New Racing Direction at Golden Gate Fields
Track Taking a Quantity-Over-Quality Approach
Oct 20, 2009
Golden Gate Fields’ 42-day meet is now underway, and, frankly, it won’t generate much excitement for fans who like top-caliber horses.
The track is cutting back for economic reasons so race cards filled with almost exclusively of claiming races is what you’ll see at the track all year.
Golden Gate 2009 Stakes Races
Management has opted to cut back on its stakes schedule and will offer only five minor $50,000 events, although three are for 2-year-olds, including the Corte Madera for fillies and the open Gold Rush in December as preps for 3-year-old races to be held early next year.
The track offered nine stakes, including the $200,000 Grade 3 All American, at last year’s fall meet and is saving close to $500,000 on purses with the reduction in stakes.
This is not to say that Northern California trainers don’t have high quality horses capable of competing in stakes, but trainer Steve Specht’s Lady Railrider, who won the Pacific Heights Stakes opening weekend, may be the best horse to run at Golden Gate Fields at this meeting unless Bill Morey Jr. runs his millionaire Bold Chieftain, the only two-time Cal Cup Classic winner in history, in the San Quentin on Friday, Nov. 27.
Horses Moving From Golden Gate
Jerry Hollendorfer, who dominates the trainer standings the way Russell Baze dominates the jockey standings, has moved his top quality runners, including Blind Luck, the likely favorite in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, to Southern California.
Trainer Greg Gilchrist has no place to run Wild Promises, who likely will be sold at auction this fall, at Golden Gate Fields, and he sent multiple stakes winner Victorina to run at Fresno because she, too, has no races to run in at Golden Gate Fields.
By cutting back on the stakes program, the track has been able to keep its overnight purse schedule for the claiming and allowance races that make up the bulk of all racing cards virtually intact. (Purse money is generated by the amount of money wagered on races.)
The hope is for larger fields that will generate more wagering and purse money, a quantity vs. quality issue.
Larger fields do generate more betting, but studies show larger fields in higher quality races generate a higher handle than in lower quality races.
“Purse revenues are going down across the country,” said Golden Gate Fields general manager Robert Hartman, who compared the track’s decision to those of cities, counties and states currently facing difficult choices of reducing services because of the declining economy.
“We have kept overnight purses pretty much steady and took the majority of cuts from the stakes program,” said Hartman, noting the decision affects fewer trainers and horses than if the overnight purses were cut.
Hartman noted the smaller fields in stakes at Golden Gate last spring and during the summer fair circuit and said that Southern California-based trainers seemed to win a disproportionate share of the money compared to Northern California trainers.
He also said the decision was made to help the “blue-collar trainers,” who have smaller barns and generally cheaper horses.
But the reality is that trainers from bigger barns frequently jam horses into lower claiming categories making it tough for the smaller barns to win races. This fact becomes a factor for handicappers to consider as they analyze races.
Last Major Racetrack in Northern California
Hartman said the bankruptcy filing by Magna, Golden Gate’s parent corporation, would have no real effect on the meeting.
At the October California Horse Racing Board meeting, Magna representative Gregg Scoggins assured the board that debtor-in-financing is in place for Magna to meet its financial obligations for the current Golden Gate Fields meeting.
"Our goal is to keep Golden Gate profitable," Hartman said. "We need to focus on being as profitable as we can, whether we are with Magna or we are sold. If the track is not profitable, it will not be around for a long time.
"We feel a heavy burden being the last major track in Northern California. If we can't keep going, there will be a cutback in Northern California racing."
