Vocal Two-Circuit Supporters in Cali Come Out Firing in First of Many Expected North/South Skirmishes

The precarious, up-in-the-air future of California racing and whether or not the state can continue to support two geographic year-round circuits was made no clearer after Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. The 3 1/2-hour session was dominated by discussion of competing North-versus-South plans that both tried to carve a sustainable path forward while underscoring the dire circumstances that face the industry with the June 9 closure of Golden Gate Fields looming like an unavoidable asteroid.

Although the CHRB concluded the meeting–which featured testimony that was at times emotional, hopeful, angry, and even ominous–without taking any voting action on the situation, proponents behind ideas that would turn one of the NorCal fairs locations into a venue capable of hosting nearly year-round Thoroughbred racing had a decided edge in turnout and vocal support.

In part, that's because those NorCal-based supporters enjoyed a home-track advantage, because the Jan. 18 CHRB meeting was held at Cal Expo in Sacramento, the preferred location for a year-round venue as outlined in a presentation by the California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF).

But the locale wasn't the only factor, as much of the back-and-forth debate also came across as a referendum about larger racing entities allegedly trying to trump smaller ones, whether or not 1/ST Racing and Gaming–which owns both Golden Gate and Santa Anita Park–will be good for the state in the long run, and whether or not the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) organization speaks for all the stakeholders in the state or just the higher-end stables based in SoCal.

Yet it was telling that no fewer than 26 industry stakeholders spoke before the board on this wide-ranging, controversial North/South topic during the public commentary period, and not a single one voiced support for an alternate plan proposed by TOC in conjunction with executives from Santa Anita Park and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

That TOC-backed concept would consolidate all commercial-track racing in the state at SoCal. The goal would be to maintain level purses there under a simulcast revenue “redirect” plan that would also try to accommodate displaced Golden Gate outfits by creating more opportunities for lower-level horses to race at Los Alamitos Race Course, dropping the “claiming floors” at both Santa Anita and Del Mar, and establishing “relocation allowances” for stables that had to pack up and move.

The TOC's takeaway message was that even though it is in support of any “feasible and viable” plan to keep year-round racing afloat in NorCal, a danger exists in the form of increasing economic pressures in the South that, in turn, could contribute to millions of dollars in purse overpayments at Santa Anita and Del Mar that would likely erode the overall California product.

“With the closing of Golden Gate, can we continue to support two full-time circuits? This is a fair question,” said Bill Nader, the TOC's president and chief executive officer.

“We are running out of time,” Nader continued. “If there is agreement on one point, I think it would be that the latest possible decision on the allocation of 2024-25 race dates would be at the CHRB meeting in March. This would help re-establish stability and certainty for the many who are looking for answers.”

Nader's tone was largely somber and straightforward as he discussed the TOC's rationale with executives from 1/ST Racing and Del Mar presenting alongside. But at times his comments were met with derision and catcalls from opponents, who greatly outnumbered the supporters of the TOC's plan.

Many of those same folks also cheered and applauded any mentions of trying to save year-round NorCal racing.

At one point, CHRB chairman Gregory Ferraro, DVM, asked audience members to respect decorum so that the outbursts wouldn't bog down the meeting. But his request to “stop the clapping and the booing” went largely unheeded.

Larry Swartzlander, the executive director for CARF, detailed his organization's work-in-progress plan to install a seven-furlong track inside the current main mile oval at Cal Expo, which for years has largely hosted Standardbred racing outside of the short season that the Thoroughbred fair races in Sacramento.

Swartzlander said Cal Expo would likely race 103 Thoroughbred dates in the future (on the outer oval), with cards scheduled roughly twice weekly when the other NorCal fairs weren't in season.

“We are looking at funding from horsemen, CARF, and potential grants,” Swartzlander said, admitting that his plan is just in its initial stages because horsemen in California have only known since July about 1/ST Racing's plan to close Golden Gate.

As a result, Swartzlander was light on specifics such as firm costs and a timeline.

Swartzlander said next up is a Jan. 26 meeting with the Cal Expo board of directors seeking conceptual approval.

“If the board does decline to approve racing at Cal Expo, we will move to Pleasanton,” as a potential year-round NorCal racing home, Swartzlander said. “The Pleasanton board is very strongly in support of racing, and if I have to make one commitment to you, Pleasanton will race.”

When CHRB executive director Scott Chaney pressed Swartzlander for cost details, Swartzlander gave an estimate for state-owned Cal Expo's overhaul in the $1- to 1.5-million range.

Chaney expressed surprise at such a low figure.

“I'm not going to lie. I think you're very low,” Chaney said.

