Golden Gate to resume racing on May 14

Golden Gate Fields received provisional approval from the Alameda (Calif.) County public health officer on Wednesday to resume racing May 14, seven weeks after the track was deemed a nonessential business due to the coronavirus outbreak.

The track made the announcement in a press release issued midday Wednesday.

Golden Gate will operate largely on a four-day per week basis from Thursday through Sunday through June 14, the conclusion of a winter-spring meeting that began in December.

Golden Gate Fields will race May 25 – Memorial Day – and will be dark on Thursday, May 28.

Golden Gate Fields raced without spectators and with a minimal number of track employees in attendance from March 12-29. Late on the morning on April 2, track officials were told to cease racing by county officials.

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No spectators will be permitted on track when racing resumes.

“Live racing will be conducted under strict protocols, and without spectators, to protect the health, safety, and welfare of every person and every horse in the Golden Gate Fields community,” the track’s statement said. “The protocols are still being finalized with county officials and will be released in coming days.”

The statement said there are no coronavirus cases at Golden Gate Fields.

The track is owned by The Stronach Group, which also owns Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif. Santa Anita has not raced since March 22 because of the coronavirus outbreak. Track officials are hoping to resume racing at Santa Anita on May 15.

Golden Gate racing secretary Patrick Mackey said that a condition book with proposed races for the next few weeks was scheduled to be published on the track’s website Wednesday. Entries for the May 14 program will be taken on Sunday.

Mackey said the first four days of racing from May 14-17 will closely resemble the races that were canceled on the racing week of April 2-5.

“We’re doing that in fairness to people that had drawn into the races” on April 2-5, Mackey said.

Mackey said the track’s overnight purses will be the same as earlier this spring, but that the stakes schedule has undergone some revisions.

The Grade 3 San Francisco Mile, a $250,000 race on turf, will be run June 14.

The San Francisco Mile was one of six stakes scheduled for April 25. Three of those races also have been rescheduled – the $75,000 Camillo Urso Stakes for fillies and mares at five furlongs on turf will be run May 30, the $75,000 California Oaks at 1 1/16 miles on the synthetic main track has been moved to May 31, and the $75,000 Golden Poppy Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles will be run June 7.

Four stakes scheduled for April 25-26 have been postponed to the track’s summer or fall meetings – the $100,000 California Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/16 miles, the $75,000 Lost in the Fog Stakes at six furlongs, the $100,000 Silky Sullivan Stakes for California-bred 3-year-olds at a mile on turf, and the $100,000 Campanile Stakes for California-bred 3-year-old fillies at a mile on turf.

The $75,000 Alcatraz Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf has been moved from May 17 to June 13.

Other races such as the Grade 3 All American Stakes on May 25 and the $50,000 Albany Stakes at five furlongs on turf on June 6 will remain on their previously scheduled dates.

Mackey said approximately 1,180 horses are stabled at Golden Gate Fields, about 150 less than occupancy in early April. He said some of those departed runners were from stables at Santa Anita and were sent back to Southern California.

“I think we have a lot of race-ready horses,” Mackey said. “We’re hoping we get some interest from down south.