Golden Gate to close?

[deathandgravity]

Originally Posted by 46zilzal

It took closing Longacres for people to understand how many SUPPORT JOBS were lost as well. Literally HUNDREDS of people involved in transportation support, feed supplies, Tack suppliers, Vet service, support of the physical plant (construction crews, landscape crews, foot service support, management structure) etc

That was a travesty. Most of the property Longacres sat on is still vacant.

[ranchwest]

Originally Posted by cj

I see it closed in 1992, but I don't remember that one running. I know I didn't make speed figures for it.

I would watch Jefferson on simulcast and they would run marathons on the bullring and it was difficult to tell how many laps they were going. And the camera seemed to be very high up. It was sorta strange.

Jefferson also had the distinction of having a world record set at 4 1/2 furlongs.

[Track Collector]

Originally Posted by cj

There are just since I've been following the sport, though that is about 40 years. I've made speed figures for all these tracks at one time.

Aksarben
Arlington
Atlantic City
Atokad Downs
Bay Meadows
Beulah
Birmingham
Blue Ribbon
Bowie
Calder
Detroit Race Course
Downs at Santa Fe
Erie Downs
Fairplex
Garden State Park
Great Lakes Downs
Hazel Park
Hialeah
Hollywood Park
Le Bois Park
Manor Downs
Mount Pleasant Meadows
Northlands Park
Pinnacle Race Course
Portland Meadows
Playfair Race Course
Rockingham Park
Solano Fair
Sportsman's Park
Suffolk Downs
Stampede Park
Trinity Meadows
The Woodlands

Soon to come:

Golden Gate
Turf Paradise

Just a technicallity, but the following closed tracks were replaced by a new one:

Beulah --> Mahoning Valley
Erie Downs --> Presque Isle
Northlands Park --> Century Mile
Stampede --> Century Downs

Golden Gate is one of the very few US/Canadian Thoroughbred and Quarter Horse tracks not already on my visit list. Looks like I will be putting together visit plans (just like I did a few weeks before Hollywood Park closed). Also have not been to Sac and SR, so those will have to wait until at least next year if they still stay around.

[Bustin Stones]

Back, after Hialeah ceased racing, but before it became a casino, i toured the property. It was like visiting royalty. It was splendor. If that property could not attract enough business to continue racing, what did racing fans want? What did horse racing investors want? Communities build ever more glorious shrines to pro football, so there's money out there.
So, say what you want about the great racing venues in America, but the ceasing of racing at Hialeah stands as a singular failure.

[classhandicapper]

I agree with every word in dilanesp's last post.

I've been laying out the economic case for why trying to stop the bleeding and moving towards a smaller financially healthier industry with enough cash to invest may be the only possible solution.

I agree with him that simulcasting made consolidation not only viable, but was/is a major factor is pushing the industry in that direction along with all the other gambling options.

[Aner]

Originally Posted by cj

Hard to define import, let's say tracks that ran a Graded Stakes, going by memory:

Arlington
Atlantic City
Bay Meadows
Bowie
Calder
Detroit Race Course
Garden State Park
Hialeah
Hollywood Park
Northlands Park
Rockingham Park
Sportsman's Park
Suffolk Downs

You can add Tanforan (1899 -1964) which I attended before they closed. It was just south of San Francisco.

Some of thoroughbred racing's most notable owners and trainers competed at Tanforan Racetrack including: owner/breeder James Ben Ali Haggin; owner/trainer Sam Hildreth; and trainer Noble Threewitt. Threewitt set a record when he won with nine consecutive starters at Tanforan in April 1954.[131]

In 1932, the great Australian champion Phar Lap was brought to Tanforan to rest from his long ocean voyage and then conditioned before being shipped in late January to Agua Caliente Racetrack in Tijuana, Mexico to run in the Agua Caliente Handicap.[132]

Over the years, Tanforan Racecourse saw a number of famous horses compete on its track. Among them, future U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Seabiscuit was stabled at Tanforan after recovering from an injury where he began training for a comeback.[133]

In 1948, future U. S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee Citation set a new Tanforan track record of 2:02 4⁄5 for 1+1⁄4 mi (2.0 km) in winning the Tanforan Handicap.[134][135] Two years later his Calumet Farm stablemate and Kentucky Derby winner, Ponder, also won the race.[136]

In 1956, Bobby Brocato won his second straight Tanforan Handicap. That same year, he equaled the Tanforan track record for 8.5 furlongs (5,600 ft; 1,700 m) and set a new track record for 9 furlongs (5,900 ft; 1,800 m).[137]

[Al Gobbi]

dilanesp is correct that California is a hot spot for animal rights groups - perhaps the biggest one in the country right now and with anti-racing sentiments growing locally (and nationally) in recent years the future is very murky for the industry in that state.

[JohnGalt1]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

I am truly saddened by this.

Golden Gate, just like Bay Meadows before it, had long been one of my 'go to' tracks for betting.

What I'm about to write may sound harsh.

But what I'm about to write is also the truth.

Imo, nobody should be surprised by the announcement.

The dominoes began to fall back in 2010-2011 when handle at California's major thoroughbred tracks cratered in response to the takeout increase mandated by SB1072 - a bill that was vigorously lobbied for by California Horsemen, Track Management, and the California Horse Racing Board.

