Fair meet starts summer-fall season

Racing returns early to Golden Gate Fields this summer with a special sixday Wine Country Racing meet opening on Friday. The meet is being held in conjunction with the Sonoma County Fair.

The meet will feature a pair of $50,000 turf stakes at 1 1/16 miles, the Luther Burbank for fillies and mares on Saturday and the Robert Dupret Derby for 3-year-olds on Aug. 8.

Opening day on Friday will include four turf races, which have drawn fields of 7, 8, 7, and 10. The eight-race card drew 62 entries, an average of just under eight per race.

“I think it’s obvious many trainers were just looking for grass racing,” racing secretary Patrick Mackey said.

The Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa usually runs its summer meet at this time, but the fair was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. Santa Rosa is the lone fair track with a grass course.

After the two-week Wine Country Racing minimeet, the regular midsummer Golden Gate meet will begin and run through Oct. 4. The mini-meet will have racing three days a week, Friday through Sunday, while the regular meet will race four days a week, Thursday through Sunday.

Mackey says the turf course, which was not used during a two-month enforced shutdown this spring, is in good condition, and he is hopeful Golden Gate will be able to keep the course open through the entire fall meeting.

Mackey says he has created a condition book for the mini-meet that will blend perfectly into Golden Gate’s traditional summer dates and can provide continuity for horsemen.

“We’ll be giving the horsemen more consistency and stability which will make a lot of people happy,” he said.

With 1,360 horses currently stabled at Golden Gate, Mackey is hopeful the track will have strong fields through the remainder of the year.

Despite not having fans in the stands, racing has benefited from basically being the only major live sporting event in the region for the past 4 1/2 months.

“The lack of sports has pushed more customers to horse racing, and our handles have been good even though it is primarily advance-deposit wagering,” Mackey said. “I hope we retain those fans.”

The regular Golden Gate meeting will still have only one stakes, the Rolling Green on the turf for males, Mackey said. But, he said, if handle remains strong, the track might be able to add some stakes lost earlier in the year to the meet.

Golden Gate is maintaining strict coronavirus protocols, and owners will still not be allowed to be at the track to watch their horses race.