Most racetrack souvenirs do not require a multi-state delivery via flatbed truck and installation by a team of five men. Then again, what former Northern California horse owner Maureen Richardson took home from a Golden Gate Fields memorabilia auction last year, a few months after the track’s permanent closure in June, is far from the norm. Richardson bought the sixteenth pole – the marker that indicated there was 110 yards to the finish. She had it extracted from its trackside position and shipped 10 hours to her home in Sandy, Utah. The memento now sits among a set of trees in Richardson’s yard. It makes for a fast conversation piece with visitors. “It’s pretty funny,” she recalled last weekend. “It was such a hassle to get it here and get it in the ground. I thought, ‘What the heck did I do?’ It’s really cool to have a piece of Golden Gate Fields in my yard.” Horse owner Dan Eplin had the same thought as Richardson. At the auction, Eplin purchased the nine-sixteenths pole, which was situated on the backstretch more than a half-mile from the finish. Eplin said he bought the bulky collectible for $160, and it’s now installed on his farm in Livermore, Calif., after a recent paint touchup. “That thing is heavy,” Eplin said. “I was going to take home some chairs, and I saw the post.” Richardson said she paid $650 for the sixteenth pole and more than $2,000 to have it removed from the track and trucked approximately 700 miles to her home. As crazy as that may seem, imagine what motorists on the highways of California, Nevada, and Utah must have thought driving past a truck hauling a racetrack distance marker. “It was so crazy to see this 40-foot trailer with just my sixteenth pole on it,” Richardson said, recalling the day of the truck’s arrival. The drivers “were even taking pictures.” :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. The sixteenth pole had sentimental value for Richardson, a retired certified financial planner who previously lived in Danville, Calif., about 25 miles from Golden Gate Fields. In her handicapping technique, Richardson frequently found her horses in contention with a sixteenth of a mile remaining. She would then beg for her runner to stay in the mix. “I have a mantra that started at the sixteenth pole: ‘Where the hell is the finish line?’” she said, with a laugh. “My friends made me a t-shirt that said, ‘Where is the finish line?’ Because of my betting, I wanted the sixteenth pole.” When the auction was announced, Richardson was traveling. She placed a hefty bid and checked the auction later, learning then she was successful. “I think I won it,” she thought. “Okay, now what?” Richardson soon began the process of having the sixteenth pole extracted and found a shipping company that could handle the transport. “It wasn’t the smartest financial decision,” she said. “The pole looks so much smaller on television. We thought it weighed a couple of hundred pounds. It was 1,100. It’s not exactly Martha Stewart. We have it in the midst of a couple of trees. I think it’s very super cool.” The distance markers will provide Richardson and Eplin with a longtime connection to Golden Gate Fields. “Golden Gate was a wonderful track to go to and hang out, and as an owner it was more fun,” Richardson said. Aside from the purchases, Richardson and Eplin are among hundreds of owners and other racing participants who are concerned about the long-term future of racing in Northern California after Golden Gate’s closure. The Golden State Racing meeting at Pleasanton last fall, launched as a replacement for dates previously held at Golden Gate Fields, had lower-than-expected handle. A proposed winter-spring meeting was canceled. Instead, Santa Anita is offering a few races a day that are restricted to Northern California-based runners. Eplin owned Dreamfyre, the winner of the Grade 3 Sorrento Stakes at Del Mar and Grade 3 Surfer Girl Stakes at Santa Anita in 2023. He will have a small group of horses racing at Santa Anita this year. “When I found out that Golden Gate was closing, I spent all of last year revamping my stable so I can compete down south,” he said. “I’m hoping that can happen.” Eplin had decades of memories from Golden Gate Fields. “It’s kind of a sad thing,” he said. “I went there since I was kid. Horse racing in general is kind of scary. You just don’t know.” While California racing is changing, Eplin and Richardson will always own a piece of history from Golden Gate Fields. “We have it cemented into the ground,” Richardson said. “It’s not going anywhere.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.