Golden Gate Fields will be closed by Stronach by end of 2023

Golden Gate Fields, the last major racetrack in Northern California, will be shut down permanently after 2023 racing dates are finished by Dec. 19, The Stronach Group announced Sunday.

The announcement originally scheduled for Monday was hastened when the Los Angeles Times broke the story early Sunday afternoon.

In a news release issued by a corporate spokesperson, Stronach said the closing of the 82-year-old racecourse in Albany and Berkeley, Calif., was being done to focus its West Coast operations on Southern California.

“In a major development aimed at consolidating, invigorating and innovating racing throughout Southern California, The Stronach Group today announced it will double down on its prestigious racing and training venues at Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs by closing Golden Gate Fields at the end of the 2023 racing meet,” the news release said.

The problem of shrinking field sizes brought on by the longtime decline in foal crops and by California’s remote location in Thoroughbred racing geography also was mentioned in the announcement. It also hinted at extending what recently has been a three-day racing week at Santa Anita.

“At the conclusion of the Golden Gate Fields meet, the company will focus on seamlessly transitioning horses from Northern California to Southern California with the goal of increasing field sizes and adding another day of racing to the weekly racing calendar at Santa Anita Park come January 2024,” the statement said. “This consolidation will provide expanded content opportunities, wagering prospects and will serve to further elevate the overall customer experience at Santa Anita Park.”

The announcement did not say what Stronach’s plans were for the 140 acres of bayside land where Golden Gate Fields has been located since it opened Feb. 1, 1941. It did, however, try to stanch the long-held fears that the company might sell off its racing assets, particularly the lucrative real estate where Santa Anita is located in Los Angeles County.

“The Stronach Group remains steadfastly committed to racing in California,” CEO Belinda Stronach was quoted as saying in Sunday’s news release. “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.”

The expected negative reaction from other stakeholders in the racing industry was swift.

“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,” California Thoroughbred Trainers executive director Alan Balch said in a Sunday statement to the Times. “The ramifications ... will include, we believe, a great many unintended and mainly detrimental consequences for all of racing and Thoroughbred breeding through California and the West, including in Southern California. We can only hope that we are entirely wrong.”

Belinda Stronach anticipated such a response in the company statement, saying, “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.”

The Stronach Group said it “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.”

Actual racing dates for the fall meet have yet to be finalized with the California Horse Racing Board, which listed Dec. 19 as the last date available for racing at Golden Gate Fields. That is a Tuesday. If the usual Friday-Sunday calendar were followed as well as a recent pattern to finish 10-16 days before Christmas, the last day of actual competition would be Dec. 10.

Golden Gate Fields was the last of the tracks in the Bay Area, where racing began in 1851, only months after California was admitted to the union. According to Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, the post-World War II era saw horses competing until 1964 at Tanforan in San Bruno and until 2008 at Bay Meadows in San Mateo.

In one form or another, the Stronach family has operated Golden Gate since 1999, when its Magna Entertainment antecedent bought the property from Ladbroke Racing.

The closing of Golden Gate Fields will leave only the fair circuit to operate races in Northern California. That circuit currently pivots around Cal Expo in Sacramento and includes county-fair dates in Ferndale, Fresno, Pleasanton and Santa Rosa.