The Sonoma County Fair will not conduct a summertime race meeting in Santa Rosa, Calif., this year, an expected setback for California racing. In a press release issued earlier this week, the Sonoma County Fair board said it has suspended plans to seek a racing license from the California Horse Racing Board “The Board recognizes that, unless an extraordinary opportunity arises, horse racing at Santa Rosa is not financially viable for the 2025 Fair,” the statement read, in part. The statement cited “the changing dynamics within the Northern California Live Horse Racing Industry.” Santa Rosa’s intent not to seek a racing license was first reported by The Paulick Report. Racing in Northern California has collapsed in the last year, with the permanent closure of Golden Gate Fields in Albany last June, and disappointing business figures at an autumn meeting at the Alameda County fairgrounds in Pleasanton. A scheduled winter-spring meeting at Pleasanton was canceled. :: Access the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances and Picks are available now. Instead, Santa Anita in Southern California, near Los Angeles, is offering a small number of races daily for horses previously based at Pleasanton. There is no racing scheduled in Northern California so far this year. The California Authority of Racing Fairs, which had operated four race meetings in that part of the state, announced in the last week of January that it would not pursue racing dates later this year at Pleasanton, Sacramento, and Ferndale in the summer or a fall meeting in Fresno. On Jan. 30, officials announced that Pleasanton will close as a training center on March 25. The decision will lead trainers in that part of the state to send runners to other circuits, some to Emerald Downs in Washington State and others to Southern California. Some Northern California-based trainers have already relocated to Southern California. The Sonoma County Fair is not part of the CARF organization. Sonoma and the four CARF-affiliated fairs are the only fairs that have raced in Northern California in recent years. In its statement, Sonoma officials cited concern over the available number of horses in Northern California to conduct a race meeting. “We remain indebted to the legacy of racing and the industry,” the statement read. “We are deeply saddened by the conditions in the horse racing industry that have unfolded to prompt this decision.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.