California allocates race dates for Golden Gate until June 2024
The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday allocated racing days for Golden Gate Fields that would keep the historic Northern California track operating into June 2024, nearly six months past the closing date announced by The Stronach Group this summer.
The racing schedule approved unanimously by the board allocates racing dates for Golden Gate through June 11, a Tuesday, though the track's final meeting would more likely conclude on June 9, the day after the Belmont Stakes and the traditional closing date for the track’s spring-summer meet.
TSG's racetrack operations and wagering arm, 1/ST Racing, will specify the dates for the final meet at the track built in 1941 on the eastern shore of the San Francisco in a licensing request that will be considered by the CHRB at a future meeting.
The calendar approved Thursday also would expand racing on California’s fair circuit, with added weeks for both the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa and the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, and eliminate overlaps that have long been a sore point for the racing fairs.
But it did not clarify what California’s racing calendar will look like beyond the conclusion of the Fresno County Fair on Oct. 15. The fairs are expected to seek additional dates late in the year to try to keep some semblance of a year-round circuit in the north and the board also will consider those requests at a future meeting.
The Stronach Group announced on July 16 that it planned to close Golden Gate for good on Dec. 19, at the conclusion of its fall-winter meet, and focus on boosting racing at Santa Anita Park in Southern California, which it also owns.
But it announced last week that it would request additional dates for the first half of 2024 in the expectation that California Gov. Gavin Newsom will sign a bill favorable to the state's horse racing industry. The bill, approved a week ago by the state Legislature, would divert simulcast betting dollars to Southern California when the northern part of the state is not hosting any races.
Newsom has until Oct. 14 to sign the legislation, which would take effect on July 1.