Larry Swartzlander | Horse Racing Free Tips

Proposed Legislation Suggests Extra Six Months Of Racing at Golden Gate

If Golden Gate Fields is not licensed to operate beyond July 1 next year, proceeds from simulcast wagering in the north are funneled south when there is no racing in the northern half of the state, according to proposed legislation introduced in Sacramento.

The rule of thumb is that proceeds from wagers made in the “northern zone” stay in Northern California to pay for purses and operational expenses, while the proceeds from wagers made in the “southern zone” stay in Southern California for the same purposes.

According to California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) executive director, Larry Swartzlander, the legislation was drafted by CARF in agreement with The Stronach Group (TSG), on the proviso that Golden Gate Fields remains open for racing an extra six months.

TSG announced in July that it was closing the Bay Area facility at the end of December with the goal of increasing field size and adding another day of racing a week at Santa Anita.

“Our one concern from stakeholders was: Does The Stronach Group renege on us here, and doesn't extend [racing at Golden Gate Fields],” said Swartzlander, who said that CARF had tried to stipulate in the bill that Golden Gate fields remains open through June 2024.

“We wanted to put that in legislation–we wanted to–but we simply couldn't do it,” said Swartzlander, before adding that “everyone's pretty adamant that they will extend racing through June.”

TDN reached out to TSG Saturday morning with various questions, including whether the company indeed intended to extend racing an extra six months at Golden Gate Fields if the legislation is passed. TSG has not yet responded. The story will be updated accordingly.

“Consensus approval within the California racing industry to introduce this legislative amendment is a major step forward. It provides the flexibility to create a path for a new racing and business model leading into 2025 that is fair and balanced for all California owners,” wrote Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) president and CEO, Bill Nader, in a statement.

The proposed legislation states that, “notwithstanding any other law, if the board does not license a thoroughbred race meet to be conducted by a racing association at a racetrack located in the cities of Berkeley and Albany after July 1, 2024, a thoroughbred racing association, or racing fair, in the southern or central zone licensed by the board to conduct a thoroughbred race meet or fair meet shall, during racing weeks not allocated by the board for a race meet in the northern zone, be deemed to be operating in the northern zone for the purpose of conducting all permissible forms of wagering in the northern zone pursuant to this chapter and making and receiving required distributions from those wagers in accordance with this chapter.”

The language is a proposed amendment to AB 1074, co-authored by Assemblymember Miguel Santiago (D-Los Angeles) and state Senator Bill Dodd, (D-Napa).

At last month's CHRB meeting, TSG representatives had floated the idea of keeping the facility open until mid-2024 on condition that the current system of divvying up the simulcasting proceeds is revised to benefit the tracks in Southern California, where TSG is consolidating its operations.

Until now, various stakeholders in Northern California–including representatives of CARF–had voiced reservations about altering the system by which simulcast wagering proceeds are allocated.

For the purposes of simulcasting proceeds, the state is broken into three main geographical zones–the “Southern,” “Central” and “Northern” zones.

Largely speaking, the south and central zones are rolled into one big “southern zone,” roughly spanning the northern tip of San Luis Obispo County down to the Mexico border. The “northern zone” consists of the remaining counties in the state.

The monies generated from simulcasting wagering are used for a variety of operational expenses besides purses, including payments to the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority (HISA), the backstretch retirement fund and workers' compensation.

Next year's racing calendar in Northern California is, of course, still to be decided. Swartzlander floated a plan that if Golden Gate Fields remains open until mid-2024, Santa Rosa would stage a Thoroughbred meet from mid-October–when the Fresno fair meet ends–until the end of the year.

The 2025 Northern California Thoroughbred racing calendar, Swartzlander added, could still hinge around a permanent base at Cal Expo. Such a plan would apparently require reaching an agreement with California's harness racing industry, which only last year extended its lease of operations of the Cal Expo Harness racetrack until May 2030.

Swartzlander also suggested the permanent bases of any extended 2025 Thoroughbred racing calendar in the north could be split between Cal Expo and Santa Rosa.

“Negotiations are continuing,” said Swartzlander. “We'll work with them [WatchandWager Cal Expo] to come up with a solution. Whether we end up with a 50-50 split between Cal Expo and Santa Rosa, or whether we end up relocating Harness to another track, there's several options.”

The California legislature goes into recess on Sept. 14. October 14 is the last day for California Governor Gavin Newsom to sign or veto bills passed by the legislature on or before Sept. 14.

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Ferndale Grandstand Deemed Unsafe For August Meet

The operators of the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, California, are scrambling for a solution after just finding out this week that an earthquake from six months ago so badly damaged the grandstand at the half-mile racetrack that county officials now won't permit the structure to be occupied for the six-day race meet Aug. 18-20 and 25-27.

Larry Swartzlander, who serves as both the executive director California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) and the director of racing for Ferndale, told the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) during Thursday's meeting that plans are already underway to bring the grandstand up to code while also securing the use of tents as a backup so the races won't have to be scrapped.

“The county has said that the grandstand was not safe to conduct racing at the August meet,” Swartzlander said. “What has occurred since then? You know, the position of Humboldt and CARF is very clear: We will race.

