CHRB Rejects Dates for Pleasanton; Ferndale Bid Stalls

The California Horse Racing Board did not advance two requests for race dates for summer racing at Northern California fairs during its monthly meeting in Sacramento, Calif., April 17. The first request from the Alameda County Fair to conduct nine days of racing at Pleasanton that would have begun June 20 and continued through July 6 was voted down 4-1 by the five CHRB board members in attendance. The request for dates came outside the CHRB's customary time frame for advance notice. The second request, coming from the Humboldt County Fair to run seven dates from Aug. 16 through Sept. 1 at Ferndale, stalled under CHRB procedures, with three CHRB board members voting in favor of a motion to deny dates, and two opposed. For a motion to pass, it requires the support of four commissioners, not a simple majority. There is one unfilled spot on the usual seven-member CHRB, and commissioner Damascus Castellanos was absent from Thursday's meeting. Race dates are the first step in CHRB approval. An operator must later secure license approval. CHRB vice chairman Oscar Gonzales, who, along with Brenda Washington Davis, desired race dates for the Humboldt County Fair at Ferndale, encouraged the fair to resubmit a race dates application at a future meeting. The CHRB is to meet next May 15. Gonzales, who views Northern California racing as crucial to the state and its horsemen, was the only commissioner to support the requested race dates for the Alameda County Fair. He and chairman Dr. Greg Ferraro sparred several times during the meeting. Given Northern California's financial woes and other considerations, Ferraro supports a single circuit for Thoroughbred racing in California, which has been in place since a failed meet from Golden State Racing at Pleasanton that concluded in December. Golden State Racing conducted racing last fall under the direction of the California Authority of Racing Fairs after summer fair racing. The summer fairs followed 1/ST Racing's closure of Golden Gate Fields in Northern California. Bernal Park Racing, a group headed by owner/breeders George Schmitt and John Harris and backed by their personal financial support, was to operate both fair meetings. Their organization was formed recently after CARF announced in January that it would discontinue managing racing operations. Commissioners were critical of scant operating details regarding Bernal Park Racing. Ferraro said, "I think any racing organization going to try to make a go of it, needs to have more meat on the bones and have spent considerably more time investigating what's available." Ferraro and commissioner Dennis Alfieri want a more detailed examination of the feasibility of racing in Northern California. "I kind of like your comment you made earlier, Mr. Chairman, about why don't we study this for a year," Alfieri said. "Why don't we take a pause and see because to me, this is very disjointed. I'm hearing from people that say, 'Well, we're going to put up all the money.' Great. Where were you a year ago when we had the same discussion? We saw this happening a year ago with Golden State Racing. They didn't make it. CARF didn't make it. And this is very troubling." The Thoroughbred Owners of California and Southern California racetracks argue that a consolidation of racing in the south has been successful this year. Benefiting from a redirect to the south of simulcast revenues generated from betting in Northern California, purses are up at Santa Anita Park this winter and spring, as is field size and wagering. With 385 horses having relocated from the north to the south, according to the TOC, Santa Anita has been carding some races for Northern California-caliber runners. Del Mar plans to continue the practice this summer, but not if any fairs are offering racing. "Del Mar would very much like to continue that with this new single circuit approach that we have in the state. However, we've been very consistent from day one upon the closure of Golden Gate Fields that we will not compete with the north," Del Mar president Josh Rubinstein told commissioners. Andy Titus, president of the board of directors for the Humboldt County Fair Association, acknowledged that racing at Ferndale "might be the minor leagues, but every professional sports team has it." The Humboldt County Fair was supported in letters from two influential legislators sent to the CHRB before the meeting. TOC board members Andy Mathis and Ty Green, two of its designated Northern California representatives, gave their perspective on racing at Ferndale. "In recent weeks, I've been asking the same trainers from Northern California if they would have any interest in running at a Ferndale meet. I seem to get the same answer time and time again," Mathis said. "People have moved; they've moved their homes. They've moved their families and their businesses. The answer was the same. It was a no. They would not be running at Ferndale." Humboldt County Fair plans to attract a significant portion of its horse population from Oregon if it is awarded race dates. Another horseman, trainer Victor Trujillo, said he found it too difficult to win at Southern California tracks with his horses that formerly raced in Northern California. So, he is instead planning to race in Washington this year, although he still desires to run in Northern California. "And if there's no racing in Ferndale or anything like that, I'm going to be out of business," he told the CHRB during the public comment period. Between $1 and $2 million in coveted simulcast revenue is at stake related to the Humboldt County Fair conducting a meet. That money is considered vital for conducting its racing operations at Ferndale, or if redirected to the south, would help sustain recent purse increases at the state's flagship racetracks in the south.