The California Authority of Racing Fairs (CARF) voted unanimously this week not to apply for 2025 racing dates. Coupled with the recent announcements that “Golden State Racing” (GSR) is folding after just one season and that Pleasanton will end its stabling/training in March, this could mean the end of horseracing in the whole of Northern California. In a press release, CARF said:
“After making the difficult decision not to submit future race meet applications, CARF announces that it has directed staff to reorganize operations to focus on addressing current obligations…. This difficult decision was based upon an assessment of financial challenges incurred in the GSR race meet as well as current obstacles facing the horse racing industry.”
And, the predictable reaction. The Humboldt County Fair’s Andy Titus, in BloodHorse:
“There’s a bunch of livelihoods that are on the line here. I mean, what are those people gonna do? If these horses and these people had a spot in Santa Anita, they’d already be there. … How many people’s lives will be affected and touched if horse racing goes away in Northern California? I just think it would be astronomical, and I mean, I think if it goes, guess what? The south is next if the domino of the north falls. The south is right behind it because it’s a broken business model in California.”
No sympathy here, Mr. Titus – and here’s to those dominoes falling…
A glaring omission is the plight of all these horses.
People will survive, the same can’t be said for the unfortunate horses.
Racing as a viable “business” and now in its decline is a disaster for the horses.
The canceling of all Cal. racing would not surprise us. The land Santa Anita is situated on is worth much more than as a racetrack. Just like Portland Meadows is worth more as an Amazon warehouse / distribution center here in Oregon. Of course once Old Doc. Allred is gone so will be Los Alimitos as well because the value of the land has a higher purpose than usage of a racetrack.
They will have to make a plan because they can’t continue to “make a living” killing horses by racing them to death in Northern California.
It was no secret that it was going to cost huge amounts of money to accommodate approximately 700 horses to be stabled at Pleasanton fairgrounds. The accomodations for the grooms and any other backstretch employees and possibly their families was also a problem which obviously would cost huge amounts of money even for a low-standard of living. (That is unless you think sleeping in a stall or a tack room with no shower or bath is high class.)
All of the Thoroughbred breeders, owners and trainers in Northern California involved in this #AnimalCruelty enterprise had enough warning that this train was about to crash.
For any of these people to continue to whine about the CARF decision to not spend money they don’t have in the first place is just stupid, in my opinion. Call it downsizing and move on. Preferably, get professional counseling for your propensity to profit from Animal Cruelty and find an occupation that shows respect and kindness to horses rather than exploiting horses as gambling chips and discarding them when they are not profitable.
I have a friend who has a family member who is very involved in California racing in a fairly high position. Their family has already told her that they anticipate California racing to be done within the next 5 years.