These are uncertain times for Monmouth Park. The foal crop is down, their horse population is way down, and they're having trouble filling fields. That's what happens when you are one of many players in an overloaded Mid-Atlantic region and you are the only track that does not get revenue from casinos. (Monmouth does get a $10 million subsidy from the state to prop up purses, but that could be reduced to $2.5 million in 2027).Yet, better news may be around the corner. Bills have been introduced to have casinos at Monmouth and the Meadowlands, but it appears there will be no movement on them until 2027. If the bills pass the legislature, casino expansion will go on the ballot. Nothing will be easy about this because the Atlantic City casinos are powerful politically and have always found a way to keep New Jersey's tracks from having casinos. But with casinos having proliferated in Pennsylvania, Delaware and New York, there are plenty of New Jersey residents who are leaving the state to play casino games, leaving their dollars elsewhere.To talk about Monmouth's situation, the track's general manager John Heims joined the team this week on the Thoroughbred Daily News Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. He was the Gainesway Guest of the Week.“We anticipate at some point that there will be a ballot measure and at some point they will let the voters decide whether or not they're going to no longer allow money from the state of New Jersey to cross the borders into Pennsylvania, into Delaware, into New York City,” Heims said. “We're completely surrounded in Atlantic City. When it was just Atlantic City and Vegas, you had a different animal. Casinos have proliferated throughout the entire country now and we're just watching our dollars cross over state borders rather than keep here. It's time to stop letting our money leave the state. Let's keep it here.”What will happen if they do not get a casino? Many fear the worst.“We'll still be here,” Heims said. “That's not a question. It just might be a different animal at that point. I mean, Dennis (Drazin) and the whole team look for alternative revenue sources at all times. That includes the new sportsbook that opened. And that generates money. The gains from the sports betting have covered the losses in horse racing.“A housing project across the street is going to move forward. That's a long-term project that eventually will generate income that's going to go to the horsemen. There are always projects in the works and things of that nature, including when we did fixed odds. Any other alternative revenue source that we can come up with, we're going to utilize it and, as always, we've given it right back to the horsemen. And I'm assuming that's going to be the case moving forward as well.”With or without a casino, Monmouth still needs to try to fix a difficult situation. With fewer horses available and with Mid-Atlantic trainers having the options of running at Parx, Laurel, Delaware Park and Colonial Downs, Monmouth is often the odd track out because it runs for only 50 days and, in this modern era, its purses are modest.Heims would like to see tracks in the area cooperate more and work out circuits, like Laurel and Colonial have done.“If you look at it from a cooperation standpoint, it would have to be Monmouth coming together with racetracks in the Mid-Atlantic region and simply saying, 'We are running too much to support what we have right now.' And I I don't think this is a surprise to anybody. This year in particular, we were hit very hard. In previous years we had done quite well in terms of field size and horses on our backstretch versus some other places that weren't as lucky as we had been. We have less than 800 horses on our backstretch right now, which is the lowest number I can ever recall being here.”The good news is that on-track attendance at Monmouth is among the best in the country. On nice weekend afternoons, crowds can easily top 10,000. But many come out for family activities and promotions that include food trucks and Irish music festivals. How do you get those people to start wagering?“You'll see a large attendance and a per capita of about $40 per head,” Heims said. “Betting, that's not what they're here for yet. And so you're just building that fan base into the future. And that's the attempt we've always done here.”The “Fastest Horse of the Week” was Thermal (Nyquist), who earned a 106 Beyer when winning the Memorial Day Sprint Stakes at Lone Star. The Fastest Horse of the Week segment is sponsored by WinStar, which stands the sire Life is Good.Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the PHBA, 1/ST TV, and West Point Thoroughbreds, Randy Moss, Bill Finley, and Zoe Cadman talked about why there were so few major races over the Memorial Day weekend, with Finley advocating for the GI Metropolitan Handicap to return to what was its traditional spot on Memorial Day. They also reviewed what will no doubt be a huge event, the GI Stephen Foster S. Expecting a stellar field, Churchill has raised the purse for the race from $1 million to $2 million. They also talked about PETA's effort to get Paco Lopez suspended from his winning ride in the GI Preakness Stakes for misuse of the whip. All three agreed that Lopez did not deserve to be suspended. Cadman opined that Lopez had better watch himself because, she believes, PETA is out to get him.Click here to watch the Writers' Room podcast, and here to listen to the program. 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