The announced plans by The Stronach Group to close Golden Gate Fields at the end of its 2023 meet served as the latest reminder of the economic and political challenges racing faces in California, but it’s important to understand that those hurdles are not related to lack of interest by fans and horseplayers.
One piece of evidence displaying that fan interest shows up when looking at dollars wagered relative to purses-awarded statistics. In examining those numbers, it’s clear that California most assuredly is getting a lot of bang for its purse buck.
As a starting point, consider that in 2022 more than $12.1 billion was wagered on United States races. Those races offered purses of nearly $1.31 billion. Using the two total figures for handle and purses in 2022, about $9.20 was wagered for every purse dollar offered.
Based on figures available in the California Horse Racing Board annual report, the three major California tracks in 2022 each posted a figure more than twice that $9.20 figure. Again using numbers rounded to the closest dime, Del Mar saw $22 wagered for every purse dollar offered. Santa Anita Park stepped in at $21.10, and Golden Gate registered at $20.50.
Wagering on these three tracks in 2022 surpassed $2.5 billion. If we take the wagering and purse totals of the three California tracks away from the U.S. total, the total falls to less than $8.10 wagered per purse dollar—making the expressed interest in the three Golden State tracks all the more impressive.
California racing’s business model challenges are a result of being one of the few remaining racing states to not benefit from added gaming. Rest assured, horseplayers are supporting the product and fans are interested. These numbers point to a need for the industry, even beyond the state borders, to work together to ensure California racing has a path forward.
As for within the state, the path forward will begin to take shape Aug. 16 when the CHRB race dates committee meets at the Del Mar Hilton. A day later, the full CHRB will meet there.
In notes ahead of Wednesday’s dates meeting, CHRB executive director Scott Chaney outlines a possible schedule that would see fair meets in Northern California pick up some dates and time their dark dates to when Los Alamitos Race Track is conducting Thoroughbred dates. He also suggests there could be another player who could pick up some Northern California race dates, but there are no specifics listed.
Chaney notes: “The allocation of 2024 racing dates is more complicated than usual by the announced closing of GGF. At this time, it is unknown whether the historic Northern California racing dates of GGF will be replaced to some extent by a talked-of but yet unidentified entity. There is further talk that there would be major ‘breaks’ within these replacement dates. If these replacement dates with proposed breaks materialize, it would be in the best interest of Northern California stakeholders and Los Alamitos for the talked-of breaks and the operation of Los Alamitos Thoroughbred meets to be concurrent.
“History demonstrates that such an allocation would be beneficial. In December 2020, GGF was closed because of COVID and more than 200 horses at GGF shipped to Los Alamitos to run in its then-operating Thoroughbred meet. These horses were shipped even though they could not be accompanied by their trainers and caregivers.”
In an Aug. 3 letter to Chaney, Thoroughbred Owners of California president and CEO Bill Nader encouraged the committee to not get bogged down and, at the least, quickly approve the core dates to the Southern California schedule.
“With the dark cloud of uncertainty that was recently cast over the northern part of California, specifically the announced closing of Golden Gate Fields, we believe it would be in the best interest of all parties to provide clarity and clear direction regarding the core race dates for Southern California,” Nader said. “We believe this is within the scope of something I would classify as manageable and predictable based on past practice. It would also provide assurances to those that work within our industry and racing fans across the country as well as around the globe as 2024 is a Breeders’ Cup year (at Del Mar) for the state of California.”
