The California Horse Racing Board on Thursday rejected a proposal for three weekends of late summer racing at the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, leaving no prospect for racing in the northern half of the state in the foreseeable future. The board voted 4-3 in opposition. Chairman Greg Ferraro and commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, and Thomas Hudnut voted against the proposal, while vice chairman Oscar Gonzales and commissioners Brenda Washington-Davis and Peter Stern voted in support. Stern was appointed to the board in late April. The decision led to tense moments after the vote, with Gonzales asking for an emergency meeting to reconvene the board for further discussion on the matter. In April, the board voted 3-2 against the dates proposal, but needed four votes for an official action. Castellanos did not attend that meeting, while Stern had yet to be appointed. Gonzales’s request for an additional meeting to discuss Ferndale’s proposal was swiftly rejected by Ferraro. “How many votes do you want to have on this?” Ferraro said. “You’ve lost twice. “I would not approve a meeting in 10 days to rehash this item over again.” :: Get ready for the Preakness with DRF past performances, picks, and betting strategies! Gonzales, who had openly supported Humboldt’s request, was left frustrated by the board’s vote, prompting his request for another meeting. “This is a serious mistake this board made,” Gonzales said. “Us collectively, this will send a helluva message across the country as to what we stand for as Californians.” In reference to Humboldt officials, and a group of racing participants who spoke for 40 minutes in favor of a race meeting at Ferndale, Gonzales further said, “These individuals have come so far and have given so much. It makes good horse racing sense” to allocate dates. The decision means that Thoroughbred racing in the state will be held only at Del Mar, Los Alamitos, and Santa Anita this year. Humboldt officials needed the board’s approval for racing dates on Thursday, and then would have appeared before the board at its June meeting with a formal application for a brief season from the week of Aug. 13 to Sept. 1. The Humboldt fair began in 1896. Thursday’s decision comes after a dreadful last 12 months for Northern California racing. Golden Gate Fields in Albany, near Oakland, closed permanently last June. After fair meetings were held last summer and fall at Pleasanton, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, Ferndale, and Fresno, a fall meeting was held at Pleasanton, but failed to reach business expectations. A proposed winter-spring meeting for this year at Pleasanton was abandoned, replaced by a plan to run a small number of races for Northern California-based stables at Santa Anita, near Los Angeles. In January, the California Authority of Racing Fairs, which represented Northern fairs other than Santa Rosa, announced that it would no longer support live racing in the northern part of the state. Training continued at Pleasanton until late March. Through the early months of the year, horses that had been based there last fall were steadily relocated to Southern California or other states, notably Arizona and Washington. Humboldt, acting independent of CARF, was the only Northern California-based fair to request dates this year. The fair race meeting had financial backing from John Harris and George Schmitt, two of the state’s prominent owners and breeders. Humbolt’s proposal was opposed at Thursday’s meeting by the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the official representative for owners, as was the case in April. Last month, officials with Del Mar vocally opposed Humboldt’s proposal. Both Del Mar officials, at the April meeting, and TOC officials, in April and again on Thursday, cited concern about the distribution of revenue from simulcasting and account-wagering sources as their primary opposition to a Humboldt meeting. With no racing in Northern California, revenue from those bets has been redirected to Southern California tracks and purses in recent months, resulting in an increase in prize money since late February. A race meeting at Humboldt would have resulted in less money for Del Mar’s purses. California tracks derive purses only from betting handle and not from other sources, such as slot machines, casinos, or sports betting, that have allowed purses in other states to grow substantially. TOC officials have repeatedly stated the sport can survive in the state under the current business model only if there is one circuit operating in Southern California. Prior to Thursday’s vote, the board heard comments from 13 members of the public, including owners, trainers, and others involved in the sport. All spoke in favor of racing at Humboldt, including a letter that was reported to have been written by Guy Fieri, the restauranteur and prominent television food personality, who grew up in Ferndale and has attended the fair in recent seasons. In the letter, Fieri wrote about his memories of attending the fair in his youth. Other speakers have a more active role in day-to-day racing. :: Get Preakness Betting Strategies for exclusive wagering insights, contender analysis, and more “It would be a crying shame to not let them run,” trainer Jamey Thomas said. “We’ve got to keep the fairs alive.” Owner and breeder Johnny Taboada argued that a meeting at Humboldt may provide breeders in Northern California racing with an impetus to continue investment in the sport. “Let’s keep the light on for the north,” he said. “It will give us enough hope that breeding can come back. “If you terminate the north, the whole industry will collapse in three to five years. Please review this and give Humboldt the dates for this year.” With the board’s rejection, racing will cease – at least for this year – at the smallest and most northern outpost for the sport in California. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.