Cal-Expo fair cancels summer race meeting

The Cal-Expo fair in Sacramento, Calif., will not hold a brief race meeting this summer, officials said last Friday.

The decision was widely expected and formalized after officials met.

Cal-Expo is the fourth Northern California fair to cancel live racing this year, preceded by county fairs in Fresno, Pleasanton, and Santa Rosa.

Tom Martinez, the chief executive of Cal-Expo, cited the closure of Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area in 2024 and the lack of available horses as two reasons the fair venue in California’s capital would not seek racing dates, according to comments reported in the Sacramento Bee.

The Humboldt county fair in Ferndale, in the far north of the state, is expected to request racing dates from the California Horse Racing Board in April for a three-week meeting in late August and early September.

Golden Gate Fields closed permanently last June.

Pleasanton hosted a fall meeting in 2024 to replace dates previously held at Golden Gate Fields; the season failed to meet business expectations. A winter-spring meeting was cancelled, leading Santa Anita in Southern California to add a small number of races for Northern California-based stables beginning in December.

Last week, Pleasanton closed as an auxiliary training center, forcing stables to relocate to Emerald Downs in Washington state or to Southern California.

Cal Expo currently hosts two harness racing meetings annually, with the current meeting scheduled through May 2.

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