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Golden Gate: El Camino Real Derby, San Francisco Mile Highlight Winter/Spring Stakes Schedule

Twelve races comprise the 2021 Winter/Spring meet stakes schedule at Golden Gate Fields as released from the racing office by Director of Racing/Racing Secretary, Patrick Mackey.

The 40th running of the 9-furlong El Camino Real Derby is the first race on the list. Scheduled to run on Saturday, Feb. 13, the El Camino Real Derby offers a $100,000 purse and gives the winner 10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points. For the third straight year, the victor of the El Camino Real Derby will also be granted a free berth into the second leg of the Triple Crown, the Preakness Stakes, at Pimlico Racecourse in Mid-May.

The second annual Gold Rush Weekend features the highest quality racing in Northern California. The two-day event is set to take place on Saturday, April 24, and Sunday, April 25, and is a precursor to the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs just one week later.

Six stakes are stretched across the April 24 program, including the feature race of the Winter/Spring meet: the $250,000 Grade 3 San Francisco Mile at one mile on turf.

The $100,000 California Derby for 3-year-olds is also a well-respected race, along with the $75,000 California Oaks for 3-year-old fillies and the $75,000 Lost In The Fog Stakes for the fastest sprinters on the grounds. The Camilla Urso, a five-furlong turf dash for fillies and mares, and the Golden Poppy for female turf routers completes the half-dozen stakes in what is expected to be an epic afternoon of racing.

On April 25, Sunday festivities recognize those who support the California breeding industry. Both co-featured races are a part of the “Gold Rush Series,” a sequence of stakes races throughout the year for horses that were bred or sired in California.

The Silky Sullivan Stakes, a $75,000 one-mile turf race, is named after the “last to first” fan-favorite in the late 1950s. The Campanile Stakes, also a one-mile grass affair with a $75,000 purse, is restricted to fillies.

Three-year-olds who run well against stakes company in April are likely to eye the $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes on May 23 as their next possible target.

Sophomores are also eligible to compete against older horses in the prestigious $100,000 All American Stakes on Memorial Day Monday, May 31, while the traditional closing weekend Albany Stakes for turf sprinters will be run on Saturday, June 12.

2021 GOLDEN GATE FIELDS WINTER/SPRING MEET STAKES SCHEDULE*

Saturday, Feb. 13: $100,000 El Camino Real Derby (for 3 YO's at one mile and an eighth on Tapeta)

Saturday, April 24: $250,000 Grade 3 San Francisco Mile (for 3 YO's and up at one mile on turf)

Saturday, April 24: $100,000 California Derby (for 3 YO's at one mile and a sixteenth on Tapeta)

Saturday, April 24: $75,000 California Oaks (for 3 YO fillies at one mile and a sixteenth on Tapeta)

Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Lost In The Fog (3 YO's and up at six furlongs on Tapeta)

Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Camilla Urso (Fillies and Mares 3 YO's and up at five furlongs on turf)

Saturday, April 24: $75,000 Golden Poppy (Fillies and mares 3 YO's and up at one mile and a sixteenth on turf)

Sunday, April 25: $75,000 Silky Sullivan (California-bred 3 YO's at one mile on turf)

Sunday, April 25: $75,000 Campanile (California-bred 3 YO fillies at one mile on turf)

Sunday, May 23: $75,000 Alcatraz (3 YO's at one mile on turf)

Monday, May 31: $100,000 All American (3 YO'S and up at one mile on Tapeta)

Saturday, June 12: $50,000 Albany Stakes (3 YO's and up at five furlongs on turf)

*information is subject to change

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Senate Committee Will Hear Testimony Supporting Historical Horse Racing Bill Thursday

Today at 11 am EST, the Kentucky State Senate Committee on Licensing & Occupations will hear testimony in support of Senate Bill 120, legislation to keep historical horse racing in Kentucky.

The legislation was introduced earlier this week by Senator John Schickel and Senate President Robert Stivers and is backed by a broad coalition of horse industry, business, economic development and tourism organizations, including the Kentucky Equine Education Project (KEEP), which released a statement on the bill earlier this week.

SB 120 seeks to address a recent Supreme Court ruling by maintaining the status quo Kentucky has known for the past decade so that historical horse racing can continue in our state. HHR has led to significant job creation, community investment and economic development in communities across the commonwealth.

Testimony will be provided by:

Sen. John Schickel, bill sponsor
Kelli Pendleton, president/CEO, Christian County Chamber of Commerce
Tom Drury, horse trainer
Marc Guilfoil, Kentucky Horse Racing Commission

The committee will meet in Annex Room 171 in Frankfort and will be streamed live at ket.org/legislature.

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Churchill Downs Subsidiary Sues Thoroughbred Owners Of California Over Simulcast Fee Dispute

A subsidiary of Churchill Downs, Inc. that operates advance deposit wagering companies TwinSpires and BetAmerica is suing Thoroughbred Owners of California for invoking state statute in an effort to bring a dispute over simulcast hub fees into binding arbitration.

Churchill Downs Technology Initiatives Company (CDTIC) filed the suit on Tuesday in United States District Court Central District of California's Western Division, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief while alleging that the arbitration provisions of California Business & Professions Code section 19604 are invalid and unenforceable because they violate the U.S. and California Constitutions' Due Process and Contracts Clauses.

