CHRB takes hard look at Los Angeles County Fair meet location

The proposed relocation of the Los Angeles County Fair meeting at Fairplex Park in September to Los Alamitos came under scrutiny Friday from the California Horse Racing Board, although the board did not take any action on the issue.

The racing board is expected to approve or deny the proposed relocation of the race at its next meeting, May 22 at Santa Anita.

“I don’t think anyone on the board has expressed a conclusion on this,” Chairman Chuck Winner said after a lengthy discussion.

Fairplex Park and Los Alamitos officials reached an agreement earlier this month to move the 11-day season, scheduled from Sept. 5-21. Fairplex officials have stated a desire to cease racing at the Pomona, Calif., venue and shift the racing dates to Los Alamitos, which is approximately 35 miles away, in Cypress, Calif.

Los Alamitos has expanded its racetrack and remodeled its barn area in recent months in advance of five weeks of Thoroughbred racing in July and December, previously hosted at now-defunct Hollywood Park.

One result of the closure of racing at the Los Angeles County Fair is a potential change in venue for Barretts Sales. James Henwood, the Los Angeles County Fair chief executive officer, told the racing board Friday that the Barretts October Yearling sale will take place in Pomona but that sales beginning in 2015 could be hosted at Del Mar.

“If we’re able to do a transaction, we’d like to move those sales to Del Mar,” Henwood said.

Some racing board members expressed concern about the closure of Fairplex Park, worried that the absence of the facility would leave the Southern California Thoroughbred circuit without a much-needed training venue for off-track stabling.

Alan Balch, executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, told the racing board there could be a shortage of stalls this summer when more 2-year-olds are in training.

“If the number of 2-year-olds is the same, we may have a serious problem,” Balch said.

Commissioner Madeline Auerbach said she was “unhappy” that trainers were assured earlier this year that Fairplex Park would be part of the ongoing off-track stabling following the closure of Hollywood Park.

“If I were certain trainers, I’d be very upset right now,” she said.

Fairplex Park officials said their barn area will stay open until mid-July.

Henwood said on-track business at Fairplex Park has been in decline for the last seven years and that the county fair does not have plans to expand the race track from its current five-eighths-mile circumference or add a turf course.

“Our track facility, as we have it today, is not at a level that can take care of the Thoroughbreds that the audience would like to experience,” Henwood told the racing board. “With three weeks of racing and the steady decline in racing, it’s difficult for us to do capital investment. Our recommendation is that this board and this industry allow us to do the business we feel we can do and move our business to Los Alamitos.”

Brad McKinzie, general manager of the Thoroughbred operation at Los Alamitos, told the racing board that the financial arrangement between Fairplex and Los Alamitos calls for Los Alamitos to incur the initial costs.

“We think this move will strengthen the SoCal racing calendar,” McKinzie said. “We will have higher handle and attendance at our facility than they would at theirs. We will manage the meet on behalf of the L.A. County Fair. For the L.A. County Fair, they have no financial risk. If we can outperform what they have done, they will have a financial reward. We pick up the bill. If we can perform, we’ll get our money back. If we can make it better, we’ll make money, and if we can do better than that, we’ll make more money.”

** The Oak Tree Racing Association received approval to operate the 12-day Alameda County Fair meeting in Pleasanton from June 19 to July 6.
Oak Tree operated autumn meetings at Santa Anita from 1969 to 2009 and at Hollywood Park in 2010 but will be based at Pleasanton for the first time this year. Oak Tree did not conduct a race meeting from to 2011 to 2013.

The organization has a not-for-profit structure, dedicating revenue to the sport for causes as wide-ranging as equine medical research to backstretch charities. In recent years, Oak Tree has had a reduced distribution, drawing on investment income, according to President John Barr.

“We have sought, unsuccessfully, a venue in Southern California for the last three or four years,” Barr told the racing board. “We’ve had to curtail our charity substantially because we only have income from investment from the foundation.”

Barr said Oak Tree hopes to boost the Pleasanton meeting, the first of the county fair circuit this year.

“We saw an opportunity to help California,” he said. “We could make a little money to resume our charitable activities. We have met with the Alameda County Fair board, and they like the idea that money we make will go to charity. That’s keeping with the flavor of that board.”

Last month, the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meeting was the beneficiary of legislation signed by California Gov. Jerry Brown allowing organizations that ran race meetings prior to 2010 to run fair meetings in the northern part of the state.

The Pleasanton meeting will have a 20-cent pick six and a 20-cent super high five, county fair officials said. One of the racing highlights will be the $100,000 Oak Tree Handicap over 1 1/8 miles June 21.

** Racing board executive director Rick Baedeker said the board has asked for a larger budget in fiscal 2014-15 to add eight additional investigators to the backstretches of the state’s racetracks.

“We want to get investigators out from behind their desks,” he said. “We want to make sure the vast majority of people that play by the rules get a fair game.”

** Applications were approved for mini-satellites in Bakersfield and downtown San Diego that are expected to open later this year.

The Bakersfield mini-satellite will replace an off-track betting facility at the county fairgrounds that closed in late 2013.