Pleasanton training center could close sooner than planned

Plans have changed for Northern California horses to be stabled and trained at Pleasanton and vanned to Santa Anita for races during the winter.

An agreement reached in December called for the arrangement to run through early June. But a text message to horsemen from the Southern California stabling and vanning committee said the Alameda County Fair requested the term be shortened to end March 25. 

The Alameda County Fair and the California Association of Racing Fairs can extend the agreement to the originally proposed June 10 if there are 500 or more horses tabled at Pleasanton, according to the text.

The agreement comes in the wake of upheaval in Northern California racing after the closure of Golden Gate Fields in June. Horsemen from the north created a new circuit in Pleasanton, but it failed after only one meet. A 27-day calendar attracted barely one-third the handle Golden Gate got last fall, so Golden State Racing decided not to keep going this winter. Two purse reductions during the meet signaled the fate of the venture, which was run by the same people who put on summer races during county fairs.