Pleasanton training extension is OK'd; group aims to renew racing

The Alameda County, Calif., fair board of directors approved a one-month extension to keep the Pleasanton racetrack open as a training facility while a new business entity explores the possibility of resuming horse racing during this summer’s fair.

The extension approved late Tuesday gave trainers, owners and backstretch workers at least a temporary reprieve from the planned closure Tuesday of the Pleasanton training center, according to several people who attended.

“Today we feel much, much better because the light remains on for us,” said Johnny Taboada, a longtime Northern California horse owner best known for the Horses for Autism program he founded. “We didn’t want to stop training, and now they have given us a possibility to continue.” 

Taboada was one of about 200 people, many of them trainers and other backstretch workers, who attended Tuesday night’s meeting. He said those who made public comments were almost unanimously behind resuming racing.

“Every single person spoke in favor of the fairs. There was no person who spoke out against racing,” he said.

The training center extension also provides a lifeline to potentially revive at least one stop on what formerly was a summer-fall circuit that rotated among five California fairs – in Alameda, Fresno, Humboldt and Sonoma counties and the state Cal-Expo in Sacramento. 

A new business entity, Bernal Park Racing, is behind the effort to revive racing at Pleasanton, said Stephanie Wedge, a spokesperson for the group. Among its principals are John Harris, owner of Harris Ranch in central California, and George Schmitt of Pleasanton. They have offered to put up a $2 million credit line to return racing to the Alameda County fair.

Wedge said the group will put in a request soon for race dates and already submitted a proposed contract to the fair for review. She said she believes the group demonstrated that it has the resources to pull off the resumption of racing at Tuesday’s meeting. 

“My feeling was that we educated the board,” she said. “We showed up with signs, we showed up with materials, proof of what we were speaking about. We backed up our facts.”

Backers of the Pleasanton plan hope some of the other fairs also might get back on board if the new group in Pleasanton succeeds in restoring racing at what is by some measures the oldest racetrack in the U.S.

The group will have to clear a number of obstacles before racing can return to Pleasanton.

Chief among them are longstanding wastewater management and stormwater discharge problems, which resulted in the fair being found in violation of San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board standards.

Fairgrounds management has made some progress in addressing the issue, and the manager of the water board told NBC Bay Area last week that the agency is willing to come up with a water plan to keep the track open and that it has not set any deadlines for compliance, suggesting that training and racing could occur as work continues.

The Northern California racing backers also will have to ensure that there are enough horses on the grounds to support a race meet, arrange for technical support for wagering and backstretch operations and oversee compliance with regulations put forth by the national Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority.

Pleasanton has served as a base for training in Northern California since June, when Golden Gate Fields was permanently shuttered by 1/ST Racing. Pleasanton conducted a 13-week autumn meeting from mid-October to mid-December that resulted in what fair CEO Jerome Hoban described as “a major financial loss,” leading to the abandonment of a winter-spring meeting.

Then the California Association of Racing Fairs, which ran the fair race meetings, announced in December that it would not seek race dates for the fairs this year, citing the financial setback at Pleasanton.

Instead, Santa Anita in Southern California began offering a small number of races daily for horses based at Pleasanton, a program that includes free shipping for the round-trip of approximately 700 miles and stipends to help trainers pay their added travel expenses.

The addition of the restricted races for Northern California horses has bolstered field sizes at Santa Anita and helped increase handle at its current meeting, which opened on Dec. 26.

It was not immediately clear whether the shipping and travel payments would continue if racing is revived in Pleasanton. Calls to 1/ST Racing, Santa Anita and Hoban, the Alameda fair CEO, on Wednesday seeking comment were not returned.