Horse Racing Coming To The Beach

Close your eyes and imagine galloping horses running full speed on the beach in South Jersey.

It might seem like a fantasy, but it’s going to happen next month!

As part of an effort to promote tourism, legislation authorizing the New Jersey Racing Commission to grant special permits for horse racing on the beach in New Jersey has been signed into law.

This will enable Atlantic City to host the American Palio Celebration, a series of horse races to be conducted on the beach in Atlantic City on Friday, October 11, 2013 and Sunday, October 13.

“We are bringing a unique event to the shores of Atlantic City, the likes of which our area has not seen before, and this race and others like it will help to attract tourists to the resort town and contribute to the revitalization of the city,” says the sponsor of the measure, State Senator Don Norcross.

The event is an Americanization of “Palio,” a race in Siena, Italy, that has been run for the past 700 years. In Siena, the horses race one half mile around the Town Square. The American version will have horses competing in the American classic distance of three quarters of a mile on the Atlantic City beach.