Golden Gate Fields receives extension until early June

Golden Gate Fields will not close when its fall season ends on Dec. 11, as the track’s owner previously announced in July.

Instead, the Stronach Group through its racetrack subsidiary 1/ST RACING applied for dates for a winter-spring season at GGF, and the California Horse Racing Board allocated them at its monthly meeting Thursday. The season will run Dec. 26-June 11 and delay the track’s closure for at least six months.

“We are pleased we could work out a solution with our industry stakeholders to be able to keep Golden Gate Fields open for an additional and final meet,” 1/ ST RACING CEO Aidan Butler said in a statement.

The decision came after negotiations among the various racing entities plus legislation that moves wagering proceeds from Northern California to Southern California whenever there is no live racing in the north. That legislation, AB1074, awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

“Any extension is a good one,” said trainer Steve Sherman, who grew up in San Mateo and whose family — headed by his father, Art — has been a major player in Bay Area racing for more than 50 years. “Maybe even it will go further than that. Things could change. But even if it’s a shorter thing, it’s way better than closing in December.”

Sherman acknowledged that there was some wheeling and dealing involved.

“For them to do that, it would be nice to say it was the kindness of their hearts, but there had to be a little business in there, too,” he said. “There’s a lot of money raised in the north through simulcast racing, so for them to want that, there must be a substantial amount.”

The CHRB also allocated dates to the 2024 summer fair circuit, which will run through Sept. 10, plus the Big Fresno Fair the first two weeks of next October. That leaves most of September plus mid-October through December of 2024 without live racing in Northern California, but that almost certainly will change with the California Authority of Racing Fairs making plans to fill those dates.

“Obviously, Cal Expo (in Sacramento) and Santa Rosa (site of the Sonoma County Fair) are both in the running,” said CARF executive director Larry Swartzlander. “There are things that have to be worked out. We will make a decision and the intent is to have the horsemen stay in one spot and not be moving around.”

The CARF board of directors hold their next meeting Oct. 5, and CHRB next meets Oct. 19.

“It will be interesting to see what scenarios there are postFresno,” Sherman said of the 2024 Big Fresno Fair. “That six weeks that Golden Gate usually has in the summer — I get that they can cover that with extra meets at Pleasanton (Alameda County Fair) and Santa Rosa. What happens in the fall turning to winter, especially if we have a wet winter? But this gives them a chance for better proposals so I’m just going to wait and see what happens. Maybe they might want to keep Golden Gate open on a year-to-year thing like what happened at Bay Meadows.”

Talk of shutting down that San Mateo track began in the early 1990s, but it didn’t close until 2008.