Retooled fair season begins

There will not be race meets at Sacramento or Santa Rosa this summer on the Northern California summer fair circuit, which begins Friday at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton, but there will be live fans at the other venues.

The California Authority of Racing Fairs starts its 2021 season with a three-week stand at the Alameda County Fairgrounds followed by another week of racing there on dates originally allocated to the California State Fair in Sacramento.

Sacramento’s remaining two weeks will be run at Golden Gate Fields, which will also run the weeks allocated the Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa.

Both the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, beginning Aug. 20, and Big Fresno Fair, beginning Oct. 8, will race. And while there will be not be mule racing in Ferndale, there will be Quarter Horses for the first time, with races carded at 110 yards and 660 yards.

Tickets to attend Pleasanton must be purchased in advance online at the Alameda County Fair website (alamedacountyfair.com). Tickets, which include parking, are $15 for grandstand, $18 for box seats, $65 for outside Trackside Terrace (meal included), and $75 for the indoor Sky Lounge (meal included).

Larry Swartzlander, executive director of the California Authority of Racing Fairs, expects a good year after the 2020 season was held without fans because of the coronavirus pandemic.

“Pleasanton is coming off its most successful year, on the track, in the past 10 years,” he said.

He is hopeful for solid entry numbers with incentive programs for trainers and out-of-state runners, and now owners as well.

Out-of-state runners receive a $300 bonus for their first and second starts at the fairs. Trainers receive a $500 bonus for starting 5 to 9 horses and $1,000 for 10 or more at a meet. Owners receive a $2,000 bonus if they start five runners at a meet.

“I think our stakes will be better than last year. We have a good stakes schedule, with all stakes carrying $75,000 purses,” Swartzlander.

Pleasanton offers three stakes, the She’s a Tiger – named after the Eclipse Award winner who made her career debut at Pleasanton – for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on June 26, the Oak Tree Sprint at six furlongs for 3-year-olds and up on July 3, and the Everett Nevin at 5 1/2 furlongs for 2-year-olds on July 10.

The Governor’s Handicap at Sacramento has been postponed. Fresno will again offer the Harris Farm and Bulldog stakes.

◗ Pleasanton will host a daily racing seminar at 1 p.m. at The Farmhouse, located just off the clubhouse turn. It features journalist and Pleasanton racing historian Dennis Miller and new race-caller Craig Braddick, the regular announcer at Turf Paradise,

TVG will telecast all Thoroughbred races at Pleasanton.