Golden Gate Fields closing down

[cherokeescot]

And there goes another one….

In a major development aimed at consolidating, invigorating and innovating racing throughout Southern California, The Stronach Group today announced it will double down on its prestigious racing and training venues at Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs by closing Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area at the end of the 2023 racing meet.

At the conclusion of the Golden Gate Fields meet, the company will focus on seamlessly transitioning horses from Northern California to Southern California with the goal of increasing field sizes and adding another day of racing to the weekly racing calendar at Santa Anita Park, come January 2024. This consolidation will provide expanded content opportunities, wagering prospects and will serve to further elevate the overall customer experience at Santa Anita Park.

“The Stronach Group remains steadfastly committed to racing in California,” said Belinda Stronach, chairwoman, chief executive officer and president, The Stronach Group. “We believe that the future success of racing depends on a business model that encourages investment in Southern California, one of North America's premier racing circuits. Focusing on Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs as state-of-the-art racing and training facilities that offer enhanced program quality, increased race days, expanded wagering opportunities , blah , blah , blah ….

[unusualpete]

sad, but can't say i didn't see it comin.  when the pandemic ended i expected sunday dollar days to return cuz sometimes 10k ppl would go out there for the dollar beers, dollar parking, dollar hotdogs, dollar programs and dollar admission.  from time to time new players would be born from that weekly bargain.  when it was nixed i could feel the beginning of the end.  glad to be leaving the bay in the upcoming years.   

[Badactor]

“The Stronach Group remains steadfastly committed to racing in California,” said Belinda Stronach.

Unsettling use of the word steadfastly... seems an unnecessary overstatement.
Methinks the lady doth protest a little too much. I'm not sure I believe BS.

I'll always have terrific memories from my trip north to visit Unusual Pete. 
Golden Gate is a cool race track... Where The Hay Meets The Bay!

This is disappointing news, indeed. 

[phlierfreak]

maybe the fair circuit could use it

[merasmag]

i guess legacy tracks have outlived their usefulness
thank god they don't own delmar
first horselet™ i thought of was LITF; i HOPE he is not buried there...
www.bloodhorse.com/horse-racing/articles/270206/golden-gate-fields-to-permanently-close-at-meets-end
www.equibase.com/profiles/Results.cfm?type=Horse&refno=6450160®istry=T&rbt=TB

[1hooper]

I believe he's buried at GG with Silky Sullivan.

[merasmag]

uh-oh

[Badactor]

[dblakers]

Terrible Idea. Not sure how this is going to help California racing. Two types of horses, the ones that run at Santa Anita, Delmar and the ones that ran at Golden Gate, Bay Meadows (gone). Those horses are going to leave Cali, not stay. 

[spiderjohn]

Sad news--around 40 years ago I was on business in SF. I took a road trip to Bay Meadows to watch RUHLMAN(?) ship out there to win the El Camino Real, on closing day, then followed up taking the BART out to opening day at Golden Gate, where everyone piled in to shared taxis for the ride from the station to the track. I preferred GG much over BM.

[mattcoll]

"Those horses are going to leave Cali, not stay"

And go where? Is Emerald Downs "steadfastly committed to racing", is Arizona racing really a reliable partner? More Californians moving to Texas, with in-state only wagering?

Are the kind of people who enjoy living and training and owning in No Cali really the types to move to the midwest or mid atlantic for lower caliber racing?

I don't know the game well enough to guess, but won't So Cal just card races that match the horses that move south?

[merasmag]

i would guess half of them are headed to a slaughterhouse

[Badactor]

Jul 17, 2023 12:18:38 GMT -5 merasmag said:

i would guess half of them are headed to a slaughterhouse

what a ridiculous and unnecessarily ugly thing to post.

[merasmag]

i don't think it's either one
it's called reality

[Deleted]

Jul 17, 2023 13:41:37 GMT -5 merasmag said:

i don't think it's either one
it's called reality

The reality is that your post was uninformed, ignorant and incredibly offensive to those who support aftercare and provide for the animals after their racing careers. 

[merasmag]

Jul 17, 2023 14:13:12 GMT -5 @largemac said:

Jul 17, 2023 13:41:37 GMT -5 merasmag said:

i don't think it's either one
it's called reality

The reality is that your post was uninformed, ignorant and incredibly offensive to those who support aftercare and provide for the animals after their racing careers. 

it's not the first 2 and wasn't meant to be the last one, in fact, i am a long-time supporter of aftercare but there are way many more horselets than places to put them and people to take care of them. it's just a fact and has been for decades.

[merasmag]

it is offensive to me to put one's head in the sand and make believe these issues don't exist...because they certainly do

[spiderjohn]

A different level of horse that runs in S Cal unless they want to run year round at the cheaper place that I have never heard of. The cheaper horses have to run somewhere with costs lower than Santa Anita or Del Mar unless they want to cheapen their racing….
I’m not sure that many of you are aware of how expensive it has become to keep runners in training these days, especially at the main tracks.

Face it—the smaller tracks are struggling nation-wide. Or being pimped out to justify a slots complex. Doesn’t bode well for lower level runners and trainers, especially in California.

