Sacramento scrambles to attract horses
The State Fair at Sacramento may be the toughest three-week stretch of the Northern California fair season for bettors seeking value, and for racing secretary Tom Doutrich. With few horses on the grounds, competition from other tracks, and the midsummer heat making it hard on horses vanning in, getting decent-sized fields can be a real challenge.
The Sacramento meet begins its 10-day run Friday. Racing will be conducted Friday through Sunday during the first two weeks, with a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule the final week. Sacramento will host the summer’s only sprint stakes for older fillies and mares on the fair circuit, the $50,000-added Governor’s Handicap on July 23. The Governor’s is the only stakes of the meet.
Only 41 runners signed up for the seven-race opening-day card, an average of 5.9 runners per race. Race 6, a first-level optional-claiming route for fillies and mares, attracted six horses.
Many of the runners at the meet van in from Golden Gate Fields and Pleasanton, but it can be hard to convince trainers to ship when temperatures hit the mid-90s to 100-plus.
With the Emerald Downs meet in full swing, it will be another two months before Washington horses begin to make an impact in California. And more Arizona trainers are opting to send horses to Canterbury Park in Minnesota than the fair circuit.
In addition, Doutrich noted that over the past several years, more Northern California horsemen have been sending runners south for the Del Mar meeting. He estimates that nearly 150 runners will be going to Del Mar this year.
“We’re at the point where we don’t have two groups of horses in some categories,” said Doutrich, the racing secretary for all the fair tracks. “When you fill a race, it means you probably can’t use that category again for nearly a month.”
Adding to this year’s concerns about the Thoroughbred population, a mild virus has left a number of younger horses with coughs and runny noses.
There are also fewer Arabians, mules, and Quarter Horses to fill the early races. Just like opening day of the Oak Tree at Pleasanton meet, Sacramento’s opening-day card is strictly for Thoroughbreds.
Field sizes could get a boost in the second week of the meeting, when 20 horses being sent in by Oregon trainers will be ready to run. They will be stabled at the fair.
Doutrich also hopes to attract a few more horses through a trainer incentive program. Trainers who run five or more horses during the meet get $500 each, and those running 10 or more get $1,000.