“The [fair's] board, I've talked to the president and the vice-chair [Thursday] morning,” Swartzlander said. “We've already identified a contractor that will do the work, and they're having a meeting later [Thursday] with the county to put the details together. And it will be completed by Aug. 1.

“I've already got my staff working on a contingency if it would happen that we couldn't use the grandstand, [and] everything could be moved to another location [on the property], so I don't see that as a concern.”

Swartzlander did not go into greater detail about the damage and the costs to repair it, and the CHRB did not press him on those issues prior to moving ahead and unanimously approving the track's license to conduct the meet. The board did, however, instruct Swartzlander to keep the CHRB informed on the status of the repair work.

Published reports this week in two publications that cover Humboldt County filled in some of the blanks that didn't get addressed at the June 29 CHRB meeting.

The Lost Coast Outpost reported June 28 that “an engineering firm surveyed the damage at the fairgrounds following the Dec. 20 earthquake, and found that though the stands can hold the weight of the people expected to sit upon it, it would likely crumble in the event of an earthquake.”

Quoting from a recently released county report on the damage, the Lost Coast Outpost stated, “the structural engineering inspection determined that the building currently appears adequate to support vertical loads, but not lateral (seismic) loads of the type that need to be taken into account for occupant safety. Even though there is a limited window of time where the structure might be occupied, the risk of doing nothing and allowing occupation is not acceptable.”

That story further estimated a $1-million cost for a short-term fix just to enable the fair to conduct its races with people in stands shored up by bracing, while a more permanent repair would take longer to complete and would cost in the neighborhood of $2.3 million.

The North Coast Journal reported June 27 that, “The announcement of the price tag was met with palpable dismay by the board. The association currently has $628,317 in its accounts [and that the] state Office of Emergency Services would only reimburse for either the temporary fix or the permanent one, but not for both.”

It's also an open question right now as to whether the association (which runs the fair) or the county (which owns the property) is responsible for making the call on the extent of the repairs and initially paying for them before applying for whatever emergency reimbursements might be available.

The county fair itself would be allowed to operate without fixing the stands, so long as they were cordoned off. But without the revenue from racing, the fair association is facing a losing financial proposition.

“Our structural engineer says that the risk of an earthquake during that period of time is very low, but if there were to be one during the fair, it would be catastrophic,” Tom Mattson, the Humboldt County director of public works, was quoted in the North Coast Journal as saying at a public meeting.

When asked at that meeting which entity would make the call on the extent of the repair work, Mattson said, “That's a political decision, not my decision.”

Asked to provide his recommendation, Mattson said, “My recommendation would be to do the long-term fix.”

Ferndale's survival as California's northernmost county fair racing outpost has faced multiple stressors over the past year.

Back on Nov. 15, 2022, police arrested the fair association's bookkeeper on charges of embezzlement, and the fair association's general manager and three long-time directors also stepped down around the same time. The North Coast Journal reported in this week's story that the Federal Bureau of Investigation is now handling the case.

In March, the CHRB ruled that the 2023 Ferndale meet would once again have to run its second of two weeks of racing against overlapping competition from the commercial licensee Golden Gate Fields. Ferndale representatives have repeatedly told the CHRB in recent years that a second week of un-overlapped racing is required for any racing there to be viable. They have also noted that the fair plays an important role in supporting lower-level racing in the state, and have pointed out that Ferndale routinely outdraws Golden Gate in attendance.

Beyond this week's unexpected news about the grandstand being declared unfit for occupancy, the North Coast Journal additionally reported that the stands “have also been vandalized recently, with people breaking monitors and leaving broken glass behind.”

Just prior to the CHRB vote to green-light the August meet, CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales told Swartzlander, “I do know you guys can improvise so that if the grandstands are not able to be used, [there are] other areas of the premises [where] patrons can be at in a safe manner. But we have to really rely on the county's expertise, and we always put safety first…

“I remain a supporter of Humboldt racing, so we'll be looking forward to getting the 'all clear' sign if that's the case. And if not, the plans that will be made to ensure that people are safe,” Gonzales said.

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’23 Dates for Northern California Edge Closer to Finalization

A 2023 race dates template for the Northern California circuit came closer to being finalized at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting, with commissioners unanimously voting to largely mirror the framework of the 2022 schedule.

The lone exception was that the board held off on a decision on whether Ferndale (Humboldt County Fair) would once again have to run its second of two weeks of racing at the end of August against overlapping competition from the commercial licensee Golden Gate Fields.

That part of the vote was parsed out and will instead be taken up by the CHRB at the December meeting, leaving time for those two license applicants to possibly reach a compromise so commissioners don't have to impose one.

A separate lengthy discussion during the nearly 3 1/2-hour meeting involved whether Sacramento (the state fair at Cal Expo) would retain its contiguous three-week block of dates during July, or if Santa Rosa (Sonoma County Fair) would instead be allowed to expand its own August block from two weeks to three.

Commissioners ultimately decided that issue by voting to leave Cal Expo's three-week slot intact, based partially on the Sacramento track's stated commitment to try night racing this year. Lights are already installed and used at that oval for harness racing.

