Monmouth Park dates back to 1870, but has been closed, reopened, and rebuilt over the years. Today, it’s a modern, easily-navigated race park that caters to the entire family. In fact, Asbury Park Press readers named Monmouth Park one of the "Best Family Attractions in Monmouth County."  “Family Fun Day” happens every Sunday from noon-4pm, starting on Memorial Day Weekend and continuing through Labor Day weekend.  Children 12-and-under are admitted free, and adult grandstand admission costs a mere $3./visitor. Free activities include pony rides, face painters, clowns bounce houses and live music.

We packed the picnic basket, charged the Nintendos, and headed down the shore.  Since it was a Sunday, we reasoned the traffic wouldn’t be bad—we’d be in reverse shore traffic, right? Wrong.  If you’re coming from North of Monmouth, plan on doubling the Mapquest estimate for arrival.  (After checking with locals, I learned bumper-to-bumper Garden State Parkway Southbound traffic along the shore is the summer norm.)  After countless are-we-there-yets, we arrived and headed to valet parking since we were running late.  It’s only $10. and let us unpack and get in fast–a welcome break. But general parking is free—so if you pad your travel time and arrive at noon, that’s your best bet!

We were lucky enough to be given the grand tour by Monmouth Park’s gracious marketing manager, Sophia Mangalee.  First, we headed to the grandstand to check out the scene.  Monmouth Park offers general seating for 8,000 people on a first-come first-serve basis. Seats on the top two levels of the grandstand provide shelter from weather as well as great views of the stretch and winner’s circle.  On our visit, there were plenty of open seats from which families could take their pick.

We found our spot, dropped our gear and headed out to the ring, the area in which the horses warm up prior to the race.  Here, race fans gain up-close-and-personal views of the horses as they’re trotted around the enclosure.  Sophia gave each us a program and supplied a quick tutorial on understanding the horses’s statistics (adult programs contain wagering information, children’s do not.) The brightly colored jockeys’ attire intrigued my girls, while my son got a kick out of looking up the horses’ names as they circled around: Palooza, Eur O So Bad, WitchesofWestfield, Moon Struck Nemi, and so on.

The trumpeter sounded the “call to post”–signaling that the race starts soon, place your bets! Back to the grandstand we went where my boyfriend placed a few bets, guided in the process by the helpful, patient staff. When the kids first saw the horses thundering down the stretch, the crowd boisterously cheering them on, they were in awe!  The boys decided to stay in the stands and take in more races while we girls headed to the Family Fun Day area.

We passed through the main hallway’s Monmouth Cafe, lined with loads of cheap eats: soft pretzels, pizza, clam chowder, smoothies, ice cream, foot-long hot dogs, and more.  Monmouth Park offers a range of dining options, from a huge 100-table picnic area where parents set up charcoal grills to cook their own fare while kids frolic on the playground; to pub grub at the Salvator Bar & Grill; to The Dining Terrace, a formal, tiered restaurant serving steak, crab cakes, pasta and more.

We emerged from the grandstand to find a live band playing and a full-blown classic car show in progress–a rainbow of shiny automobiles of every type, open for inspection.  My daughters ran around trying to pick which car they’d want when they get their driving licenses (gasp!) On to the bounce houses, which never had a line of more than five kids each.  From there we moved to the pony rides, again waiting only a few minutes before saddling up.  Off to the balloon station, then face painting.  All of it free!

When we returned to the grandstand, we found my 9-yr old thrilled at having picked the winning horses in three races we’d missed.  He loved mentally calculating what his winnings would have been (were he of age to wager) based on the pools, the various types of wagers, and the odds.  I’ve never seen him so happy to use math!  And he’d sure done better with his selections than had my boyfriend.        

Together, we reviewed our program for the upcoming race, everyone choosing a horse using their own method: cutest jockey attire, favorite number, statistics, goofiest name, and odds.  When the gate lifted and the horses shot out everyone sprang to life. To watch our screaming crew as the horses entered the stretch you’d have thought we had our life savings wagered!  But it was all in fun, and great fun at that.

At day’s end, we loaded back into the car and headed to the Doubletree Hilton, a Monmouth Park partner hotel just 10 minutes away.  (We’d figured driving back up to North Jersey on a summer Sunday evening would mean fighting horrendous traffic, so decided to stay the night.) We received a big, nice room with two queen beds for the super-cheap partner rate of $126., and that included FREE buffet breakfasts for the kids–scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, sausage, muffins, cereal, yogurt, juice and more. (Full array of partner hotels listed on website.) We’d planned to drive to the beach for the evening, but the kids voted us down in favor of the outdoor hotel pool and Domino’s delivery for dinner. Honestly, with all the excitement and action we’d had at Monmouth Park, we adults were ready to call it an early night, too!