Don’t shoot the messenger……

[cherokeescot]

Jul 17, 2023 11:14:57 GMT -5 mattcoll said:

"Those horses are going to leave Cali, not stay"

And go where? Is Emerald Downs "steadfastly committed to racing", is Arizona racing really a reliable partner? More Californians moving to Texas, with in-state only wagering?

Are the kind of people who enjoy living and training and owning in No Cali really the types to move to the midwest or mid atlantic for lower caliber racing?

I don't know the game well enough to guess, but won't So Cal just card races that match the horses that move south?

Matt , the horse racing community is very mobile . For example most of the trainers who run at Tampa Bay Downs in the winter head up to many of the smaller tracks in the north in the summer including Canada. I don’t see many of the horses at GGF ending up at Santa Anita but at lower class tracks elsewhere

[eye123]

It is a fact that horse slaughter is still happening (at a significantly lower number). Last year approximately 16,000 horses were slaughtered in Mexico,and 3,000 in Canada.(all breeds)(none in the US since the last slaughterhouse was closed in 2007) These numbers have come down from 2014 where 105,000 were slaughtered in Mexico, and 43,000 in Canada. (dramatic decreases) The very bright side to this are all these organizations that have stepped up to care for these thoroughbreds after their golden years are over.(could be said their golden years begin with the care they receive at these facilities)

www.thoroughbredaftercare.org/taa-accredited-organizations/

[spiderjohn]

What Bev says is true.....we are seeing more horses and trainers from Cal showing up pretty much everywhere to race. They are obviously ahead of the situation out there. The bottom level outfits have no choice but to go east. Can't even justify the cost of simply living around Santa Anita and Del Mar. Unfortunately these runners have to go somewhere when they cant compete any more, and not every situation has a happy ending. I like going out there for the BCs--otherwise I rarely give Cal racing a look.

Our claiming contest and the low level that my choices have found has opened my eyes to how unkind it is near the bottom...

Maybe make Golden Gate a homeless encampment?

[1hooper]

"Maybe make Golden Gate a homeless encampment?"

There are plenty of data/studies that tie the rate of homelessness to housing affordability.

[eye123]

House prices over the last 50 yrs






Wage growth over the last 50 yrs

[spiderjohn]

All true

?

Not sure how wages and housing costs relate to himelessness

[merasmag]

? i could send u 10,000 links about housing affordability
but the golden gate land will not be used for any down-trodden beings

[eye123]

Jul 17, 2023 18:02:19 GMT -5 spiderjohn said:

All true

?

Not sure how wages and housing costs relate to himelessness

If you notice on the chart, housing medium costs have had a slow but steady rise over the last 50 yrs where wages have kept pace allowing working families the ability to purchase their first home. Recent trends (last three years) have shown dramatic increases in the cost of home ownership for first time buyers. The lack of homes(building hasn't kept pace with the need, corporate acquisitions ( home portfolios ) and speculation by individuals has kept first time buyers with no alternative to rent. Supply and demand. Rents go up (low vacancy, high demand) Wages not keeping pace, and you see part of what contributes to  homeless increases. Of course lack of government(the last 20 yrs) to keep pace with low income housing, gentrifying existing low income neighborhoods, and no guardrails on landlords ability to raise rents indiscriminately and you have where we are. (not addressing all the other factors that lead to homelessness) 

[eye123]

Since this is a "Golden Gate Closing" thread I think I should address that. It sucks Getting a little tiresome seeing one track after another that most here grew up with go by the wayside. Yeah, it's a different world...but the game keeps changing for the worse. (ADW wagering from the couch is great...but I'd give it up in a heart beat to roam around Hialeah in the 70's once again.

[unusualpete]

real talk. devastated by this news. it's a dump but it's our dump.
this area's brick and mortar entertainment economy...it's now geared for one class of people only. there used to be a jillion nightclubs to play or see live music, almost all gone. there were packed drive in and indoor movie theaters, bowling alleys, ice skating rinks and pool halls and the like in every town. a family of 4 could go to a baseball game and buy concessions for what equates into under a hundred bucks by today's money. that same family could take in a warriors game for 150 by the same metric. nfl has and always will be expensive, but still a father and son could go to a raiders game for 100 of todays bucks when i was comin up. now? nosebleeds at a warriors game are 200 A PIECE. best seats are 1400 for one. oh yes we have the opera and the fuckin symphony and the live theater. and there's dinner for two at a ton of restaurants for 200 a plate including wine. the same restaurants i provide fuckin french wine to. i'm therefore not above reproach. i'm part of the problem and am exploiting it. great for the people who are not proletariat. golden gate and bay meadows rep the last bastion of cheap places for say a delivery driver to go and enjoy a game. gone. i'm not going out there to get as much as i can before it closes. did that at bay meadows and it's like visiting a dying loved one.

so what are delivery dudes supposed to do? answer, they stream shit at home cuz they're priced out from brick and mortar. stinks to high holy heaven if you ask me. if you have a job you deserve some nights on the town. a sizeable portion of the entertainment economy should be available to you. i can harldly wait for the life upcoming in louisiana cuz there's a lot more balance in this regard. get's me thinking. perhaps that's why in our city, equidistant from baton rouge and new orleans, ppl are just kinda sorta interested in the saints and pelicans but are head over heels in love with everything lsu.

[eye123]

Pete, Dickens nailed it a century and a half ago.....




It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way—in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only.”