“We are going to actively pursue looking at night racing,” said Larry Swartzlander, the executive director California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF). “Night racing could be very lucrative financially,” he added, from the perspective of Sacramento not having to go up against major earlier-slotted simulcast signals like Saratoga and Del Mar.

However, the board did indicate that in 2024, that sought-after third week could get awarded to Santa Rosa, which offers the appeal of being the only NorCal fairs meet that has a turf course. Exactly how that third week would be carved out of the current schedule would have to be decided next year.

“We know the horsemen would much rather be in Santa Rosa than here in Sacramento,” said Rebecca Bartling, Sonoma County Fair's chief executive officer. “The weather's much better. We also feel that the purses would be much stronger.”

Alan Balch, the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT), was among those who advocated for Santa Rosa to get a third week of racing in 2024, but said, “where it comes from and how it's structured is something else again, because you have so many competing factors to deal with.”

CHRB vice chair Oscar Gonzales said that at this time, the board couldn't technically make a promise to Santa Rosa that commissioners would vote in 2023 for a three-week meet there in 2024. But he did want it on record that the board would strive to “strike a balance” on the issue.

“It's been a very difficult last couple of years for all parties involved,” Gonzales said, alluding to the pandemic. “And it's very clear stakeholders love Santa Rosa, us included.”

Gonzales then called on CHRB staffers and its legal team to come up with “a motion that can kind of hold us to the [Santa Rosa] commitment, but without making, you know, an outright promise.”

Bartling then respectfully interjected: “Isn't a commitment a promise? Or a promise a commitment?”

The CHRB then proceeded to vote on the NorCal dates, minus the Ferndale/Golden Gate impasse that had already been kicked back to the December meeting. But commissioners apparently acted without realizing no actual motion had been verbalized and/or read into the record. Nor were the actual race dates for any of the other NorCal tracks specifically referenced during the meeting prior to the voting roll call.

After the meeting, TDN contacted CHRB spokesperson Mike Marten, who said that the commissioners had intended to vote upon the slate of dates that were printed in the meeting packet, with the non-binding commitment that Santa Rosa would get three-week consideration for 2024.

So the 2023 schedule reads as follows (the dates are awarded in blocks to determine simulcast host status and do not reflect the actual schedule of race dates):

Golden Gate-Dec. 22, 2022 to June 13, 2023

Pleasanton-June 14 to July 11

Cal Expo-July 12 to Aug. 1

Santa Rosa-Aug. 2 to Aug. 15

Ferndale-Aug. 16 to 29 (potential week overlap with Golden Gate TBD)

Golden Gate-Aug. 23 to Oct. 3 (potential week overlap with Ferndale TBD)

Fresno-Oct. 4 to 17

Golden Gate-Oct. 18 to Dec. 19

Regarding the Ferndale/Golden Gate standoff, several stakeholders discussed the main issues.

Jim Morgan, the legal counsel for the Humboldt County Fair, pointed out that Ferndale needs two weeks of live racing and simulcasting revenues with host status just to survive.

Morgan also explained that, unlike Golden Gate's commercial meet that he believes primarily serves as an exported simulcast product, Ferndale draws bigger live crowds that grow on-track interest in the sport, and its meet better dovetails with neighboring Oregon's fairs season, meaning those horses often ship to and stay in California, bolstering the field sizes at other tracks.

“We're talking one week. Golden Gate has all of the rest of the year,” Morgan said. “The county can't keep paying us a grant every year to stay alive, and [the continued overlap] would kill off this venue. And I don't believe, percentage-wise, that one week's revenue for Golden Gate Fields makes a big difference in their livelihood or outcome. But it makes a world of difference for Humboldt County Fair. We should not be penalized because we're smaller.”

Balch, of the CTT, weighed in with support for Golden Gate keeping its week of racing and host status instead of having Ferndale get it.

“I think it's extremely important to remember that Golden Gate Fields is the anchor and the fundamental foundation for fair racing in Northern California, because Golden Gate is the track that keeps the industry going on a year-round basis,” Balch said, adding that “there's always been tension in balancing the interests of Golden Gate with the fairs.”

Craig Fravel, chief executive officer at 1/ST Racing, spoke on behalf of Golden Gate. Under questioning from commissioners, he conceded that his organization would likely “be supportive” of an idea that got brought up whereby Ferndale got its unopposed second week of live racing while Golden Gate retained simulcast host status during the same time.

“Everyone keeps expecting us to stay open for training while meets are taking place at fairs, [so] being compensated for [that expense] would certainly be something that we would welcome, and [having] a break in the calendar is not a negative for us,” Fravel said.

Swartzlander, of CARF, urged everyone to look at the overall picture.

“We all have to understand that racing in Northern California is a continuum,” Swartzlander said. “Like any major sports, we have our AAA, AA and A teams. [The smaller entities] support the Del Mars and the Santa Anitas. We need to keep the fairs in strength, and we support what goes on in all racing.”

The CHRB had already finalized the Southern California racing schedule at its September meeting.

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