The Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association voted Tuesday evening to pursue a race meet this summer, according to several sources. This is in contrast to a January vote by the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) to not apply for race dates in 2025.
Tuesday's closed session vote launches a flurry of key details and obligations to be nailed down before a race-meet can go ahead at the track, all within a relatively short amount of time.
This includes a response to the facility's long-standing regulatory wastewater and stormwater discharge problems; determining funding for extended stabling, training and vanning after Mar. 25 when the current agreement ends; arranging and paying for key equipment to conduct the meet; determining the specifics around a managerial entity now that CARF no longer conducts fair meets in Northern California; along with a likely bolstering of the current horse population at the track.
Long-time California owner George Schmitt and owner-breeder John Harris have devised a business plan to essentially bankroll the proposed summer meet at Pleasanton. This would be under the banner of a newly formed company called Bernal Park Racing.
On Wednesday afternoon, Schmitt said that he and Alameda County Fair CEO Jerome Hoban were working together on sorting out the specifics after Tuesday's vote.
“We're continuing with negotiations, and hopefully everything will work out for the horsemen as well as the horses,” said Schmitt.
Schmitt would like to see Pleasanton host a meet there this summer between June 13 and July 6. No such race dates have yet been officially allocated by the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB).
According to state statute, licensees must submit their application to conduct a race meet at least 90 days before the start of a race meet. As such, of course, the dates are typically allocated before the application is submitted.
According to Schmitt, any such license application would be submitted under the Bernal Park Racing banner.
One of the key questions to arise from Tuesday's vote is who pays for an extension to the stabling and training at the facility, the contract for which is set to expire on Mar. 25.
Currently, 50% of the stabling and training expenses at Pleasanton come from purses, while Santa Anita and Del Mar pay the other half. According to Thoroughbred Owners of California (TOC) president and CEO Bill Nader, it will have cost some $2 million to stable and train the horses at Pleasanton since Dec. 26 through the end of March, along with shipping costs.
As originally proposed, the TOC had outlined a six-month stabling plan at the track until June. Earlier this year, the Alameda County Agricultural Fair Association decided to end the stabling agreement on Mar. 25, citing wastewater discharge and financial concerns.
When asked if Southern California racing interests would continue to pay for Pleasanton to remain open after Mar. 25, Nader was ambivalent, citing potential statutory obstacles and financial concerns.
“If we were to receive an application, which we have not [as yet], we would first have to be satisfied that we have the statutory purview to consider such an application, which is unclear at this point, because it's transferring money from one zone to another zone,” said Nader.
There are currently around 340 to 350 horses stabled at the track, say officials–down from nearly 800 at the end of last year. When asked if continued funding was also incumbent upon a minimum threshold of horses stabled at the track, Nader said he would have to speak with the stabling and vanning committee.
“Right now, of the horses that are stabled there, less than 100 have made a start at Santa Anita. Based on what the rate is now, which is something like $40 a horse per-day that we're paying, this is a big number,” said Nader.
“We've got to be fiscally responsible,” Nader added. “And again, coming into something that we would label good governance, or statutorily correct, it's a little bit dodgy as it is. And to consider continuing that would be a big question mark.”
One of the reasons CARF gave for not applying for race dates this summer were large operational deficits left from the prior year's Golden State Racing meet at Pleasanton. The purse overpayment at the end of the meet was around $800,000.
There also exist questions over the facility's long-standing wastewater management and stormwater discharge problems.
Last week, the Alameda County General Services Agency wrote a damning letter to the Alameda County Fairground Association criticizing their handling of an inspection last July by the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB) leading to the issuance of a notice of violation (NOV) related to “waste management, stormwater discharge, and unpermitted horse racing operations.”
The NOV required a swift corrective action response by the fairground. “While documents were submitted by the dates, they were and continue to be found inadequate by the RWQCB and numerous meetings and communications with the agency took place to rectify the situation. Nearly eight months later, the corrective actions to comply are still not complete,” the letter states.
At the same time, the manager of the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Board reportedly told NBC Bay Area last week that the agency is willing to come up with a water plan to keep the racetrack open and have not set any strict deadlines.
Alameda County Fair's Hoban did not respond before publication to a request for comment.
David Haubert, the Alameda County Supervisor for the Pleasanton area, was on his way to Mexico when reached Wednesday morning via text. “Still a lot of work to do to get permission from the water board and the sanitation district, but there is a clear path forward, if they take it,” Haubert wrote.
In a letter last week to Hoban, Haubert asked for an extension to the stabling agreement to the end of September, primarily to give the families living there time to reorganize. Haubert said his request had the support of other major politicians in the area, including state senator Jerry McNerney.
“Forcing them to leave prematurely would create undue stress and crisis, needlessly exacerbating homelessness and unemployment for an already vulnerable population. Additionally, pulling their children out of school mid-year could disrupt their education, potentially preventing them from completing the school year,” wrote Haubert, in the letter.
The post Vote Opens Door to Summer Meet at Pleasanton, Big Hurdles to Clear First appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.
