Freehold Raceway

Freehold Raceway is a half-mile racetrack in Freehold Borough, New Jersey, and is the oldest racetrack in the United States. Horseraces have been taking place at Freehold Raceway since the 1830s. The Monmouth County Agricultural Society was formed on December 17, 1853, and in 1854 they began holding an annual fair with harness racing at Freehold Raceway

Freehold Raceway is currently the home of the Cane Pace, a harness horse race run annually since 1955. In 1956 the race joined with the Little Brown Jug and the Messenger Stakes to become the first leg in the Triple Crown of Harness Racing for Pacers.

In 1984, an electrical fire destroyed the main building. Racing was then held under tents until the new building was completed in 1985.

In 1990, the Freehold Raceway Mall opened up across the street, and was, until 2007, decorated with harness racing motif.

In 1998, Freehold was acquired by a joint venture of Penn National Gaming and Greenwood Racing (owner of Parx Casino and Racing).

Freehold Raceway Mall

Freehold Raceway Mall is a super-regional mall in Freehold, New Jersey, United States. The mall's anchor stores are JCPenney, Lord & Taylor, Macy's, Nordstrom and Sears. The mall is owned and managed by The Macerich Company, having purchased the mall from developer Wilmorite in 2005, and has 1,671,000 square feet (155,241 m²) of gross leasable area, making it the second largest shopping mall in New Jersey. An outdoor lifestyle addition, begun in January 2007, added 100,000 square feet (10,000 m²) of additional retail space. On November 23, 2011, the mall was ranked in a Weather Channel news article titled "The Most Congested Malls for Black Friday". The Freehold Raceway Mall ranked third in the nation.

History

Construction on Freehold Raceway Mall commenced in 1987, across the street from the Freehold Raceway on land used for stables. The stables still exist, connected by a small pedestrian/horsecart bridge over Route 9, but they can only be accessed via mall entrance road. In preparation for the mall's opening, the Freehold Circle was eliminated and rebuilt into an at-grade intersection with traffic lights and jughandles. A traffic light and jughandle for the mall entrance road from Route 9 was also constructed due south of the intersection of U.S. Route 9 and Business Route 33.