With the Closing of the Golden Gate, is the Nor-Cal Fashion Alternative Raceway possible?

One day, the fallout from the announcement of the Stronach Corporation (TSG) that it was closing down Golden Gate Fields year-end continued to reverberate around the platoon of coaches, owners, ranchers and other state stakeholders.

“Like you were Jimmy Stewart in It’s a wonderful lifeand you’ll lose your job right before Christmas,” coach Tim McCanna said Monday, en route to Del Mar for the track’s summer meetup. “It just really leaves stuff in the air.”

The reason for closing the Golden Gate, according to TSG’s Sunday announcement, was to centralize racing and training venues at Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs, strengthening Southern California’s horse population with the goal of increasing school scale and add a race day to the weekly Santa Anita race schedule.

McCanna, who maintains a stable of about 36 horses at Golden Gate, says that about half of his horses are luxurious enough to fit the Southern California racetrack. But for now, McCanna isn’t sure where the rest of his string is headed, he said.

As a result, McCanna says he’ll likely leave California altogether to race elsewhere. “Possibly,” he replied.

“I don’t want to,” he added. “My home is in Washington. It’s a great route for me to get back to my ranch up there and to my owners up there. I’m still running at Emerald Downs. It’s just a good fit, Northern California.

With the political winds that have pounded the California race, and Golden Gate focus has been followed by animal rights groups in recent years, many industry stakeholders feel that closure is inevitable.

More shocking was the abrupt nature of the announcement, which was not timed to coincide with the August 15 sale of foals and race-age horses at the Alameda County Fairgrounds.

“If I were those people, I wouldn’t even call a truck to pick up the horses,” said Tom Bachman, a longtime livestock owner in the state.

The decision to close the Golden Gate, Bahman added, will likely hit the state’s largest ranchers the hardest — a grim prognosis with profound implications for Santa Anita.

During Santa Anita’s recent six-month meeting, Cal hybrids accounted for about 37% of individual starts, according to DRF chart data, and they accounted for more than 20% of races.

However, although Cal crosses make up a significant portion of Santa Anita’s inventory, their influence is dwindling, according to DRF chart data. The average Cal-breed track size at Santa Anita’s recently concluded meeting was 7.36. In 2018, it was 9.01. Ten years ago, it was 9.70.

“I don’t know what will happen to the Thoroughbred Barton, Terry Lovingiers and Tommy Town – who keep a large number of horses – I just don’t know where these horses will find a home,” Bachman said. before estimating that only 10-15% of the horses in Golden Gate fit the SoCal circuit.

Bachman added: “The Stronach Corporation made a really bad decision trying to support Santa Anita with horses from the Golden Gate. “There aren’t enough horses at the Golden Gate to make a difference down there.”

Bill Nader, president and chief executive officer of Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), expressed disappointment at the lack of specifics currently being provided.

“It all happened so fast,” Nader said. “Whether someone thought this day would come or not, in the end, we were surprised by the news, but we weren’t shocked by it.

“Similarly, we don’t have the complete story yet to really have any form of meaningful discussion that could lead to a proposal on the best route to take the California race forward,” he said. front. “There are so many details missing at the moment, it’s hard to give you a full answer.”

The TDN requested an interview on Monday with a representative of TSG and submitted a series of questions.

Among the questions raised were questions about future land use at the facility and about the specific reasons for the planned closure. Earlier this month, for example, TDN report that the Berkeley City Council had issued a proposed ordinance that, if passed into law, would make it illegal to keep horses in stables for more than 10 hours a day at the Golden Gate and require each horse to be fed at least half of the voting pasture area.

TDN also asked about the organization’s short and long-term future for Santa Anita. This includes whether they plan to invest in renovating the track’s aging housing estate for stooped employees – what many will see as a gesture of unwavering commitment from the track. organized for horse racing in the state.

Golden Gate Fields | Shane Micheli/Vassar . Photography

TSG declined to answer questions. “Currently, the [Sunday] statement will be our commentary around the story. We look forward to communicating in the future about our plans,” wrote Stefan Friedman, a spokesman for TSG.

But amid the wreckage of Sunday’s announcement, the California Racing Fairs Authority (CARF) quickly emerged with a viable alternative vision of Northern California racing.

CARF CEO Larry Swartzlander shares with TDN Second, a one-page document outlining CARF’s stance on the 2024 racing program.

Among the points raised, CARF proposes:

-That’s TSG re-evaluating the closing date of Golden Gate to last until the end of June. This will give the parties involved more time to reschedule the race.

-It was the Cal Expo in Sacramento that became the “base of operations” for the year-round races in Northern California.

-It was CARF that formed a new racing association called “Capitol Racing.”

-Find revenue sources to support “capital improvement” at Capitol Racing tracks, including a new grass track at Cal Expo.

-New race schedule with reduced dates for the purpose of improving field size, getting back to racing four days a week, and giving Cal Expo grass time to recover, among other reasons.

-Transfer summer racing at Cal Expo to evening.

According to Swartzlander, a new lawn at Cal Expo will take about six months to build and cost about $6 million.

There is currently no funding source for the proposed track, although Swartzlander said there are “various sources of funding” he is considering.

“This is a unilateral decision,” Swartzlander said of TSG’s Sunday announcement. “And now, all of this needs to be reassessed with all of California’s stakeholders.”

The next meeting of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) will be on August 16.

When approached about the CARF proposals Monday morning, Alan Balch, executive director of California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), declined to comment, other than to say that “we don’t know what a CARF plan is.” and we will rate what we see. when we see it.”

Nader also equivocates similarly. “We can see that as an option and we’ll talk to them later this week,” Nader said.

“But again, we have to put it down with what this plan will look like—we’ll call it the 1/ST Racing, Santa Anita and San Luis Rey plan. Until we have those things side-by-side, I don’t think it’s really possible to come to any meaningful decisions,” he said, adding that the TOC board had been scheduled to meet over the weekend. phone on Monday afternoon.

“I think emotions are going to run high,” he said. “It will probably be a lively conversation. But we won’t have a unified view because there are a lot of pieces that are still unclear.”

Given the overall quality of racehorses participating at the Golden Gate, a potential impediment to that group’s widespread participation at Santa Anita would be the $10,000 minimum requirement threshold at the racetrack—a licensing condition imposed by CHRB imposed in 2019.

However, according to agency spokesman Mike Marten, the CHRB has reviewed Santa Anita’s most recent permit application — extending their recently concluded winter-spring 2022-2023 meeting — and that condition.” not discussed or included.”

Another issue in this whole disjointed story is the possibility of TSG buying the Arizona Downs track, as reported by TDN in August last year.

As of Monday morning, Tom Auther, owner and partner of Arizona Downs, said he and his partners have continued to speak with TSG representatives “from time to time,” but other potential buyers. walking around the facility.

“I don’t know if the departure of Golden Gate will help, hurt or make any difference,” he said, when asked if the announcement would change the color of the talks. judge whether this is happening or not. “We passed a few other entities through it. But I don’t want to make everything sound like it’s going to happen because it’s not.”