Pleasanton

As California horse racing enters one of its most consequential years yet, the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) first meeting of the year this Wednesday includes a proposal for 19 weeks of fair racing in the North of California this year. The National Horseman's Benevolent and Protective Association (HBPA) has also weighed in, offering its support for a live racing circuit in NorCal at the behest of a group of Northen California owners and trainers, according to a letter the organization sent to the CHRB Jan. 7. "We recognize under...

News last week about the loss of this year's GIII Bob Hope Stakes after receiving just three entrants--all from the Bob Baffert stable--wasn't exactly a shock. But is it a canary in the coal mine concerning the health of California's horse inventory? Not on its own. It is, however, one among a flock of important indicators. Growing attention has been spent on the implications from the consolidation of top bloodstock between fewer and fewer stables, with many observing how a greater distribution of horses among more stables would help the...

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) on Thursday voted down two separate proposals to allocate 2025 race dates to entities at Ferndale and Fresno that wanted to keep Thoroughbred racing going on the now-nonexistent Northern California circuit. The 4-3 votes on each measure dashed what appeared to be the last remaining hopes for a 2025 resuscitation of the sport in a region of the state that as recently as two summers ago boasted a year-round rotation of racing anchored by one commercial track and five fair venues. The June 19...

Summer race-date allocations for meets at both Pleasanton and Ferndale failed to advance at Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. The former request got voted down and the latter failed to garner enough votes to be decided either way, jeopardizing the prospect of any fairs-style racing in the state for 2025. The commissioners who voted and stakeholders who testified were split on the best path forward for California racing as a whole, widening an existential Northern-vs.-Southern rift that opened nearly two years ago when The Stronach Group (TSG) announced...

After a flurry of activity this past week which appeared to breathe life into the idea of Pleasanton racetrack remaining open for training and stabling, potentially even for a race-meet this summer, the facility looks set to end its current tenure as a state licensed auxiliary training and stabling center midnight Tuesday. "Please be aware that as of March 25 at midnight, Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton will no longer be an approved auxiliary training facility of Santa Anita Park. The agreement between the Southern Stabling and Vanning Committee (TOC...

The Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association voted Tuesday evening to pursue a race meet this summer, according to several sources. This is in contrast to a January vote by the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) to not apply for race dates in 2025. Tuesday's closed session vote launches a flurry of key details and obligations to be nailed down before a race-meet can go ahead at the track, all within a relatively short amount of time. This includes a response to the facility's long-standing regulatory wastewater and stormwater discharge...

Politicians and key industry figures are pushing for Pleasanton racetrack to extend stabling and training at the facility beyond the current March 25 deadline and to potentially hold a race-meet there this summer, a vote on which could be held during Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association board meeting Tuesday. While in some quarters, hopes are high that a vote will go ahead and the extension granted, such an effort is far from a slam dunk. Alameda County Fairgrounds management argues that any extension would be made difficult because of long-standing...

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...

Following the announcement that the California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) will not apply for 2025 race dates and that CARF and Alameda County Fair have decided to end Pleasanton stabling Mar. 25, stakeholders in southern California will now intensify efforts to develop a single circuit to create a positive platform for Thoroughbred racing at Santa Anita, Del Mar and Los Alamitos, the Southern California Stabling and Vanning Committee said in a press release late on Thursday. The new version of California Thoroughbred racing will continue to offer suitable racing...

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...

Jerome Hoban has stepped down from both chairmanship of the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) and the board itself, according to a short resignation letter to CARF executive director Larry Swartzlander, dated last Thursday. In response, the CARF board will hold a special meeting on Tuesday to elect a new chairman, according to an email Swartzlander subsequently sent to CARF members. "With Jerome's resignation there will also be a board position open. This will not be addressed at the Tuesday meeting," the email states. "The Tuesday Meeting will also...

The New Year marks a brave new world for California racing, with one circuit largely consolidated in the South. On New Year's morning, the TDN sat down with Bill Nader, president and CEO of the Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC), to discuss this new landscape. In part one, Nader shared, among other things, how simulcasting monies redirected from the North could benefit tracks and purses in the South to the tune of $20 million annually. Here in part two, Nader discusses expectations about horse inventory, impacts on California's breeders, and...