The Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, Calif., will apply for summertime racing dates with the California Horse Racing Board as early as March, a fair official said on Thursday. The proposed seven-day meeting would be held over three weekends and conclude on Labor Day - Aug. 16-17, 23-24, and Aug. 30-Sept. 1. The track had an eight-day meeting in Ferndale in 2024. Ferndale will manage the meeting and could be the only fair to operate a race meeting in Northern California this year after the California Authority of Racing Fairs announced in late January that it would not pursue race meetings later this year on behalf of fairs in Ferndale, Fresno, Pleasanton, and Sacramento. Greg Gomes, the first vice-president of the Humboldt county fair and the chairman of the fair’s racing committee, cautioned in an interview on Thursday that a considerable effort is underway to conduct a race meeting. :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. “This is still a work in progress,” Gomes said. “We’re trying to keep it going in the North.” If Ferndale officials are granted racing dates by the racing board, the organization would be back in front of the regulatory body later this year, probably in June, requesting an application to race. The license application details a wide array of information, ranging from post times and purse levels to mandatory insurance documents. Currently, there are no race meetings scheduled in Northern California this year. Golden Gate Fields, the hub of racing on the circuit since 2008, closed permanently last June. Pleasanton conducted a fall meeting late last year with handle figures well short of expectations. A planned winter-spring meeting there was cancelled. Santa Anita is now offering a limited number of races restricted to horses that previously raced in Northern California. Pleasanton has operated as a training center since late December, an arrangement that will end in late March, forcing stables to scatter to venues such as Emerald Downs in Washington state or Southern California. The lack of a base of race-ready horses in Northern California this summer is a concern to Humboldt officials, Gomes said. “We’re getting support from people who want to help us,” he said in reference to some owners and trainers. “We think we can run seven days.” Gomes said the fair hopes to draw runners based at tracks in Oregon and perhaps from Emerald Downs. The proposed racing dates fit between the conclusion of the Tillamook county fair and the start of a late summer and fall meeting in Grants Pass on the Oregon circuit. Ferndale has historically offered lower purses than other Northern California-based fairs, but Gomes is hopeful that prize money can be increased without direct competition from Golden Gate Fields which has hindered Ferndale’s purses in recent years. “We hope to raise purses to make it more affordable and enticing to draw horses,” Gomes said. The proposed meeting could have opposition from Southern California tracks and the Thoroughbred Owners of California who want funds from simulcast locations and account wagering sources in Northern California to be devoted to summer purses at Del Mar, near San Diego. Beginning in late March, such funds will be earmarked for Santa Anita purses, which led the track to announce a purse increase earlier this week effective Feb. 28. Alan Aldrich, a longtime California owner and self-described fan of racing at Ferndale, has traveled to Turf Paradise in Phoenix, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita in an ambassadorial role on behalf of the Humboldt county fair to gauge interest from trainers on their interest in racing at Ferndale this summer. Aldrich is eager to see racing at the northernmost track in California to continue. “There are a lot of positive things going on,” Aldrich said. “I’ve been racing there for 40 years and it’s more sentimental. It’s a community that loves their racing.” Ultimately, Ferndale will need widespread support from owners and trainers at a time when the Northern California racing community no longer has a central base. “It’s a matter for the horsemen, and it could be a different situation in August,” Gomes said. “People may have horses that are not competitive” at Emerald Downs. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.