This is the seventeenth of a major series of articles concerning racetracks in the USA. We continue our review of USA racetracks with a look at the only live harness racing venue in California and an initial look at the closed harness racing tracks of California.
California –
Cal Expo (CAL)
Harness racing was conducted at most of the major California (thoroughbred) tracks at one time or another. California has the only remaining harness racing track west of the Mississippi in Cal Expo, located adjacent to the American River on a site north of downtown Sacramento, the fairground site previously known as Golden Bear Raceway consists of approximately 356 acres.
The venues for three earlier tracks in Sacramento – Sacramento (1859 – 1883), Capitol Park (1884 – 1908) and California/Sacramento State Fairgrounds track (1909 – 1970) are detailed in the closed tracks section.
The new one mile Cal Expo facility in Sacramento opened in 1968 by Governor Ronald Reagan replaced the old California State Fairground and began hosting the California State Fair. Thoroughbred racing commenced on this track on 28 August 1968 but it wasn’t until 15 June 1971 that harness racing made its first appearance. Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park were the other two major tracks staging harness racing in California creating a year round circuit in California. The Golden Bear Raceway name was eventually changed to Cal Expo.
The main dirt track oval of one mile has a home straight of 990 ft, width 80 ft, plus two chutes of six furlongs and 1¼m for thoroughbreds. With no hub rail, nine horses can start across the mobile gate. Cal Expo has a grandstand capacity of 6,200, turf club capacity of 634 (overall seating for 6,834) with parking for 5,000 vehicles.
Harness racing today is hosted from mid-November until the end of April (18 November 2022 – 30 April 2023), racing on Friday and Sunday evenings (one Saturday and one Monday meeting) during a forty six night meeting. Thoroughbred racing is held during the California State Fair in July. Cal Expo also offers year round betting on simulcast horse racing.
Warm Breeze lowered the North American Pacers race mile record to 1:53.1 at Cal Expo on 26 June 1977 making him the fastest pacer of the year. An attendance record of 36,943 on 4 July 1982 was set by patrons. In 1983 Hollywood Park’s owner (part owner Marie Everett) purchased Los Alamitos moving all standardbred racing there while turning Hollywood Park into a thoroughbred only track. The concentration of California’s standardbred circuit made it difficult for Cal Expo to compete and harness racing ceased being held there by 1995. Betting records were set at a thoroughbred meeting on 7 April 2000 – $1,724,070.
Harness racing was restarted at Cal Expo in 2000 under the management of Capitol Racing then in 2005 transferred to Sacramento Harness. In 2008, the California State Fair and Expo took over operations with live thoroughbred racing returning to the State Fair whilst harness racing continues in California today at Cal Expo.
As with many tracks Cal Expo pays homage to numerous harness racing identities who helped make it by naming races after them, notably Bob Staats Pacing Series and Dr. Gary Budahn Trotting Series together with California Sire Stakes also hosting a notable thoroughbred race, the Governor’s Cup Stakes Race during the annual State Fair.
The Miller Lite Grandstand is home to the recently remodelled Clubhouse incorporating flat screen television lined walls as part of the venue for private parties and groups from 40 – 300 guests. Self-service machines and betting clerks are available catering for betting requirements. The Clubhouse is open during live harness racing, on race days during the California State Fair and for the four big thoroughbred race days of the year: Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and Breeders Cup.
The Turf Club located at the south end of the Grandstand includes an upscale restaurant accommodating parties from 40 – 200 guests. It is open during State Fair Horse Racing, the Sacramento Mile and special events.
A simulcast betting or satellite wagering facility is open year round in the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand offering horse racing from California and other state tracks. There are four separate seating areas for race viewing plus one hundred and forty private individual seating areas as well as private tables.
Inside the general admission area of the Miller Lite Racetrack Grandstand are found the Sports Bar, featuring large screen TVs and monitors together with table and bar seating while in the centre is the Winners Circle Grill offering burgers, carvery meat sandwiches and a wide variety of snacks and beverages.
Closed –
Sacramento
Opening as the half mile State Fair track in 1859 at the Agricultural Park, it was updated to a mile oval in 1862 with racing continuing here until 1883.
Capitol Park, Sacramento
Capitol Park took over as the venue for harness racing in Sacramento in 1884. The Occident Trot which originated in 1882 at Sacramento featured future trotting world record holder Sunol the winner aged three in 1889 (T2:08¼TT at Stockton, California on 29 October 1891). Capitol Park closed for racing in 1908.
Sacramento State Fairgrounds
The one mile California State Fairgrounds located at 1600 Exposition Boulevard, Sacramento was the venue for two dirt oval tracks built on the site of the California Exposition. Built for horse racing in 1906, it was further utilised for automobile racing in 1907, 1912 and from 1946 until 1970.
