Golden Gate opens its own summer meet

It’s been a good year for Golden Gate Fields thus far, and racing secretary Patrick Mackey is looking forward to a solid summer meeting, which begins Friday and continues through Oct. 3.

Earlier this summer, Golden Gate was given two additional weeks of racing when Sacramento and the California Authority of Racing Fairs gave back those weeks. Coming after a month-long meet at Pleasanton, which included one week of the original Sacramento dates, Golden Gate had a strong meet and then held a two-week Wine Country Racing meeting in conjunction with the Sonoma County Fair. Entries were so strong that Mackey was able to fill 12-race cards on the final weekend of that meet.

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Opening day will have a seven-race card with an average of eight horses in each race.

“I think having four weeks of racing helped keep some horses here that we might have lost to Washington and Del Mar in the past,” Mackey said. “We’ve seen a big boost in entries.”

Horses that ran in the 24 races in the last weekend of the Wine Country Racing meeting will likely be ready to run again next week when Golden Gate will run four days because of the Labor Day holiday.

The track will open its turf club to limited attendance on Saturdays and Sundays and will continue to have clubhouse seating available.

Advance tickets must be ordered online at $15 for the clubhouse and $20 for the turf club. Admission, seating, a program, and self-parking is included in the admission price.

There also will be free walk-up general admission for seniors 62 and older on Fridays. Seniors must have a valid XBRewards/Thoroughbred Card to take advantage of the free admission.

One stakes will be offered during the summer meeting, the $50,000-added Rolling Green Handicap for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on turf on the Sept. 6 Labor Day card.