Harness racing will cease at Cal-Expo in Sacramento, Calif., after the current season ends on May 2. The board of directors of the state fair grounds voted on Friday to terminate a lease agreement with the operators of the race meeting, according to a statement released by Cal-Expo.
The statement indicated the board of directors acted on the recommendation of its staff. The current meeting began last December. A fall meeting was scheduled to begin in November.
The cessation of harness racing is the latest blow to the sport in California, which in the last year has seen the closure of Golden Gate Fields in Albany and the collapse of the Northern California fair circuit.
There is no Thoroughbred racing scheduled this year at fairs in Pleasanton, Cal-Expo, Santa Rosa or Fresno. Pleasanton ran a Thoroughbred meeting last fall that failed to meet business expectations, leading to the cancellation of a proposed winter-spring meeting.
Earlier this year, the California Authority of Racing Fairs announced it would no longer support live meetings in Northern California.
Two prominent owners and breeders – John Harris and George Schmitt – offered to financially support a fair meeting at Pleasanton this summer, but their proposal was rejected by the board on April 17.
Officials with the Humboldt county fair in Ferndale, in the far north of the state, hope to conduct a late summer meeting, though the California Horse Racing Board officially voted not to take action on the proposal at its monthly meeting on April 17.
The racing board voted 3-2 against a potential meeting at Humboldt, but needed four votes for an official decision. One commissioner was absent from the meeting. Another position on the seven-person board is vacant.
Another vote on Humboldt’s proposal may occur at the racing board’s May meeting. The Humboldt proposal is opposed by the Thoroughbred Owners of California, who do want to divert purse money generated from simulcasting and account wagering from the Del Mar meeting.
Currently, the only race meetings scheduled in the state are at three venues in the south. There is an ongoing Thoroughbred meeting at Santa Anita, and a Quarter Horse and lower-level evening meeting at Los Alamitos.
Del Mar will run meetings this summer and fall. Los Alamitos will have three Thoroughbred meetings in early summer, September and December. Santa Anita will have a meeting in early fall.
In its statement, Cal-Expo said the decision to end harness racing “was not made lightly.
“Despite the longstanding efforts to support and sustain the sport at Cal Expo, the costs of operating and maintaining the facility continue to rise while the changing landscape for live horse racing in Northern California becomes more uncertain,” according to the statement.
The release stated that 39 harness dates were scheduled this year. During the 2003-2004 season, there were 169 harness programs at Cal-Expo, according to the racing board.
“This was an incredibly difficult decision,” Cal-Expo chief executive Tom Martinez said in the statement. “It is our responsibility to ensure Cal Expo remains viable and can continue serving the people of California.”
The lease agreement to conduct harness racing at Cal-Expo was extended last year through May 2030. Officials with Watch and Wager LLC, who operated the meeting, did not immediately return a phone call seeking comment on Saturday.
Chris Schick, the general manager of Watch and Wager, which operated the Cal-Expo harness meeting, said on Saturday afternoon that his organization may explore conducting harness racing at an alternative venue in Northern California, such as the San Joaquin county fair in Stockton, but that considerable investment would be needed to prepare the facility.
Stockton, for example, does not have lights. The Cal-Expo harness meeting was run in the evenings.
Schick said Watch and Wager plans to work with the California Harness Horsemen’s Association on a potential relocation.
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