California Horse Racing Board approves added 2024 dates for Santa Rosa, Ferndale

The Northern California fair circuit will be extended by two weeks in 2024 following the scheduled closure of Golden Gate Fields in June, but the racing calendar for a majority of the final four months of the year in that part of the state remains uncertain, according to developments at Thursday’s California Horse Racing Board meeting.

The board voted 7-0 to approve 2024 fair meetings at Pleasanton, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Ferndale from the week of June 12 through Sept. 8, and a fall fair meeting at Fresno from Oct. 2-13.

The Santa Rosa and Ferndale meetings were held over two weeks this year. The meets will be extended to three-week seasons next summer.

Golden Gate Fields is scheduled to race from Dec. 26, 2023 through June 9, 2024. The track’s parent company, 1/ST Racing, announced earlier this month that it will not close in December of this year as originally stated, but will remain open for a winter-spring meeting. Racing board executives said Thursday that the regulatory agency had asked Golden Gate Fields to hold an additional meeting until next June.

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Golden Gate has typically raced from late August to early October and from mid-October to mid-December, following the conclusion of the Fresno meeting. With Golden Gate going out of business in 2024, no replacement venue has been finalized, according to Larry Swartzlander, the executive director of the California Authority of Racing Fairs.

The Sonoma county fair in Santa Rosa and Cal-Expo fairgrounds in Sacramento are widely viewed as venues that will replace Golden Gate Fields.

“We would like to see the dates awarded for the fall, but at this point we don’t have a location,” said racing board executive director Scott Chaney.

“It should be pointed out the sooner, the better. We have horses and humans we need to think about.”

Bill Nader, president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, expressed doubt that the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale could draw sufficient runners for a third week of racing.

“Stretching to three weeks may be one step too far,” Nader said. “Keeping it two weeks for now would make better sense.”

Swartzlander countered that a third week of racing may draw “better support” for the entire Ferndale meeting.

The racing board approved fall meetings at Fresno from Oct. 6-15 with a Friday-through-Sunday racing schedule, and Golden Gate Fields from Oct. 21 through Dec. 11 on a Saturday-through-Monday schedule.

Golden Gate Field shifted to a Saturday-through-Monday schedule for its current meeting, which began in late August.

Track officials expressed disappointment that simulcasting venues in Fresno, Monterrey, and San Mateo were not open on Mondays and asked the racing board for assistance in forcing those locations to open.

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