Golden Gate winter-spring meet opens with momentum

Golden Gate Fields management hopes that strong business this year through the fall meet will carry over to the 92-day 2017-18 winter-spring meet, which kicks off Tuesday with nine races averaging more than nine horses per race.

However, the track’s traditional signature event, the El Camino Real Derby, has lost some of its luster after it was downgraded from Grade 3 to listed status by the American Graded Stakes Committee.

This year’s purse has been cut to $100,000 from $200,000 last year, when locally raced Zakaroff scored a $99.60 upset.

While still a prep for the Kentucky Derby, the Feb. 17 El Camino Real Derby no longer will provide qualifying points for Derby contenders.

The Grade 3 San Francisco Mile, for older turf runners, will have its purse bumped up from $100,000 to $200,000. The race’s traditional late April date has been moved to March 31 in an effort to attract top turf horses from Southern California.

The $100,000 All American also retained its Grade 3 status and will be run May 29.

The calendar of 12 stakes races includes three other $100,000 events – the Jan. 20 California Derby and a pair of California-bred turf races for 3-year-olds, the Campanile and the Silky Sullivan, both to be contested on April 29.

Despite one of Northern California’s rainiest winters in recent years, Golden Gate’s Tapeta surface held up well, and the track missed no days of racing during the winter-spring meet last year, unlike its bigger partner Santa Anita.

Golden Gate generated an increase in handle at the 2016-17 winter-spring meet. The positive trend continued through the track’s fall meeting, which saw an increase in all-sources handle and attendance compared to the 2016 fall meet.

New general manager David Duggan hopes for more of the same in 2018.

“We were very pleased with how the fall meet went,” he said. “Our field sizes were solid and so was the quality of racing. We are looking to carry that positive momentum forward and are optimistic the positive trends will continue into the new year.”

Duggan said that Golden Gate will become more active on social media and is exploring marketing ideas to attract new fans.

Also new at Golden Gate Fields will be track announcer Matt Dinerman, who had been the Emerald Downs track announcer and had worked as a backup announcer and race analyst at Golden Gate Fields.

One thing that will remain the same is the popular Dollar Day Sundays, which include $1 admission, parking, programs, and refreshment options.

The winter-spring meet closes on Sunday, June 10.