“One of the things that concerns all of us is uncertainty right now,” Chaney said. “We're, I'm sure, bleeding horses every day because there's no clear plan. We don't know what we're doing in the future [and] I am concerned about timeline and cost at Cal Expo. I just think it's unrealistic. I know it's unrealistic, to be honest.”

Commissioner Wendy Mitchell said she appreciated CARF's efforts at coming up with a plan, but also expressed doubts.

“I don't see how any of this lines up,” Mitchell said. “And I guess my concern from a regulatory or from the industry perspective is I don't want to create false expectations for people that are really unattainable…. I don't mean to be negative or a doubter, but I'm trying to be realistic and pragmatic about what the industry is facing.”

Commissioner Damascus Castellanos said that the time crunch and uncertainty was caused by 1/ST Racing, not CARF.

“The industry was kind of slow to get going on this whole thing,” Castellanos said. “We would be so further along if [1/ST Racing] came to us with proper notice [and] the groups in this room today probably could have gotten together and been done with this plan.”

Ian McLean, an owner and breeder, said during the public commentary session that the CHRB itself is partly to blame.

“If I'm not mistaken, this board works for us. We don't work for you,” McLean said. “The one thing that I've asked this board for years and years is to give us more attention in NorCal. Give us more time. Make us more important. Listen to what we have to say, and make us feel like we matter. And I don't think that's been done.”

McLean said the CHRB's response to CARF's proposal is too focused on negativity and “looking for the holes” in the plan.

“And I agree that you should look for the holes,” McLean continued. “But you should also look for 'How could we patch those holes?'”

Jamey Thomas, a third-generation NorCal trainer, advocated for the CHRB taking a slower approach.

“CARF needs time to get all this situated and done,” Thomas said. “It's kind of been a rush job. They're rushing us, forcing us, to get this stuff done faster than it can be done. Again, if they had let us know a year ago, by now everything could have been in place, we would have had a place to run. And we will have a place to run. The thing is, we just need the time.”

Tom Bachman, who said he's been breeding and selling Thoroughbreds in California for 40 years, underscored that the state's bloodstock industry works on a different timeline.

“My concern as a breeder is that the decisions I make today, the results are three or four years away when I've got to sell,” said Bachman. “So it's very difficult to have faith that three or four years from now there's sustainable racing in California. So my breeding now has moved to Kentucky.”

Johnny Taboada, who was a TOC director until last Sunday, when he was one of three directors to resign in protest over the TOC's proposed statewide consolidation, told the CHRB that the NorCal fairs are in jeopardy without a year-round track in the region.

“If you rush into the decision without giving the chance for the NorCal [entities to come up with an plan for a] circuit, you're going to not only put people out of work, you're going to be closing the fairs as well,” Taboada said. “If we don't have the dates assigned to the North and therefore the money goes to the South, that will be the end of not only NorCal racing, but also the fairs.”

CHRB chairman Ferraro wrapped up the session by saying that this is only the first major discussion on an enormously important topic.

“We needed your information. We need your input,” Ferraro said. “I'm telling you, it's not easy sitting in this chair looking at this situation. It is almost a no-win situation for this board. We're going to do the best we can to do right by everybody. But obviously, we have no decision-making [Thursday], so we will have to end this meeting without a decision, and we'll see what happens over the next couple of months.”

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CHRB Sets ’24 NorCal Schedule, but GGF’s Closure Remains ‘Elephant in the Room’

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday approved a calendar that fleshed out the Northern California racing schedule through mid-September 2024. But the initiative still left race-date gaps late in the year that must be addressed both for next season and the future as stakeholders and regulators attempt to realign the circuit in the wake of news that Golden Gate Fields will not be part of the racing landscape beyond next June.

Back on July 16, 1/ST Racing, which owns both Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields, announced that Golden Gate would cease racing at the end of 2023. That timetable was later revamped by 1/ST Racing, which earlier this month announced that it would keep NorCal's last remaining commercial track open through mid-June of 2024 in an effort to provide stability for a circuit that will soon have to rely on extended fairs racing to remain viable.

Prior to the CHRB's 7-0 vote on Sept. 21 to approve 2024 dates for the work-in-progress circuit, Scott Chaney, the board's executive director, explained that even though a measure of short-term certainty would be achieved, at some near-future point everyone involved in the process would have to deal with the “elephant in the room” that will arrive in the form of Golden Gate not opening on Sept. 11, 2024, for its traditional autumn meet.

Chaney outlined two likely post-Golden Gate scenarios: That entities wanting to conduct new race meets will “find a home for dates and make more of a year-round racing calendar,” or the NorCal circuit will morph into “a really great fair season each summer, and [then try] to take care of those horses that might not have a place to run in Southern California” while NorCal racing goes dark, perhaps for months at a time.

