Great story in the Monday's Philadelphia Inquirer by Bob Brookover about Spend A Buck. Garden State Park chairman Robert Brennan who eventually served 10 years for stock fraud put up a $2.6 million dollar bonus in
1985 if a horse won The Cherry Hill Mile, The Garden State Stakes, The Kentucky Derby and The Jersey Derby. The Kentucky Derby was on May 4th, the Jersey Derby was on May 27th. No way a horse could compete in the races preceding the Kentucky Derby, run in the Preakness and then the Jersey Derby. The owner Dennis Diaz only paid $12,500 for Spend A Buck. He said he was in the business of making money from purses and and he wasn't passing up the Jersey Derby for the paltry purse at the Preakness. The difference was $406,800 vs $2.6 million. Most of the horse racing community despised what Diaz was doing. Robert Brennan rebuilt Garden State Park after they had a fire in 1977 at the cost of $200 million. He was trying to put the track once again on the map to attract the best horses, trainers and jockeys in the country. Angel Cordero had a commitment to ride a horse at Belmont on the same day as the Jersey Derby. The NYRA was so upset with Garden State that they refused to allow a helicopter to land at the Belmont to pick up Angel and fly him down to Garden State for the one race. Cordero was the jockey on Spend A Buck for his previous wins. He ended up making $4000 at Belmont that day. Pincay who replaced him on Spend A Buck earned $260,000. Cordero was upset saying he deserved some of that money and blasted owner Dennis Diaz. After this happened they instituted the Triple Crown bonus of $5 million which eventually was discontinued. I'm not a big horse racing fan but was there ever a horse who came out healthy winning the Kentucky Derby and didn't run in the Preakness. Garden State Park went out of business from the competition with casinos. I still shop there frequently. It was replaced by a shopping center and I go to the Wegman's Supermarket there. Only one structure still exists from GSP. A brick facade entrance on Route 70 where the track used to stand.
1985 if a horse won The Cherry Hill Mile, The Garden State Stakes, The Kentucky Derby and The Jersey Derby. The Kentucky Derby was on May 4th, the Jersey Derby was on May 27th. No way a horse could compete in the races preceding the Kentucky Derby, run in the Preakness and then the Jersey Derby. The owner Dennis Diaz only paid $12,500 for Spend A Buck. He said he was in the business of making money from purses and and he wasn't passing up the Jersey Derby for the paltry purse at the Preakness. The difference was $406,800 vs $2.6 million. Most of the horse racing community despised what Diaz was doing. Robert Brennan rebuilt Garden State Park after they had a fire in 1977 at the cost of $200 million. He was trying to put the track once again on the map to attract the best horses, trainers and jockeys in the country. Angel Cordero had a commitment to ride a horse at Belmont on the same day as the Jersey Derby. The NYRA was so upset with Garden State that they refused to allow a helicopter to land at the Belmont to pick up Angel and fly him down to Garden State for the one race. Cordero was the jockey on Spend A Buck for his previous wins. He ended up making $4000 at Belmont that day. Pincay who replaced him on Spend A Buck earned $260,000. Cordero was upset saying he deserved some of that money and blasted owner Dennis Diaz. After this happened they instituted the Triple Crown bonus of $5 million which eventually was discontinued. I'm not a big horse racing fan but was there ever a horse who came out healthy winning the Kentucky Derby and didn't run in the Preakness. Garden State Park went out of business from the competition with casinos. I still shop there frequently. It was replaced by a shopping center and I go to the Wegman's Supermarket there. Only one structure still exists from GSP. A brick facade entrance on Route 70 where the track used to stand.