The dispute centers around a hub agreement reached on Dec. 22, 2020, between Santa Anita Park and CDI's two online wagering companies, TwinSpires and BetAmerica. The agreement specified the percentage the ADW companies would receive on each dollar wagered by California residents using their platforms. By California statute, the maximum an ADW company may receive to facilitate a wager is 6.5%. The agreed-upon percentage in the agreement between the ADW companies and Santa Anita is redacted in the court filings. According to the lawsuit, TOC asked that the hub fee be reduced to 4.1%, which the complaint said “would cost Churchill Downs Technology millions of dollars and upset almost a decade of an established course of dealing between the contracting parties.”

TOC is not a party to the contract. By law, according to the complaint, an ADW provider can choose to enter into a hub agreement with a racetrack, a horsemen's organization, or both. However, under section 19604, the horsemen's organization (or racetrack) may file a written demand for arbitration within 10 days of receiving a copy of a hub contract. TOC did so on Dec. 31.

Two months earlier, on Oct. 28, the suit alleges, TOC president and CEO Greg Avioli asked Churchill Downs Inc. executive Mike Ziegler to “voluntarily return the equivalent of 1% of the total” wagered on the company's ADW platforms in 2020. “TOC threatened that if Churchill Downs Technology did not comply with its 'voluntary' request, it would demand arbitration pursuant to section 19604,” the complaint alleges, calling the effort a to retain additional revenue a “shakedown.”

In a statement issued by Avioli after the TOC learned of the lawsuit, he said: “ADW wagering in California increased by over 40% year over year statewide in 2020 while purse generation from live tracks and OTBs dropped substantially due to COVID-19 closures and restrictions. In 2020 CDTIC received over $7 million of hub fees from ADW wagers by California on Thoroughbred races. TOC's decision to exercise its arbitration rights under California law came after CDTIC declined to reach a voluntary settlement of the matter.”

The complaint suggests that California racing – not TwinSpires or BetAmerica – was the real beneficiary when wagering shifted from on-track to online during the pandemic.

“Online and telephonic wagering, known as advanced deposit wagering, has transformed horse racing in the state, and allowed the many stakeholders involved in horse racing to continue to prosper,” the complaint states. “This has been particularly true since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to limited races and limited spectators for months.

“ADW providers, such as TwinSpires and BetAmerica, make significant investments in technology, marketing and customer service to bring horse racing to as many fans possible, attract new fans, and make wagering on horses fun and easy,” the complaint continues. “During the COVID-19 pandemic, the ADW distribution not only kept fans engaged when they could not otherwise go to a racetrack, but also attracted and created many new fans of horseracing. Rather than appreciating this necessary and growing distribution outlet, the TOC has treated the ADW providers as competition, not as valued partners. This is bad for racing fans and horseracing as a whole.”

TOC's Avioli said the statute concerning arbitration is long established and clear.

“The specific provision in California law (Business and Professional Code 19604 et. seq.) authorizing the arbitration of hub fees is nothing new and, in fact, has been unchanged in California law for more than two decades,” Avioli said in a statement. “We intend to move forward with the hub fee arbitration in an expedited manner and believe the attempt to disrupt the arbitration by CDTIC with this last-minute federal lawsuit has no merit.”

According to section 19604, the arbitration must take place within 60 days of a formal request. The arbitrator has 15 days to render a decision on whether to maintain the contract as signed or to change the fee to the percentage requested by TOC.

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Search Me? Penn National Assistant Starter’s License Revoked

Stewards at Penn National in Grantville, Pa., have revoked the license of an assistant starter who refused to allow himself or his car to be searched after the Pennsylvania State Horse Racing Commission said it “executed a search of all Penn National starting gate crew members after receiving intelligence that an assistant starter was providing electrical devices to jockeys.”

The assistant starter, Douglas A. Dietrich, was summarily suspended on Jan. 21, one day after he refused to allow a search, according to the ruling. On Jan. 22, following an emergency hearing and “after considering all testimony and evidence,” the occupational license of Dietrich was revoked.

Stewards found that Dietrich violated 7 PA. Code Section 181.18, 185.1 (c), 185.2, 185.12, 305.32, 305.33, 179.22 and 179.23.

— SECTION 181.18. Search within track premises.

— SECTION 185.1 ( c). General Provisions (c) By acceptance of a license, a licensee consents to search and inspection by the Commission or its agents of the licensee's person, personal property and areas under the licensee's possession, care or control. The licensee explicitly consents to the seizure of any prohibited medication, drugs, paraphernalia or other illegal devices or contraband in accordance with State and Federal law and with the applicable provisions of the act.

— SECTION 185.12. Grounds for refusal, denial, suspension or revocation of license.

— SECTION 185.2. Conduct of licensee. A licensee shall not, alone or in concert with another person, engage in inappropriate, illegal or unethical conduct which violates the Commission's rules and regulations of racing, is inconsistent with the best interests and integrity of racing or otherwise undermines the general public's faith, public perception and confidence in the racing industry.

— SECTION 305.32. Power of the Stewards.

— SECTION 305.33. Disciplinary action.

— SECTION 179.22. General Power of the Judges and Stewards.

— SECTION 179.23. Jurisdiction of Judges and Stewards.

The ruling stated that Dietrich is denied access to all grounds under the jurisdiction of the commission. He has 10 days to appeal the license revocation.

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