Disputed NorCal Race Week Reverts to Cal Expo

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The more things change, the more they stay the same.

That was essentially the outcome of a unanimous vote by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) Thursday, which settled the latest hiccup in the awarding of 2018 northern California race dates by reverting a previously assigned week in late July to Sacramento (Cal Expo) and taking away the same block of dates from Sonoma County Fair (Santa Rosa).

The decision and re-vote was necessary because after the CHRB had presumably finalized its NorCal dates allotment at its October meeting, the board of directors of the Sonoma County Fair subsequently decided to operate only a two-week fair in 2018.

Sonoma County Fair's chief executive officer, Rebecca Bartling, told the CHRB that the reason for the late switch was because of a contractual conflict with a carnival provider that had booked its midway attractions elsewhere prior to knowing that the Santa Rosa track at the Sonoma County fairgrounds would be granted three weeks in 2018. She added that she would like to keep those dates, but would understand if the CHRB chose to re-assign them.

“We want the racing to run at the same time that the [respective] fairs are running,” CHRB chairman Chuck Winner underscored.

The CHRB did hear several alternate proposals from stakeholders, including one idea by Greg Avioli, president and chief executive officer the Thoroughbred Owners of California, to award the week of July 25-31 to Golden Gate Fields “as part of a broader deal that would include Golden Gate [stabling] staying open for the summer.” That move would potentially solve a separate, ongoing stabling dispute within the region.

Alan Balch, the executive director of the California Thoroughbred Trainers, said that if the CHRB's decision came down to giving that July week to either Santa Rosa or Cal Expo, he would endorse keeping the dates at Santa Rosa even without the active fair, because “demonstrably, Santa Rosa has historically outhandled Cal Expo.”

But, Balch added, “Let's not forget the turf issue….Strictly from a trainers' standpoint, racing on the turf is extremely important, and there are two places [in NorCal] that can have it: Santa Rosa's the fair, and Golden Gate the main track, and if it's linked into the stabling, who knows what we could come up with?”

Larry Swartzlander, the executive director for the California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF), was succinct in his opposition to the proposal involving Golden Gate.

“Obviously, CARF supports giving this week back to Cal Expo,” Swartzlander said. “But…let me make one statement about stabling: If I have 700 stalls at Pleasanton, and I've got 1,100 stalls at Sacramento, why do I need Golden Gate?”

Scott Daruty, an executive of The Stronach Group, which owns Golden Gate, said he was open to an exchange of dates for providing stabling.

“We just heard CARF say that they didn't think they needed Golden Gate to be open next summer. If others feel differently, and if ultimately we're asked to be open next summer, we're happy to do so,” Daruty said. “We just want to be reimbursed for our costs. There are a couple of different ways we could be reimbursed. We could be reimbursed by a payment of cash, which is the historic way of doing it. We could also be reimbursed by receiving additional race days that we wouldn't otherwise receive; that's Mr. Avioli's suggestion. The bottom line is we're flexible.”

In the end, no major CHRB surgery was required to put the NorCal dates schedule back together, at least for 2018.

“Personally, I'm not inclined to keep kicking this down the road. We've kicked it way, way, way too many times,” Winner said. “To open all kinds of new [stabling] issues at this point with respect to that one week–I have a tough time with that.”

The vote passed, 6-0. Cal Expo now gets the final week in July, with three weeks of racing equaling its 2017 allotment. Santa Rosa's quota of weeks will be cut to two, compared to three in 2017.

 

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