Stronach Group To Close Golden Gate Fields, Focus On Santa Anita

In order to focus on its racing and training venues at Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs, The Stronach Group will close Golden Gate Fields at the end of its 2023 racing meet, the organization said in a release late on Sunday.

With the goal of increasing field sizes and adding another day of racing to the weekly racing calendar at Santa Anita Park, come Jan. 2024, officials hope this consolidation will serve to further elevate the overall customer experience at Santa Anita Park.

“The Stronach Group remains steadfastly committed to racing in California,” said Belinda Stronach, Chairwoman, Chief Executive Officer and President, The Stronach Group. “We believe that the future success of racing depends on a business model that encourages investment in Southern California, one of North America's premier racing circuits. Focusing on Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs as state-of-the-art racing and training facilities that offer enhanced program quality, increased race days, expanded wagering opportunities, and premier hospitality and entertainment experiences is vital to ensuring that California racing can continue to compete and thrive on a national level.”

Stronach added, “We recognize that the decision will have profound effects on our valued employees as well as the owners, trainers, jockeys and stable personnel at Golden Gate Fields. The Stronach Group is committed to honoring labor obligations and developing a meaningful transition plan.”

Moving forward, the company will work in cooperation with industry participants including the California Horse Racing Board, Thoroughbred Owners of California, California Thoroughbred Trainers, and Del Mar and Los Alamitos racetracks, to develop a plan to relocate horses and employees to Southern California while supporting all affected by this closure.

The California Horse Racing Board confirmed its commitment to work towards finding the best path forward for California horse racing in a release sent out soon after The Stronach Group's statement.

“Golden Gate Fields has been racing nine months out of the year in Northern California,” said CHRB Executive Director Scott Chaney. “I think it is fair to say that race-date allocations will take on a new meaning when the Board opens discussions in August for 2024 race dates. I am acutely aware of the human impact of the closure–be they CHRB employees, CHRB contractors, licensees, and, of course, Golden Gate employees–and I will be working hard to ameliorate any negative consequences and to create job and role opportunities.”

CHRB Vice Chair Oscar Gonzales, who chairs the CHRB Race Dates Committee, expressed assurance that the GGF workforce and horsemen will be treated with dignity and respect and that there will be an open and transparent process.

“While we await more details and information, Golden Gate stakeholders and Northern California horsemen should know that horse racing will continue,” said Gonzales. “We look forward to receiving and implementing the industry's transition plan. We hope the upcoming CHRB meeting [Aug. 17] and Race Dates Committee meeting [Aug. 16, both in Del Mar] will be an opportunity to share more information with the public.”

Chaney said the possibility of new off-track wagering locations in the East Bay should be part of the ongoing discussions.

Not long after The Stronach Group released its statement, Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, released his own statement.

“Today, we learned with great dismay, fear, and anxiety, on behalf of all California trainers and their thousands of employees, of the Stronach racing company's decision to discontinue racing at Golden Gate Fields later this year,” Balch's statement read. “Were it not for our contractual obligations with Golden Gate Fields and Santa Anita management, we would publicly disclose the reasons for our serious trepidation–all of which our CTT leadership has taken the initiative to discuss privately with Stronach management on several occasions, during last year and earlier this year. We can only say that we would have hoped those responsible for such a decision had taken their own contractual obligation for fairness, inclusion, communication, and honesty, as seriously as we have.

“The ramifications of this Stronach decision will be far-reaching and long-lasting. They will include, we believe, a great many unintended and mainly detrimental consequences for all of racing and Thoroughbred breeding throughout California and the West, including in Southern California. We can only hope that we are entirely wrong.”

The post Stronach Group To Close Golden Gate Fields, Focus On Santa Anita appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Ginobili Breezes Ahead Of Cigar Mile At Aqueduct

Graded-stakes winner Ginobili breezed five-eighths in :59.60 Friday at San Luis Rey Training Center in Bonsall, Calif., in preparation for next Saturday's Grade 1 Cigar Mile presented by NYRA Bets.

Trained and co-owned by Richard Baltas with Slam Dunk Racing, Richard McClanahan, and Michael Nentwig, Ginobili is named for Manu Ginobili, a retired basketball player who starred for the San Antonio Spurs.

“It was an excellent work,” Baltas said on Friday evening. “He galloped out in 1:12 and 1 and out in 1:26 and did it in a gallop. I was really happy with the way he worked. He was more relaxed than usual.”

The 4-year-old Munnings bay, a $35,000 purchase at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, graduated at second asking sprinting six furlongs in August 2019 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., ahead of a fourth-place finish in the G1 Del Mar Futurity.

That effort was followed by a difficult run of form with Ginobili hitting the board just once in his next four starts to conclude his sophomore season in October 2020.

Ginobili was given a lengthy layoff and returned in May to finish off-the-board in a turf sprint and fourth in a main-track sprint in June at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. But the addition of blinkers and a stretch out in distance in July saw Ginobili end a nine-race losing streak with a two-turn score in a one-mile optional claimer at Del Mar that garnered a career-best 104 Beyer.

Ginobili followed that effort by besting multiple graded stakes winner C Z Rocket in the seven-furlong G2 Pat O'Brien in August at Del Mar, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Ginobili performed admirably in the Dirt Mile, completing the exacta behind Life Is Good.

Baltas said that Ginobili, who was gelded in June 2020, benefitted from a number of changes.

“I turned him out and we did a minor surgery [ankle chip] on him and gave him some time and brought him back as much sounder horse as a 4-year-old,” Baltas said. “The blinkers were a big deal and the stretch out – it's been a combination of things. We're excited that he's done what he's done this year and we're hoping that will continue.”

Baltas said Ginobili was slated to ship to New York on Saturday.

The post Ginobili Breezes Ahead Of Cigar Mile At Aqueduct appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

Source of original post

Options Open for Get Her Number

Gary Barber's Get Her Number (Dialed In), off since winning the GI American Pharoah S. last September, continued to work towards his comeback with a four-furlong drill in :49.80 (1/1) at San Luis Rey Training Center Monday. While his next start has yet to be confirmed, it could come as soon as next Saturday's GII Rebel S. at Oaklawn Park.

“I'm happy with the work and he's doing very well,” trainer Peter Miller said Monday afternoon. “We are just deciding whether to put him on the plane Wednesday for the Rebel or there is a possibility of training up to the [Apr. 3 GI] Santa Anita Derby. We have a lot of options. We are just going to sleep on it tonight and then pow-wow tomorrow with the ownership group. Then make a decision and live with the consequences.”

Get Her Number, a $45,000 purchase at last year's OBS Spring Sale, opened his career with a win over five furlongs on the turf at Del Mar in August and he set the pace before settling for fourth in the Sept. 7 Del Mar Juvenile Turf. He was making his first start on dirt when he scored a 3/4-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile American Pharoah, but was sidelined after that effort.

“He's definitely more mature,” Miller said of the colt's progression from two to three. “He's a little bigger and stronger. He was a little bit nervous as a 2-year-old and he's settled down some. So we are pleased with the horse, we're just trying to figure out the best thing to do with him.”

While Miller agreed it can be frustrating to have a Grade I winning 2-year-old in the barn as the Derby trail heats up all around him, the trainer said he was content to keep his options open.

“The Derby has never been my primary goal with any horse,” Miller said. “It's just trying to do the right thing and if it falls in place, great, and if not, we can look at the [May 15 GI] Preakness S. or we can look elsewhere.”

The post Options Open for Get Her Number appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Verified by MonsterInsights