TOC seeks higher purse structure at upcoming Pleasanton meet

Purse levels for the Golden State Racing meeting at Pleasanton this fall had not been finalized as of Sunday and were scheduled to be subject of discussions by racing officials early this week in advance of a key meeting of the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday.

Golden State Racing, a consortium of Northern California owners, breeders, and trainers and the California Authority of Racing Fairs, are seeking a nine-week meeting from Oct. 19 to Dec. 15 at the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton. The season will replace dates previously run at Golden Gate Fields in Albany, which closed permanently in June.

Golden State Racing is proposing a daily purse distribution of $147,000, but officials with the Thoroughbred Owners of California, which represents all owners in the state, want a daily average of $170,000, according to TOC president Bill Nader.

The two sides were scheduled to hold meetings Monday and Tuesday with the hope of reaching a resolution before Thursday.

Larry Swartzlander, executive director of CARF, said a $147,000 daily purse distribution may prevent an overpayment that would lead to purse cuts during the season, or during a proposed winter-spring meeting scheduled to begin Dec. 26.

“What will the handle be? It’s unknown,” Swartzlander said Sunday.

The 2023 fall meeting at Golden Gate Fields had a total handle of $101.9 million, which included dark day simulcasting and betting on races other than Golden Gate Fields.

Swartzlander projects Golden State Racing may handle 10 percent less than Golden Gate.

“If I can duplicate what Golden Gate Fields did last year, I’ll do fine,” he said.

The Golden State Racing meeting at Pleasanton will be held at a time of year when simulcast and account-wagering bettors are not accustomed to racing at the county fair venue. Pleasanton typically operates a three-week fair meeting in late June and early July.

The Pleasanton meeting will be held entirely on dirt. Golden Gate Fields had a synthetic main track and a turf course, although use of the turf course at the fall meeting was reduced in the final weeks of the season because of occasional inclement weather.

Swartzlander fears that a higher daily purse distribution above $147,000 will lead to an overpayment. As an example, he said a purse distribution of $160,000 a day would lead to an overpayment of $400,000 to $500,000.

Swartzlander is insisting on a conservative starting level.

“If things work out, we can always raise them,” Swartzlander said of purse levels.

The two sides have reached an agreement on some purse issues. There are six stakes scheduled worth $75,000 each. The initial license application had one stakes worth $75,000 and five worth $50,000.

Earlier this year, Golden State Racing and the TOC agreed to three days of racing per week, an average of eight races a day, and a daily purse distribution of $170,000 a day.

“The last part is purse levels,” Nader said. “We’re okay on points one and two and now we have to finish the third point.”

Purse levels have varied significantly depending on the venue at Northern California tracks in the last year.

Golden Gate Fields offered daily purses ranging from $196,142 to $212,308 for three nine-race programs from Oct. 21 to Oct. 23, 2023, the corresponding week that Golden State Racing will open next month.

The purse distribution on Golden Gate’s final day of racing, June 9, was $171,019.

By comparison, the opening three days of the Alameda County Fair from June 14 to June 16 this year had daily purses of $106,022 on a six-race program on June 14, $171,350 on a seven-race program on June 15, which included a $70,500 stakes, and $142,310 on an eight-race program on June 16.

Nader said the Golden State Racing meeting should be higher than the Alameda County Fair.

“We’re trying to get them somewhere between the Alameda County Fair, but not at the same level Golden Gate was in 2021, 2022 and 2023,” Nader said.

Purse levels have been a concern in California in the past few years with widespread declines in handle. Purses have been lowered at the three Southern California tracks – Del Mar, Los Alamitos and Santa Anita – in the last year.

Last December, before its final winter-spring meeting, Golden Gate Fields slashed overnight purses 25 percent and cut all but two stakes from its schedule in an effort to erase a purse overpayment of more than $3 million accrued in recent years.

The state’s racetracks do not have ancillary forms of gaming, such as slot machines or casinos, to help fund purses. Other states, notably Arkansas and Kentucky, have offered spectacular purses in recent years because of other revenue sources.