CHRB

It now appears as if only two of the five tracks that ran summer fairs meets in Northern California in 2024 are willing to consider giving racing a go in 2025, exacerbating the racetrack fallout in that region that started when The Stronach Group ceased operations at Golden Gate Fields, the region's lone commercial track, last June. "Ferndale has expressed interest," Oscar Gonzales, the vice chair of the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB), said at Thursday's monthly board meeting. "They're trying to bring together the different components. Fresno, their fair...

The California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) voted unanimously Tuesday morning not to apply for racing dates in 2025. The summer fair meets this decision could impact are at Alameda County Fair, The Big Fresno Fair, Cal Expo at California State Fair, and Ferndale at Humboldt County Fair. Sonoma County Fair runs a summer fair meet independent of CARF. In theory, individual tracks can still independently apply for a 2025 racing license similar to Sonoma's approach. "After making the difficult decision not to submit future race meet applications, the California...

Santa Anita opened its track Thursday morning to limited training--just joggers and gallopers for most of the morning. For the Santa Anita backstretch community, it was a slice of normality as the extent of the damage caused by the wildfires that have ripped across Los Angeles this week began to set in. "I've lived there half my life, almost. My daughter was born there. It's where she grew up. All of our memories together. I was just telling her, 'all of your medals and trophies for all the years you...

Starting the day after its Dec. 26 season opener, Santa Anita Park will drop its lowest-level claiming prices to $8,000 for maidens and $5,000 for other horses. The downward class-level moves, along with the possibility that Southern California's main meet could add additional dates and/or races to its upcoming six-month season that runs through June 15, are part of a negotiated effort to "give more opportunities for horses that have historically raced in Northern California," according to a license application amendment request by Santa Anita. The California Horse Racing Board...

The California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) board voted unanimously Monday to rescind a proposed Golden State Racing meet spanning the first half of next year, plunging an already tenuous situation for the horsemen and women in the North of the state into a world of even greater uncertainty. The decision was met with dismay and concern during Monday's online CARF meeting, with several stakeholders in Northern California voicing fears that the move would also jeopardize the future of the California fair meets. "I am in concert with Aidan Butler...

Although the future of the Golden State Racing (GSR) meet at Pleasanton wasn't officially on Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) agenda, the reverberations of dismal betting business through the first five weeks of operation at Northern California's new anchor track became the impassioned focal point of the Nov. 21 meeting. Citing concerns that the autumn Pleasanton meet isn't living up to the hope that the former fairs-season-only track might help fill the NorCal void that occurred when The Stronach Group (TSG) closed Golden Gate Fields back in June, Aidan...

Following news less than two weeks ago that seven Quarter Horses testing positive for Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) at Los Alamitos were euthanized, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) issued a grim update Wednesday evening. The infectious disease necessitated the euthanization of an additional five horses Oct. 16. Like the original seven, all five were Quarter Horses trained by Heath Taylor. A full listing of the 12 can be seen here. The full advisory issued by the CHRB follows: "Under the supervision of the California Department of Food and Agriculture...

A Quarter Horse stabled at Los Alamitos, which will hold its next Thoroughbred meet in December, was discovered to be suffering from Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) in late September and has been euthanized. An additional six horses, all Quarter Horses who also tested positive for EIA, were euthanized at the California track Wednesday and Thursday. The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) issued the following advisory late Thursday afternoon: "The California Horse Racing Board was notified on September 24 that Equine Infectious Anemia (EIA) was identified in a Quarter Horse at...

One of trainer Peter Miller's barns at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Southern California has been placed under quarantine, after a horse in his care diagnosed with the equine herpesvirus (EHV-1) was euthanized this week at a veterinary clinic, as first reported by the DRF. California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) equine medical director, Jeff Blea, said Thursday that the quarantine period started Saturday Sept. 21. Blea added that the California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has yet to determine how long the barn will be under...

AmWest Entertainment LLC, the operator of AmWager.com, has received a license from the California Horse Racing Board and is now available to Golden State residents, the betting platform said in a release early Thursday. Horseplayers in California who are 21 years and older can now place wagers on over 450 U.S. and international tracks through AmWager's interface, which brings the number of states that the site is available in to 31. "Expanding into California is a significant milestone for AmWager, and we are excited to bring our premier wagering platform...

A federal judge in California on Monday terminated a nearly two-year-old lawsuit initiated against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) by Thoroughbred owner Jerry Jamgotchian that alleged Jamgotchian's constitutional and civil rights were violated when the stewards at Los Alamitos Race Course denied entry to one of his horses in 2022 over a naming and registration controversy. Although the Aug. 12 ruling out of United States District Court (Central District, Southern Division) quashed the lawsuit itself, the litigation has never stopped the now 5-year-old Malpractice Meuser (GB) (Helmet {Aus}) from...

It was déjà vu all over again at June's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Three months after a contentious meeting that saw board members vote unanimously to give race dates to Pleasanton Racetrack for a Thoroughbred meet this fall (in opposition to the wishes of Southern California track operators), the CHRB wrestled with another weighty conundrum: How to fund horse racing in California for the next fiscal year. Ultimately, the board approved what was termed a "compromise" funding model that will see each racing association cover the "direct costs"...