They never really recovered.

The time for corrective action would have been early on back in 2011 or 2012.

Instead they ignored the root cause of the problem.

Over the years the reduced handle, resulting reduction in track revenue, and resulting reduced money available for purses compounded.

They were forced to cut dates, cut employee hours, announce layoffs, cut purses, and eventually close tracks.

Imo, almost all of the wounds were self inflicted.

And here we are.


-jp
.

I used to bet California tracks more then 100 days a year and New York tracks (mostly Saratoga) 30 times a year.

I live in Minnesota so the times they raced fit my work schedule. Now that I'm retired, I bet California maybe 15 time a year and New York about 80-100 times a year.

The main reason is I like playing pick sixes and California went to the sucker jackpots and New York re-installed the traditional version, that's where my betting handle goes now.

[thaskalos]

It would have been to my financial advantage if Golden Gate had closed down a decade ago. Hopefully Presque Isle follows suit.

[JustRalph]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

It would have been to my financial advantage if Golden Gate had closed down a decade ago. Hopefully Presque Isle follows suit.

I hated both. Plastic mostly made me hate them

[MooseDog]

They are smaller in number than you might think. Active and loud, yes, the biggest threat for racing is that they seem to have sympathetic ears in the local media reporting staffs, death sells clicks and and the industry doesn't engage beyond "we're making improvements".

This allows the AR folks to spread misinformation that horses are mistreated, drugged up, etc when in most cases the opposite is true, but then again we are in an age where you make up your own reality, right? It's just a matter of how many you can bring along with you.

Originally Posted by Al Gobbi

dilanesp is correct that California is a hot spot for animal rights groups - perhaps the biggest one in the country right now and with anti-racing sentiments growing locally (and nationally) in recent years the future is very murky for the industry in that state.

[AskinHaskin]

Originally Posted by Jeff P

dominoes began to fall back in 2010-2011
when handle at California's major thoroughbred tracks cratered in response to the takeout increase mandated by SB1072 - a bill that was vigorously lobbied for by California Horsemen, Track Management, and the California Horse Racing Board.

They never really recovered.

.
.
.

And here we are.


-jp
.

R
O
F
L

Oh my god... the HANA BOYCOTT of California mutuel pools effectively killed-off California horse racing.

(* currently a work in progress)



And they said it was a grand idea

Lets gather all of these industry seers with their conviction (and their convictions ) and let the (obvious) power and will of (those) people engineer the greatest economic cliff dive that sports has ever witnessed.


We'll hire the finest cheerleader around (who will work for what he's worth) to tout great destinations like Hialeah, and Canterbury, and sometimes The Meadowlands along with sometimes Sam Houston along with used-to-be-but-not-no-more Keeneland.

Then we'll post touts for these industry seers on Canturbury and when-we-get-around-to-it Hawthorne. Failing as usual (to recognize that were these the seers that we always envisioned gathering, they wouldn't need touts)

What a concept!


(of course nobody is surprised by the impetus of the great California landslide)

[PaceAdvantage]

Originally Posted by AskinHaskin

R
O
F
L

Oh my god... the HANA BOYCOTT of California mutuel pools effectively killed-off California horse racing.

(* currently a work in progress)



And they said it was a grand idea

Lets gather all of these industry seers with their conviction (and their convictions ) and let the (obvious) power and will of (those) people engineer the greatest economic cliff dive that sports has ever witnessed.


We'll hire the finest cheerleader around (who will work for what he's worth) to tout great destinations like Hialeah, and Canterbury, and sometimes The Meadowlands along with sometimes Sam Houston along with used-to-be-but-not-no-more Keeneland.

Then we'll post touts for these industry seers on Canturbury and when-we-get-around-to-it Hawthorne. Failing as usual (to recognize that were these the seers that we always envisioned gathering, they wouldn't need touts)

What a concept!


(of course nobody is surprised by the impetus of the great California landslide)

right on cue...never fails to disappoint...LOL

"hey guys...get rid of the gimmicks and the game will thrive! guys? guys!?!?"

"power to the little people, guys...fellas?!?!?....I'm talkin' here waving my arms...pay attention to ME!"

[Parkview_Pirate]

The scary thing in my mind is that racing has been contracting for decades, with much of that during times when the rest of the U.S. economy was booming.

The big picture indicates the boom era is coming to a close. Those who are working on racing's future (contracted) models of operation are hopefully lowering their sights enough to keep up with the decline....

[MJC922]

Originally Posted by MooseDog

They are smaller in number than you might think. Active and loud, yes, the biggest threat for racing is that they seem to have sympathetic ears in the local media reporting staffs, death sells clicks and and the industry doesn't engage beyond "we're making improvements".

This allows the AR folks to spread misinformation that horses are mistreated, drugged up, etc when in most cases the opposite is true, but then again we are in an age where you make up your own reality, right? It's just a matter of how many you can bring along with you.

Exactly, and half the 'people' they bring along aren't even real people. It's BS stuff like fake upvotes and downvotes on platforms like reddit that pull the sheep along for the ride, shaping opinions of the younger generation via social media.