Monmouth Park Hosts First-Ever Cornhole Tournament

OCEANPORT, NJ — This article was written by Monmouth County local writer John Spinelli:

A mix of both “pro” and “backyard amateur” cornhole players gathered together from across New Jersey for Monmouth Park’s inaugural cornhole tournament on August 11. This was the first-ever “official” sponsored cornhole tournament at the track.

The tournament named “Bags, Bands and Beer” had both a competitive money purse league and an amateur league; scored and directed by Press Communication radio stations Thunder 106.3 and 107.1 the Boss.

The top first place prize for the winners were $250 cash per player and for amateur, $250 in gift cards, in addition to the top three prizes as well.

The winning purse team was “Hawk Tuah” led by Joe McGuigan and Frank Colabella and in the amateur title, the team “Fire in the Hole” by Jeffrey Lorenzain and secured the win.

The event was sponsored by Value City Furniture, IBEW Local 400, Gunner Roofing, Lakehouse Music Academy (live music), Nisan City of Red Bank, and the equipment provided by New Jersey Cornhole Mayhem.

Wendy Price, the sales director for Press Communications, said this event took years in the making.

"We've talked to Brian Skirka (Monmouth Park’s Marketing director) a few years about this idea, and we're glad we finally were able to put it together,” she said. “A fun tournament like this large scale has never been done before here.”

“Next year, we’re going to have a few cornhole boards so anyone can come up and play for leisure," she added.

“Everyone's awesome in the cornhole community, it’s competitive but at the end of the day everyone is friendly to each other," said winning team player and Hamilton, NJ-native Colabella. “For me, I play socially. Money is just a plus; it’s not the main reason why I like playing this game.”

Colabella is the athletic training director for Elizabeth High School. Like many, he started playing cornhole in his home during the pandemic.

“I played in the backyard by myself and started to get better. Later, I was ranked 5th in New Jersey by the ACL (American Cornhole League)," he said.

He said he game has helped him network with new people around the country.

“When me and my wife went to vacation in Hawaii, I found a local match from Cornholio.com. After the game, we met the locals and they told us a lot of good spots on the island to check out."

In addition to the game, that same day, Monmouth Park also paired up with Count Basie theaters to give out free concert tickets to attendees after every race.

There was also excitement on the horse racing side of the track:

The first race of the day began with an upset. The team of Kathleen O’Connell and Jockey Melissa Iorio rode Irish-bred “Play Misty” to win the first Maiden Claiming Special.

In the third race, rookie Jockey Christopher Elliott, had a successful day, winning the claiming race with visiting trainer Melanie Giddings.

One veteran jockey Jairo Rendon also had a hot streak, winning two races on filly “Patty Van Twinkle," trained by Monmouth Beach’s J. Kent Sweezey and “Lord Knows” by trainer/owner Michael Dini.

For the main card, the Incredible Revenge Stakes, elite French trainer Christophe Clement’s horses had a strong finish. In the last furlong, “Love Appeals” ridden by Vincent Cheminaud swiftly passed “Shoshanah.” Ridden by Martha Rojas and trainer Kyle Horlacher, Clement’s team brought home the $100,000 award.