“So I think that's what's facing the industry going forward,” Chaney said. “We've kind of kicked the can down the road a little bit, and I really appreciate [the six-month Golden Gate extension]. But the hard decisions, we've really just forestalled them for a few more months.”

Chaney also underscored that any entity wishing to fill the NorCal dates void would be advised to get its act together sooner rather than later, “because we have humans and horses that we have to think about come the end of fair racing next year.”

Chaney read into the record the schedule the commissioners approved. At least for right now, it will look like this for 2023-24:

“Golden Gate Fields from late December through June; followed by the normal four weeks of Alameda County Fair; followed by the normal three weeks at Cal Expo; followed by Santa Rosa, who is requesting and is interested in an additional third week, and then followed by Ferndale, who also is interested in a third week,” Chaney said.

“So that takes us through Sept. 10,” Chaney said. “The one remaining fair would be Fresno, and they are requesting the first two weeks of October. So that leaves the last few weeks of September, and then mid-October through December, unallocated.”

Larry Swartzlander, the executive director of California Authority of Racing Fairs, told the board prior to the vote that, “We would like to see the dates awarded for the fall period, but at this point we don't have a definite location.”

CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales tried to strike a positive tone by pointing out that while not perfect, the NorCal situation is not as bleak as it looked two months ago when the bombshell Golden Gate news first dropped.

“We definitely want to reassure Northern California horsemen, breeders and owners in particular, that racing will continue; that this board is going to do everything that we can,” Gonzales said, alluding to the work that still needs to be done.

Bill Nader, the president and chief executive officer of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), pledged his organization's support for NorCal, and he said the TOC recognized the important role the circuit plays in the state's overall racing.

But Nader did express concern about a third week of racing at Ferndale, which he said averaged only 5.12 starters per race over two weeks this summer.

“So to stretch it to three weeks, from the TOC point of view…I just think it might be one step too far,” Nader said, adding that keeping the Ferndale meet at two weeks, at least for now, “would make better sense.”

Swartzlander defended Ferndale based on its small-track aesthetics trumping the low number of starters.

“When you talk about the number of horses, last year we had 5.02, which was less than we had this year,” Swartzlander said. “Every year Ferndale is basically in that category. You know, I can't applaud it or say negatively against it. It is what it is. And if you've been up there–great fans; have a good time–it's just a good atmosphere. And I believe with the third week, and also you change the playing field in Northern California, [we] expect to have better support.”

Gonzales pointed out that by allocating dates on Thursday, the CHRB wasn't outright approving a three-week license for Ferndale. That decision to grant actual licensure will happen closer to the race meet's start, which is standard procedure for the CHRB. Gonzales said if veterinarians and other CHRB staffers at that time present evidence that three weeks at Ferndale would be too much of a strain or a stress on horses, the board will address the issue.

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SoCal Dates Set; Cal Expo Could Race Nights in ’23

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday approved a 2023 schedule for the Southern California circuit that largely mirrors this year's version.

A final vote on the Northern California schedule was put off until the CHRB's October meeting.

But one new idea floated for the NorCal circuit during the Sep. 15 meeting could involve the Cal Expo state fair meet running either twilight or night programs next year.

Concerns over dangerously high temperatures during July, when Cal Expo is expected to receive its three-week block of dates, were cited by CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales as a reason for moving away from afternoon first posts.

The Sacramento track is already equipped with lights for the harness meet that it conducts in other parts of the year.

“We are prepared to help the industry, as we have in the past,” said Rick Pickering, the chief executive officer and general manager for the California Exposition and State Fair, adding that Thursday was the first time any NorCal stakeholders or CHRB members have approached him about running under the lights.

“The top priority for us is the safety of the people, the jockeys, the racing individuals, and the safety of the horses. If that's what it takes to have the best possible safe meet, let's take a look at that and see what it takes to make it actually happen,” Pickering said.

Pickering said that there are no evening concerts that use the horse racing grandstand during the fair, and although fireworks shows are sometimes scheduled, they begin at 10 p.m., presumably after racing would be finished for the night.

“Heat is something we're paying attention to. And if that's what we need to do to keep the animals and the people safe, your state fair wants to be cutting edge. We don't want to be, 'We thought about it after the fact.'”

The CHRB annually awards its race dates weekly blocks that determine simulcasting privileges. An issue that arose Thursday was which SoCal track would get those privileges during the non-racing cushion week between the county fair meet at Los Alamitos and Del Mar.

Recently, Del Mar has been awarded the simulcasting designation for that time slot, and it will again retain that week in '23.

But the board did include language in its approved motion that could shift one week of simulcasting privileges to Los Alamitos in 2024. It wouldn't necessarily have to be a July week and could come elsewhere in the calendar year, the CHRB discussed.

