Monmouth Park is a private racetrack, operated by a company called Darby Development. But that doesn’t mean that the Oceanport-based facility doesn’t rely on state support.

In February, Gov. Phil Murphy signed a bipartisan bill into law that resulted in $20 million of taxpayer money to subsidize horse racing in New Jersey this year and could net the horse-racing industry another $80 million over the next four years.

As part of the $100 million subsidy — which is designed to improve the winnings paid to the highest finishers in races — Monmouth Park will receive $10 million this year alone.

So even though Monmouth Park became a private entity earlier this decade, it doesn’t mean that the person who governs the state doesn’t get to weigh in on a day when New Jersey’s Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association was determining whether to run, postpone or cancel the marquee event on its horse racing schedule because of the excessive heat conditions that impacted the state Saturday.

After delaying and ultimately running the first two races, Dennis Drazin, CEO of Darby Development, made the call at 1:30 p.m. to cancel six races and push back the six stakes races to 6 p.m. As a result, the $1 million Haskell Invitational — a nationally televised stakes race that could go a long way toward determining horse racing’s best 3-year old thoroughbred this year — went off at 8:11 p.m. (2 hours and 24 minutes after its scheduled post-time and 12 minutes before sunset at a track that doesn’t have lights).

“We’ve been carefully monitoring the heat for days, including today, and we have a staff of veterinarians and state veterinarians, independent vets and consultants, all of whom tell us it’s safe to run, that we’re below the level required for the recommendation for cancellation,’’ Drazin said. “However, given the heightened concern from the public about the heat, and in the interest of the safety of the horses, we’ve decided to proceed with an abundance of caution.’’

Murphy wasn’t on the Monmouth Park grounds, but Drazin conceded he was in contact with the governor Saturday before making his determination.

“The governor is not an expert in these issues so the governor trusts the process (and) he has a racing commission that regulates horses,’’ Drazin said. “I believe the governor has faith in my abilities here at the track. I’m a horseman, too. I’ve been doing this since the 1950s. And I have a lot of horses that I run. I care for my horses and would never want anything to happen. I give my horses plenty of time when I think that there’s even the slightest hair that’s off. So I expect that the same standards that I apply to my horses should apply to everyone else’s too. I need to make sure that we bend over backwards to protect horses.

“So the governor entrusted the decision to me. He asked me to be in consultation with the state regulators, the vets, to make a decision that was consistent with the trust that’s been placed in me. So that’s what I did. I think we could’ve run safely. I don’t think we would’ve had any incidents. But God forbid we did. Everyone was going to say we should’ve canceled. I don’t think we should’ve canceled. We’re an Ocean resort, we have a breeze coming in off the ocean. This isn’t a hotbed like Saratoga (in upstate New York) or Delaware. But, in trying to balance what the right thing to do is, I made a call. Some people may not like the call but this is the call I felt was the right thing to do for Monmouth Park. So anyone who wants to take issue with it I’m the guy they can talk to.’’

Pressed on whether Murphy recommended that he cancel the race, Drazin said “this was my decision’’ and the governor “left it to me.’’

Murphy’s office declined to comment.

Drazin said the heightened concern from animal rights activists, including the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, impacted his decision.

“There is a national atmosphere in this country that we’re all dealing with right now because of Santa Anita,’’ Drazin said, referring to the California race track where 30 horses reportedly died during its 2019 meet. “There have been a number of calls by members of PETA to contact legislatures and the press (to) express concerns about horse safety. So in this atmosphere we felt the important thing to do was to go overboard and continue to monitor the situation, evaluate whether there was a basis for those concerns.’’

Earlier this week, PETA senior vice president Kathy Guillermo called for Monmouth Park officials to cancel the race. “Heat kills, so it’s extremely foolish and reckless for Monmouth Park to stay open with temperatures soaring to record highs,” she said. “If even one horse collapses, Monmouth officials should be held criminally liable for cruelty.”

The protests from PETA caused Alan Shuback, who traveled from New York to attend the Haskell on Saturday, to rebuke Monmouth Park’s decision to run an abbreviated Haskell Day race card.

“I’ve been to Saratoga dozens of times when the temperature has been 95 degrees,’’ Shuback said. “It has nothing to do with the heat and has everything to do with PETA and the animal rights activists. This is the tail wagging the dog. There were no problem with these first two races so why should there be any problems later on? (Monmouth Park officials) knew it was going to 95 and they could’ve canceled or made this decision yesterday. I paid $20 for a reserve seat. Will I get my money back? Will I have to wait around for another five hours for the next race and miss six or seven races that I would’ve had an opportunity to wager on? They are screwing the public and they’re doing it out of fear of the animal rights activists and what’s going on at Santa Anita.’’

As the marquee race on the calendar, the Haskell routinely draws between 25,000 and 40,000 fans. Drazin said he understood the criticism from the patrons who left Saturday due to a nearly five-hour delay in racing, but said “what’s important to me first is the health of the horses (and) the health of the jockeys.’’

“Frankly we struggled with this,’’ Drazin said. “We had a number of meetings. We decided we would meet again after the second race and determine what course of action to take. We felt that there could be a national crisis if a horse broke down because of (the heat) so we felt it just wasn’t justified taking the risk.

“We have support from the state, the governor, the legislators, the Senate president, the Assembly speaker, and they entrusted the subsidy to us and we didn’t want to gamble that there were concerns that if a horse broke down that could impact whether we would get future funding,” he added. "I made the call to be conservative in the abundance of caution. We know that by 6 o’clock the heat is going to go down. The (heat) index is going to be substantially lower than it is now and that is the smart thing to do in terms of being able to respond to what has become a crisis out there. I recognize and I apologize to everybody. We have patrons affected, we have patrons that are unhappy, we have people that don’t want to just sit around. We have people who don’t want to pay for their food. I can live with all that.’’

NJ Advance Media staff members Brent Johnson and Andrew Mills contributed to this report.

Keith Sargeant may be reached at ksargeant@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @KSargeantNJ. Find NJ.com Rutgers Football on Facebook.