Golden Gate gets its wish to share August dates with Ferndale

The contentious, final piece of the California calendar puzzle fell into place Thursday when regulators decided to let Golden Gate Fields and the Humboldt County Fair hold races on the same summer weekend, BloodHorse and Daily Racing Form reported.

The 5-1 vote of the California Horse Racing Board was a victory for Golden Gate owner 1/ST Racing, whose executives said Aug. 25-27 offered horsemen vital turf options that would not have been available at the small track in Ferndale, Calif.

The California Authority of Racing Fairs countered that splitting the dates between the two tracks would hurt Humboldt more, because the $200,000 that one track or the other would lose in simulcast commissions would put a bigger dent in its small budget.

As a result of the CHRB vote in Arcadia, Calif., the Humboldt races will fall between Aug. 16 and 29. Golden Gate will hold its summer-fall meet Aug. 23-Oct. 3.

When the matter came up at a Jan. 19 meeting, the CHRB voted 3-2 in favor of letting Humboldt have the weekend to itself. However, four votes were required for the motion to pass, leading to the postponement of the decision until Thursday. CHRB vice chairperson Oscar Gonzales was the only member to vote each time for Humboldt to have the dates to itself.