Monmouth Park will stage 3-day "Pharoah Fan Fest"

OCEANPORT, N.J. (AP) Monmouth Park will stage a three-day ''Pharoah Fan Festival'' to celebrate Triple Crown winner American Pharoah's expected appearance in the track's $1 million Haskell Invitational on Aug. 2.

It starts the Friday before the race with a commemorative button giveaway, and a mini-golf tournament benefiting the Disabled Jockeys Fund.

On Saturday, Monmouth presents a fashion show and a jersey giveaway saluting the record seven Haskell victories by Bob Baffert, American's Pharoah's trainer.

Track officials expect a record crowd for the race on Sunday, shattering the Monmouth record of 53,638 for the 2003 Haskell. The 13,000 grandstand seats are already sold out.

The admission charges are $6 for the grandstand area; $9 for the clubhouse. Parking will be $20 and $40.

''We have deliberately raised parking prices in an effort to push fans to carpooling, and to mass transit,'' track president Bob Kulina said.