CHRB Again Denies Dates for Northern California Racing

Mirroring contentious votes from two prior California Horse Racing Board meetings, the CHRB again chose during its monthly meeting June 19 not to award race dates this year in Northern California.

Bids from the Fresno County Fair to conduct racing at Fresno and from the Humboldt County Fair to run at Ferndale both failed with four commissioners opposed to awarding dates and three in favor. Fresno had requested seven dates: Sept. 19-21, 26-28, and Oct. 1. Ferndale desired eight days of racing over the weekends of Oct. 11-12, 18-19, and 25-26.

Commissioners Oscar Gonzales, Brenda Washington Davis, and Peter Stern supported awarding dates, while Thomas Hudnut, Damascus Castellanos, Dennis Alfieri, and Dr. Greg Ferraro opposed. Their votes were the same last month when Humboldt County Fair submitted an application for late summer dates.

Hudnut paused Thursday before issuing his "no" vote on dates for Fresno, saying the decision was a "very, very tough one." Had he shifted to a "yes," Fresno's application for race dates would have passed.

Racing in California remains consolidated in the southern part of the state, as it has been throughout 2025. Due in part to a redirect of simulcast revenue from the north to the south, purses are up in Southern California this year, and business has improved. Santa Anita Park has seen an increase in field size and wagering in 2025, coinciding with the consolidation of racing.

Santa Anita has carded some races specifically designed for former Northern California horses, although the success rates of numerous horsemen previously based in Northern California have dropped, several speakers noted during Thursday's CHRB meeting in Sacramento, Calif.

Owner/breeder Justin Oldfield said he "gave it a go" in Southern California, but found "an undisputable increase in costs, moving horses to Southern California, even in the light of having higher purses."

He said he and his wife, Julia, moved all their horses down to Southern California before ultimately electing to send them to Emerald Downs in Washington.

California-bred Thoroughbreds racing outside the state do not earn breeder awards except for those racing in graded stakes races. In part due to this reason and with fewer racing opportunities in the state, continued declines in the state's foal crop are anticipated.

Last year, numerous fairs in Northern California conducted racing during the summer months, as they have customarily done. However, after an unsuccessful fall meet at Pleasanton under operator Golden State Racing, racing ceased in Northern California during the winter and this spring. Golden Gate Fields, which Santa Anita's operator, 1/ST Racing, shuttered last year, previously raced during those periods in Northern California. Horses also stabled at Golden Gate for much of the year.

When Pleasanton ended training and stabling this spring, which was needed after Golden Gate's closure, horsemen either sent their stables to Southern California or shifted their horses out of state. Representatives from Bernal Park Racing, a group headed by owner/breeders George Schmitt and John Harris and backed by their personal financial support, hoped to attract many of these now out-of-state stables to participate at Fresno and Ferndale.

The California Thoroughbred Trainers supported Fresno's bid, while the Thoroughbred Owners of California opposed race dates for both fairs. Schmitt and Northern California horsemen who spoke during the meeting accused the TOC of favoring Southern California interests.

Speaking Thursday during the CHRB meeting, Gonzales took exception to correspondence from TOC attorney Eddie Mishow and directed to the CHRB, which Gonzales felt was "a letter of intimidation," alleging a possible violation of the Bagley-Keene Open Meeting Act, which requires agency deliberations to be conducted openly. The basis for this allegation was a May 26 email from Andy Titus, president of the Humboldt County Fair Association, to Bill Nader, president and CEO of the TOC, in which Titus wrote, in part, "We are told we have four votes to get those dates."

But Thursday, the Ferndale tally was four votes against. Those commissioners who voted against awarding dates to the Northern California fairs expressed concerns about the viability of the meets, mentioning a limited horse population and these proposed dates largely falling outside the operations of their ongoing fairs. Only the Oct. 1 date of the proposed Fresno meet would have coincided with its fair.

"Some of us feel that we do not have the opportunity—the option—for two viable tracks, one in the north and one in the south, and it's too bad, because we honestly would like that," Hudnut said in remarks between the two date applications.

In other board action:

• The CHRB advanced a state regulation that would increase the maximum racing age to age 10 for all breeds racing in the state, except Standardbreds, whose maximum racing age would be 14. Additionally, the maximum racing age for maidens is now age 5. "House rules" at Southern California tracks largely had similar age restrictions in place. Before going forward, the regulation now goes out for a 45-day public comment period.
• CHRB executive director Scott Chaney said an age restriction that would apply to training is likely to be placed on the agenda for the August meeting. The same age maximums as for racing would be proposed.
• CHRB equine medical director Dr. Jeff Blea also cautioned of the growing threat of New World screwworm, which can cause serious and deadly damage to animals. While the NWS has been eradicated from the United States for decades, recent detections in Mexico led to the suspension of cattle, horse, and bison imports along the U.S. southern border.