Flatter: A loving, bittersweet farewell to Golden Gate Fields

Albany, Calif.

Sunshine and 62 degrees with a breeze blowing in off the bay, and the American and California flags gently waving, their tattered edges and faded red stripes fluttering above a decorative infield of artificial ponds and grass that looks thirsty for water.

Like too many other racetracks that have been shuttered and razed in recent years, the closing of Golden Gate Fields commands a poetic if verbose requiem.

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A long-ago editor once taught that “obituaries are the last kind thing you can do for someone,” so they should be written with that objective in mind. The same may be said of death notices for racetracks.

The last Equibase chart said 5,936 people who were admitted free of charge made rare use of the 14,000-seat grandstand that faces I-80, where westbound traffic was slow and go passing the Gateview condominiums on the way to the Bay Bridge. Traffic and weather together on the 8s.

Speaking of 8s, that was the number of fillies and mares entered in the eighth and final race ever at Golden Gate Fields, although one was scratched. Even the numerology had an imperfection.

Like the infield flags, the old grandstand also has faded hues, but for one shining, final moment, it crackled with a final burst of energy Sunday. It got loud as each rider got a leg up in the trackside paddock hard by the outer rail near the finish line. There was another swell of cheering during the final post parade.

Let the record show that Adelie, a 5-year-old mare bred in Ireland, went from worst to first carrying 5-1 odds to win the last race ever run at Golden Gate Fields. Going a two-turn mile on the turf, she pierced through traffic at the top of the stretch thanks to an insistent ride by the meet’s top jockey Assael Espinoza.

“A lot of emotions, ups and downs,” Espinoza said about this final week of the final meet. “In the races I just kept my mind on doing my job, and that’s it. But now that everything has ended, it’s mixed emotions.”

At the other end of the state watching from his home in Arcadia, Calif., winning trainer Phil D’Amato said he could relate to those ambivalent feelings.

“All the owners Omar Aldabbagh and Bing Bush were up there,” he said. “It was a nice moment for everyone. Being from California and watching Northern California racing for as long as I can remember, it’s very bittersweet. If there was going to be a last race up there, I was very happy we won it.”

The enthusiasm from the abnormally large crowd carried over when Espinoza and Adelie returned to the winner’s circle to get their photo taken with the ownership group and accept first prize in the race for a-other-thans. The purse was only $25,000, a reminder of the 25 percent reductions that were brought on by what the Stronach Group said has been a money-losing proposition in the north state. Thus the closing of the track.

“Of course we wouldn’t want to end the meet this way, but there’s nothing we can do about it,” said Espinoza, 24, a nephew of Hall of Fame jockey Víctor Espinoza. “Seeing everyone happy out here is what makes it worth it, and I’m just happy to be part of it.”

Espinoza was born in Los Angeles, but he grew up in Mexico before returning to Southern California to begin his U.S. riding career six years ago. He moved his tack three years ago to Golden Gate, where he has won four meet titles, including this last one.

“I’m just very blessed to be a part of it,” he said. “Lots of history here, opening 1941, Lost in the Fog, Billy Shoemaker rode his first race here, and me being the last leading rider here and winning the last race ever, it’s just unbelievable. Not even in my dreams I could imagine.”

Now Espinoza will go east 30 miles to Pleasanton, where the Alameda County Fair meet begins Friday. And where Northern California racing will try to make a go of a season this fall to replace what used to be at Golden Gate.

Adelie will go back to D’Amato’s barn in Southern California to race this summer at Del Mar.

“I’ve been lucky enough to go run in some big races up there in the past couple of years,” said D’Amato, who trained Balnikhov to first- and third-place finishes the past two years in the Grade 3 San Francisco Mile. “Northern California racing has been a huge part of racing in California for as long as I can remember and before that.”

With a nod to the efforts of the Stronach Group to put all its West Coast eggs in the Santa Anita basket, D’Amato hopes it will raise the tide for the whole sport.

“Now that horse racing in California has been consolidating,” he said, “hopefully they find a way to strengthen it up.”

As he was wrapping up his end of the phone conversation Sunday evening, the crowd had been replaced in the grandstand by a flock of seagulls, bringing back memories of old Kezar Stadium across the bay. That was the original home of the San Francisco 49ers, a place where fans wore hats if only to protect themselves from what seagulls would be known to liberally air drop.

Some clubhouse goers still were whiling away at a farewell party during the final hours of daylight, perhaps waiting out the slow egress of cars lurching back toward I-80, where the traffic remained slow and go.

Whatever becomes of this 83-year-old track remains to be seen. At least for the time being, it will not be a distant memory for passers-by. And certainly not for fans of racing who might not have seen the game’s best in recent years. But damned if we won’t miss it.