ONE Berkeley City Council ordinance proposal was made that, if passed into law, would put the future of the Golden Gate Fields in grave jeopardy.
The proposed ordinance makes it illegal to keep horses in a stable for more than 10 hours a day and requires each horse to have access to a minimum of half an acre of pasture.
While reaffirming state and federal laws around animal cruelty and cruelty, the proposed ordinance also provides for conducting training and racing with a “reasonable expectation” that it is a crime to do so that could cause significant injury or harm to an animal.
“Such reasonable belief would be based on substantial evidence, which may include, but is not limited to, the animal’s physical condition, signs of pain or distress, musculoskeletal limitations, age or other relevant factors,” the decree states.
“We are clearly concerned,” said Craig Fravel, chief executive officer of 1/ST Racing and Gaming, a subsidiary of The Stronach Group (TSG), which owns Golden Gate Fields.
Fravel said he was alerted to the ordinance on Friday. As a result, the TSG has not yet had a chance to conduct a legal analysis of the ordinance, or issue a clear response, he said.
“I’m not going to overreact at this point and just try to be constructive in our approach,” Fravel said. “There’s going to be a time to get involved and I think it’s time to educate people about our safety record and the processes and efforts we’ve gone through.”
The proposed ordinance, introduced by Berkeley City councilor Kate Harrison, has been referred to the Council’s Health and Wellness Improvement Committee for a hearing. The ordinance will require a recommendation from the committee before it is approved by the Berkeley City Council.
Harrison declined an interview, saying she was on vacation. However, Harrison added that she will discuss the proposed ordinance as committee discussions begin.
The nine-page proposed ordinance focuses specifically on horse racing and excludes other facilities within city limits where animals are kept, including animal adoption and rescue agencies.
However, it creates some glaring misinformation and distorts the purebred racing industry. This includes the erroneous suggestion that the average thoroughbred racehorse only lives to be three to five years old.
The decree states: “Many deaths in horse racing are caused by dying after horses sustain serious injuries, causing their lives to be unusually short. “When CBS Bay Area reported the most recent horse death at the GGF in May of this year, they cited the fact that ‘lives into their 30s, but the average age is [only] three to five years old.’”
The ordinance also states that “the death toll continues to increase at racecourses within the City.”
According to Jockey Club Horse Injury Database, the rate of horse-related deaths on race day is falling across the country. Last year saw the lowest statistical equine fatality rate since 2009, when record-keeping began–1.29 deaths per 1000 rides.
When it comes Golden Gate FieldsThe track’s equine fatality rate has consistently been below the national average since 2017. Last year, it was 0.56 deaths per 1000 starts – a figure less than half that. national average.
“I’d like to refute some of the assumptions with some certainty, adding that the CHRB “knows and certainly cares,” said Scott Chaney, executive director of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB). about this ordinance.
Golden Gate Fields | Photography Vassar
“The death rate did not increase at Golden Gate Fields. The opposite is true,” Chaney said. “And while it’s true that racehorses typically run between three and five years of age, that’s not their average lifespan.”
The ordinance argues that the City of Berkeley, a charter city, has the legal authority to “make regulations” and jurisdiction to “protect and promote public health, safety, and welfare by ways to establish animal protection measures” as long as the regulations do not conflict with state and federal law.
The ordinance states: “The adoption of an ordinance prohibiting the inhumane or abusive treatment of animals in captivity, possession, use, display, or keeping for sporting, recreational or profit purposes within the City is in the public interest.
Chaney is uncertain about the city’s ability to institute such legislation. “I believe there are going to be some major regulatory hurdles when trying to pass such a thing,” Chaney said.
However, he added that the CHRB has yet to conduct a thorough legal analysis of the proposed ordinance to determine what those regulatory obstacles might be.
One possible roadblock perhaps has to do with how the Golden Gate Fields are located between the two adjoining cities of Berkeley and Albany.
The ordinance outlines a series of severe penalties, starting with a minimum fine of $5,000 per animal, per violation, per day, or imprisonment for a period of 30 days to one year.
In explaining the proposed requirement to provide racehorses with broad pasture access during a favorable time of day, the ordinance argued that colic, pleurisy, and pneumonia were problems. How the problem is made worse by excessive confinement.
“Locking a 1200-pound animal in a 12×12 cage is like putting an elephant in a trailer or a killer whale in a swimming pool. The equine veterinarian, Dr Kraig Kulikowski, compared this to keeping a child in a 4×4 cupboard for 23 hours a day, abuse punishable by law,” the ordinance states. .
In recent years, Golden Gate Fields has been the target of animal rights activists.
March 2021The protesters interrupted the race by running up the track before lying in a circle of interlocking pipes.
Protesters from the animal rights organization, Direct Action Everywhere, seek to see Golden Gate Fields closed.
