From DRF
SACRAMENTO, Calif. (July 19, 2023) — A revamped Northern California racing calendar will be consolidated to Cal-Expo in Sacramento as soon as late December following the scheduled closure of Golden Gate Fields on Dec. 10, racing officials said earlier this week.
The Stronach Group, parent company of Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita in Southern California, shocked the state’s racing community with an announcement on Sunday that racing will cease at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., later this year.
The Stronach Group cited a desire to consolidate racing to Santa Anita, with the hope that Northern California-based owners and trainers will move their runners to Santa Anita and allow Santa Anita to expand its racing schedule from three days per week in recent years to four.
But few Northern California-based stables, if any, have the depth to be competitive on a year-round basis in Southern California. Instead, racing officials in Northern California are developing a calendar for racing primarily at Cal-Expo with stops on the fair circuit at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, Cal-Expo, the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa, the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, and The Big Fresno Fair.
Overall, there would be approximately 43 weeks of racing in 2024 compared to 50 this year, according to Larry Swartzlander, executive director of the California Authority of Racing Fairs.
Under a proposal introduced by CARF, Cal-Expo would begin racing later this year for three weeks from late December to mid-January of 2024 before resuming from early March to mid-June.
The fair circuit would begin at Pleasanton in mid-June and continue with the State Fair at Cal-Expo in July followed by meetings at Santa Rosa and Ferndale through late August.
The fair circuit would conclude in Fresno with a meeting in late September and early October before Cal-Expo begins a fall meeting in October through the end of the year.
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Under the new schedule, CARF would administer the Cal-Expo non-fair meetings through a newly developed racing association, Capitol Racing.
There would be fewer weeks of racing with the hope that a reduced annual calendar will increase field sizes and lead to four days of racing on most weeks rather than the current schedule of three days a week. When racing is not held, simulcasting would be conducted that would allow the circuit to accrue purse money.
Unlike other states that benefit from revenue from slot machines or casinos, California tracks have no other source of funding for purses other than handle.
Capitol Racing would seek funding for a turf course at Sacramento. Currently, Golden Gate and Santa Rosa are the only venues in Northern California with turf courses. Santa Rosa will race only two weeks this year in August.
In a position paper published earlier this week, CARF has requested that Golden Gate Fields race through June 2024 to facilitate the transition to a schedule without that track.
“This would give stakeholders more time to realign the racing calendar” in Northern California, Swartzlander wrote in an email Tuesday.
Craig Fravel, president of The Stronach Group, declined to comment in a text message on Wednesday on a proposed extension of racing at Golden Gate Fields beyond December.
Meetings on a revamped 2024 calendar will be held this week, Swartzlander said.
“This is the first step to make sure what our position is,” Swartzlander said in an interview. “We will continue racing in the north.”
Swartzlander emphasized that the proposed calendar is not finalized and said CARF will work closely with the Thoroughbred Owners of California and California Thoroughbred Trainers’ association on the transition.
One possibility is to add racing at various times of the year at Pleasanton or Santa Rosa under the direction of Capitol Racing other than the county fair meetings at those venues.
“There are a lot of moving parts,” Swartzlander said.
Racing is currently being held in Northern California at Cal-Expo through July 30 before the circuit moves to Santa Rosa for a two-week meeting in early August.
Golden Gate Fields opened in February 1941. The track was purchased by Frank Stronach in 1999, the year after he purchased Santa Anita. At the time, Stronach bought the tracks through Magna Entertainment. Ownership was transferred to The Stronach Group in 2011. Belinda Stronach, Frank’s daughter, chairs The Stronach Group.
Golden Gate Fields has been the leading Thoroughbred track in Northern California since Bay Meadows in San Mateo, south of San Francisco, closed in 2008.