Stronach exec says Golden Gate could get 6-month reprieve

An executive with The Stronach Group told a California Horse Racing Board committee Wednesday that the closing of Golden Gate Fields could be pushed back from December to June, but anything long term would be a financial failure.

Aidan Butler, CEO of Stronach’s 1/ST Racing, told the group, “We will do everything we can to keep it open for a short period.” He defined that to be about six months.

Holding its meeting at a hotel in Del Mar, Calif., the CHRB race-dates committee took Butler’s statement under advisement without making a final decision on the exact calendar for 2024. The full CHRB meets Thursday to get a report from the committee, but the only pertinent action shown on the agenda is for Southern California dates.

The intended Dec. 10 closing of Golden Gate Fields was announced hastily by Stronach on July 16, the Sunday afternoon when the Los Angeles Times broke the news.

Committee member Wendy Mitchell wondered Wednesday why the announcement came “basically overnight” when she said “the governor’s office had heard about it months before we did.”

“We weren’t aware, either, from a racing standpoint,” Butler said. “Our company is a large company. I am the CEO of racing and gaming, but I was not part and parcel of that conversation. You would think I would be, but I wasn’t. That was a conversation that had been had between corporate and the governor’s office. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, either, why it was such a quick announcement.”

Butler told the committee the economic reality of California racing dictated a consolidation of the sport in the southern part of the state. He added that decisions needed to be made now in order to re-establish a strong foundation for the future.

Asked by Mitchell what was needed to keep Golden Gate open until the middle of 2024, Butler said he could not offer specifics because of bills that have yet to be introduced in the state legislature. He did, however, double down on the economic challenges facing Northern California racing.

“There seems to be some legislation trying to be introduced which, depending on what that is or isn’t, could render this a moot subject,” Butler said. “I can’t give you an exact what it is, but we don’t believe Northern California can sustain anywhere close to year-round racing.”

Butler disagreed with the California Association of Racing Fairs’ belief that the sport could continue in the north state throughout the year with a new hub at Cal Expo in Sacramento.

“To make statements that the fairs are doing great, I stare at the handle,” Butler said. “I don’t have much of a life. The betting just isn’t there. It isn’t doing well.”

Butler did not say anything about Stronach’s plans for the 140 acres of bayside land in Albany and Berkeley, Calif., where Golden Gate Fields has been located since it opened Feb. 1, 1941.