 of that in stallion payments and $658,150 in Feb. 15 stakes money. That leaves $303,790 in ECP $400 payment money, which will go towards Meadowlands purses, specifically stakes events.