Gonzales altered his motion to approve '23 SoCal race dates so it stated, “with an amendment that in 2024 the intent of the board will be to award a dark week with that revenue stream to Los Alamitos.”

The vote on the SoCal dates was 6-1, with commissioner Wendy Mitchell opposing.

Prior to the vote, Mitchell had expressed concerns about making guarantees to license applicants about what the board might vote on for 2024.

“I would like us to look at the two-year calendar versus kind of just doing this ad hoc when [track applicants] pitch a hissy fit,” Mitchell said.

So the '23 SoCal schedule will be as follows (again, with dates allocations in blocks, and actual race dates to be approved by the CHRB just prior to each meet):

Santa Anita-Dec. 21, 2022 to June 20, 2023

Los Alamitos (LA County Fair)-June 21 to July 11

Del Mar-July 12 to Sept. 12

Los Alamitos-Sept. 13 to 26

Santa Anita-Sept. 27 to Nov. 7

Del Mar-Nov. 8 to Dec. 5

Los Alamitos-Dec. 6 to 19

 

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Weight Breaks for California Jockeys in Pipeline

Following through on a discussion started at last month's meeting, California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) advanced Thursday a rule amendment designed to provide jockeys with weight breaks that are more in line with 21st Century human physiology.

By unanimous vote, the CHRB proposed Thoroughbred rule changes that would raise the minimum weight for established riders from 112 pounds to 114 pounds in overnight races (subject to apprentice allowances) and from 103 to 105 pounds in handicap and stakes races.

The board also advanced a separate amendment that would reduce the amount of overweight a Thoroughbred jockey can carry from seven pounds to five.

According to a staff analysis published in the CHRB's meeting packet, the overweight reduction change “is being done in conjunction with raising the weight minimums for jockeys by two pounds based on discussions with the Jockeys' Guild and racing secretaries.

“Both of these groups agreed that two pounds will help riders' health but not force the racing secretaries to change their average assigned weight too much. Therefore, if we are raising the minimum jockey weight two pounds, we need to drop the maximum allowable overweight two pounds so that we are not adding weight to horses which could introduce animal welfare concerns.”

For Quarter Horse races, “the minimum weight to be carried shall be 120 pounds, regardless of any otherwise permitted allowance,” according to the version of the amendment provided in the meeting packet.

A different rule change also discussed a month ago by the CHRB that would start apprentice allowances at seven pounds (instead of the current 10) is also in the pipeline.

Scott Chaney, the CHRB's executive director, said making amendments to that existing rule are “a lot more extensive” and will be brought before the board at a later date.

There was only minimal commissioner discussion and no members of the public commented on the weight issues. A final vote will take place at a future meeting after another opportunity for commenting.

Opening day sellout looms

In light of management-imposed attendance limitations for the first day of the season July 22, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC) president Josh Rubinstein told the CHRB that, “We expect opening day to sell out later this week.”

Rubinstein said that Del Mar will be “significantly reducing general admission ticketing” for opening day only without mentioning a specific attendance cap number.

“Based on the feedback we received in 2021, especially when we hosted the Breeders' Cup, [we have] limited capacity for opening day this summer, which is traditionally our biggest day,” Rubinstein said. “We will continue to sell every box, every table, every seat. But we want to ensure [that] our core customers, the people that are with us week in and week out, have a quality experience. So we are capping opening day.”

Cal Expo back in action

The Thoroughbred meet at Cal Expo (aka Sacramento), which got cancelled the past two years along with the annual summer state fair there, will be back in action July 15-31, with racing on a Friday-through-Sunday basis.

In 2020 and '21, the fairgrounds property got turned into a COVID-19 testing and vaccination facility. Although night harness racing eventually restarted, with the most recent meet concluding in May, the Thoroughbred meets got moved to Pleasanton.

Larry Swartzlander, the executive director of the California Authority of Racing Fairs and the director of racing at Cal Expo, said the track is in “excellent shape,” with 300 horses already stabled on the grounds.

“It's been two years to finally get back to racing over there,” Swartzlander said. “The [California] Governor's Cup will be back–a $75,000 guaranteed race. The overnight purses are being raised approximately $200,000. We don't call it Ship & Win like Del Mar, but we've always had an out-of-state incentive to owners and trainers.”

The state fair operators used the downtime from not hosting a summer fair or Thoroughbred racing over the past two years to make some $18 million in improvements.

Although many of the infrastructural upgrades will not be noticeable (like miles of new underground gas lines, the drilling of a new well, new roofing on buildings), they are the types of long-term facility investments that will enable Cal Expo to conduct future race meets.
Horse people are, however, likely to notice a new restaurant that got built near the stabling area.

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