One of the more risible arguments put forth by this increasingly desperate industry is that horseracing merits saving (read: bailing out) because horseracing helps “preserve open spaces.” What makes this all the worse is the severe affordable-housing crisis our nation faces. What’s better, a seedy racetrack (dirty breeding operation) or new housing that normal folks can afford?
Still, preserving open spaces – true open spaces – is a worthwhile endeavor. And that’s exactly what is happening at the former Golden Gate Fields (shuttered in 2024) in Northern California. From The Mercury News:
“In a historic land conservation deal, a San Francisco environmental group has signed an agreement to purchase Golden Gate Fields…and preserve it as open space and a panoramic new waterfront park. The Trust for Public Land, a nonprofit organization, secured an option to pay $175 million to buy the 161-acre property…from the Stronach Group…. The deal is scheduled to close early next year, after which the trust said it will transfer the property to the East Bay Regional Park District.”
Guillermo Rodriguez, the Trust for Public Land: “This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to put nature and public access at the forefront, expand recreation and restore the waterfront so it is much more accessible. The views are spectacular out there.”
Park District spokesperson: “To have this stretch of incredible shoreline and restore it to its natural habitat and have ways for people to come engage with nature and the views, where they can go for a run or play soccer and rent a kayak or compatible uses like that is very exciting. It will become a new place where people can interact with the bay.”
Excellent.
Preserve “open spaces” for the good of all living beings and nature …Not,for this insidious grift of gambling.
There’s so much going wrong and sickening and disgusting in the world right now….so maybe let’s do ONE thing right- Preserving nature.
Let’s hope that conglomerates see the $$$$ signs from Golden sale and decide to sell their properties as well. Those tracks with water front views and prime real estate. What more could they ask for?
What’s being proposed here is genuine open space: habitat restoration, shoreline access, recreation, and public benefit. That’s fundamentally different from land tied up in an industry that restricts access, concentrates environmental impact, and exploits animals for human entertainment. This is something that serves broader public and environmental interests. It’s pro-access, pro-ecology, and, importantly, what “open space” should actually mean. Excellent, indeed.
It would be fitting to acknowledge the named and the not-yet-named horses that were killed by the racing industry at Golden Gate (Killing) Fields racetrack with a huge wall (similar to the huge wall for soldiers killed in the Vietnam War).