Sunday racing canceled due to lack of entries

Golden Gate Fields will not race on Sunday because of insufficient entries, the track announced on Thursday, continuing an alarming trend in recent weeks in advance of the track’s closure on June 9.

The cancellation was announced early in the afternoon. The track has canceled five days of racing since mid-April.

Racing was not held on April 19 or May 1 because of a lack of entries. Last weekend, the track canceled racing on Friday of this week and on May 24, citing concern over entries.

At midday on Thursday, the Golden Gate Fields racing office provided a preliminary report to horsemen that entries for Sunday had one field of eight, a field of six, two fields of five, and five fields of four. The other 17 races under consideration had drawn no more than three entries. Two of the proposed races had no entries.

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“There were insufficient entries when everything was said and done to card a program of seven or eight races,” said racing secretary Steve Martinelli.

Golden Gate Fields has nine days of racing still scheduled - May 25-27, May 31-June 2, and June 7-9.

Track officials canceled the May 24 program out of concern the track would not have sufficient runners to hold four days of racing on Memorial Day weekend.

The next day of entries will be May 22 for the May 25 program.

“We’ll have a three-day Memorial Day weekend,” Martinelli said. “Hopefully, we’ll be able to draw sufficient entries for that.”

Through Sunday, the most recent day of racing, Golden Gate Fields has averaged 6.55 runners per race since the meeting began on Dec. 26. The track has run 470 races at the current meeting.

Last year, during a similar time frame, the track averaged 6.54 runners per race, and had run 554 races.

With the track’s closure looming, the horse population has declined, with some runners sent to other circuits. The track has capacity for approximately 1,150 horses. The current population is slightly more than 700 aside from unraced 2-year-olds, a track official said earlier this month.

After June 9, the northern circuit continues at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton on a Friday-through-Sunday basis from June 14 through July 7 with the addition of racing on Thursday, July 4.

An autumn meeting will be held at Pleasanton beginning in October to replace Golden Gate Fields in the region.

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