Stronach invests in Santa Anita, quiet about Golden Gate future

In a media teleconference to announce a $31.78 million investment in Southern California racing at Santa Anita, two 1/ST Racing executives were limited on details Friday when they were asked to elaborate on this month’s announced Dec. 10 closing of Golden Gate Fields in Northern California.

“As far as future plans for the property, the only thing I can say is that you have heard reports of negotiations going on,” 1/ST Racing chief executive officer Craig Fravel said. “Those are not things that we can discuss publicly. When we do have something to announce in that regard, whatever the future of Golden Gate might be right now, those are private discussions, and we’re not in a position to disclose those any further.”

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Other than to all but confirm there have been talks, Fravel and chief operating officer Aidan Butler offered little more about the future of the 140 acres in Alameda County that have hosted racing for most of the last 82 years.

Asked about the secrecy that was broken by leaks two weeks ago and the sudden announcement July 16 of the impending closure, Fravel said, “There are private negotiations going on, and sometimes one has to keep things quiet until the last possible minute. So it did get leaked out for much sooner than we had anticipated, and our schedule for consulting and informing others was disrupted. That was unfortunate. We’re making up for it now with continuous and ongoing discussions with those folks, and we hope they understand why it happened the way it did. Now we’re going to move on with our business.”

The “folks” Fravel referenced were breeders, owners, horsemen, stable staffs and track employees who have called Golden Gate their work home. They have been offered the chance to transfer to 1/ST Racing’s tracks at Santa Anita and San Luis Rey. But with only $1 million of the $31.78 million investment earmarked for that purpose and limited barn space for horses, Butler said there were only so many who could make the move.

“There is a limit,” he said, “and that, unfortunately, is dictated by the amount of stalls that are available in the Southern California ecosystem.”

Butler said “there’s no hard and fast rule” to how the $1 million will be distributed.

“We’ve tried to be as helpful as possible where we’ve ticked off not only a stipend per horse that comes down but also stipends if jockeys can try and integrate down in the south,” Butler said without spelling out specific amounts. “There is a separate piece that covers off on trainers themselves as humans moving around and their employees.”

The half-hour session with reporters opened with the announcement of 1/ST’s investment to consolidate racing in Southern California, including the $23.2 million refurbishing of the stable area at Santa Anita, the installation of a $4.5 million Tapeta surface to replace the current training track, the building of a $2.5 million chute that will join the base of the downhill grass course to allow for single-turn, one-mile turf races and more than $500,000 for an equine-therapy swimming pool.

“We are confident that this comprehensive package of important measures will not only bolster the racing, training, owner and fan experience at Santa Anita Park, ‘The Great Race Place,’ but also support Northern California stakeholders through a challenging transition period and lead the way with state and industry-wide changes that will result in a healthier, competitive and sustainable future for Thoroughbred racing in Southern California,” Belinda Stronach, president of The Stronach Group that owns 1/ST Racing, said in a written statement.

Friday’s announcement confirmed 1/ST Racing’s intent to add a fourth day of racing each week, or a total of 26 race days per year, to accommodate Northern California horses. Golden Gate ran 120 days of races last year and is expected to be close to that this year after the final fall meet is made formal.

Addressing concerns that Golden Gate horses who have raced for smaller purses in lower classes will not have a place in more competitive races at Santa Anita, Fravel said, “We fully expect that we’ll be able to write condition books, racing conditions, be creative in terms of making sure that not only the current population of Golden Gate has a place to run but also that will support additional racing hopefully at Los Alamitos that will help support that population as well and talk to our friends at Del Mar to make sure we coordinate our programs.”

“We have some experience in other parts of the country where we can, during bigger meets, run let’s call them higher quality from a purse perspective, and then middle-tier racing on the same card, and we’ve gotten decent at that,” Butler said. “It’s something to be very cognizant of. ... There is (an added card every) Thursday, which is really the intent to not completely load that day up with horses from Golden Gate but mix them in across the whole four days of racing’s card.”