From 1949 to 1970, the track hosted the Golden State 100, a round of the AAA/USAC National Championship. Sports car racing took place on a 2.1-mile (3.4-km) road course laid out in the parking lots surrounding the oval between 1955 and 1969 with a SCCA National Sports Car Championship round held in 1955. The Golden State 100 was revived at the new Cal Expo site as a USAC Silver Crown race from 1989 until 2000. Motorcycle racing’s Sacramento Mile continues to be held at the new California Exposition as part of the AMA Grand National Championships.
Harness racing started in 1909 with pari mutual betting commencing on 2 September 1935 at the Sacramento Fair following the passing of laws allowing it by the state legislature. Harness racing remained at the Fairgrounds until 1970 after which the Exposition moved to a new site of Cal Expo north of downtown Sacramento. The old fairgrounds closed and were sold for redevelopment in 1970.
Bay Meadows (BM)
The first predominantly Californian thoroughbred track which featured limited harness racing that will be reviewed is Bay Meadows Racecourse. It was in existence for seventy four years from 1934 to 2008. The track facility of approximately ninety acres was situated at Delaware Street, San Mateo in the San Francisco Bay Area. The most famous of a number of Bay Area tracks boasting that it was the oldest and longest continually operating thoroughbred track in California and USA due to it being allowed to remain open for operations during World War II until closure on 18 August 2008
Bay Meadows the brainchild of William (Bill) P. Kyne, one of the leading proponents in a successful campaign to legalise pari-mutuel betting in California in 1933. Kyne broke ground on the site of the former Curtis-Wright airfield less than a year after the passing of the Woolwine-Maloney Bill. Following a construction period of 209 days, Bay Meadows opened on 4 November 1934 before a crowd of 15,000 (capacity 20,000).
The original mile oval track was overlooked by a grandstand and clubhouse seating 6,500. The three level tiered seating steel and concrete grandstand was four hundred feet in length with an Art Deco detailed façade, a feature shared with the timber-framed, stucco-clad clubhouse. The clubhouse, mostly occupied by a single club room was smaller in length than the grandstand at 123 feet.
The innovative Kyne introduced the automatic totalisator to the West Coast course, Kyne labelling it his “mechanical preventative of racetrack chicanery.” Additional attractions he pioneered were the fully enclosed electric starting gate, photo-finish camera, totalisator board and popular daily double. As for racing, the legendary Seabiscuit won the Bay Meadows Handicap twice in 1937 and 1938, the longest continually run stakes event in California beginning in 1934, earlier prior to the track’s development the mighty Phar Lap was stabled in the area after his flight from Australia on route to Aqua Caliente track in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Phar Lap went on to win the 1932 Aqua Caliente Hcp in race record time in his final race prior to his unfortunate early death due to a sudden and mysterious illness.
Kyne negotiated with the federal government to allow Bay Meadows to remain open during World War II, the only major West Coast racecourse allowed to do so. This approval came with strict conditions including that not less than 92% percent of profits were to be donated towards the war effort. Over $4 million had been raised towards War Relief Projects by 1945. Patrons were not allowed to drive cars or take buses to the track due to rationing with anyone going to the course having to ride in horse or mule drawn wagons. The first horse to travel by air to a race, El Lobo triumphed in the 1945 Burlingham Hcp after landing on an airstrip adjacent to Bay Meadows track.
On 17 April 1948 after a record 29,300 crowd attended, Bay Meadows’ embarked on a $1.2m upgrade in 1949. The upgrade involved a new clubhouse, private turf club grandstand extension doubling capacity to 40,000, new saddling paddock, fireproof horse barns and new landscaping. The Stockton Record proclaimed Bay Meadows “one of the most elaborate racing plants in the world.” Bay Meadows hosted 150 AAA Indy Car race in 1950 and 1951 while NASCAR racing took place in 1954, 1955 and 1956. The exterior scenes in Stanley Kubrick’s 1956 heist movie “The Killing” were filmed at Bay Meadows with the track renamed Lansdowne for the movie although the Bay Meadows name is visible in an early scene.
Ultimately Bay Meadows had two tracks a) one mile dirt oval (also used for harness racing) with a 990 ft, 85 ft wide front straight (75 ft back straight width), with six furlong and 1¼m chutes b) 7/8 mile Longden Turf course (7 furlongs, 32 feet) with maximum width 75ft and minimum of 50 ft, equipped with a movable rail. The stable area had stalls capacity for nine hundred horses in five barns. The total seating capacity in later years was 9,500 : grandstand 7,400; Club House 1,000; Turf Club 1,100.
Throughout its lengthy history, Bay Meadows hosted harness racing and quarter horse race meetings. The low levels of revenue such racing generated meant they were not run in the final years of the track. Bay Meadows focused exclusively on thoroughbred racing in its last couple of decades.
Struggling by the early 1980’s, a four year renovation project commenced in 1986 in a bid to rejuvenate racing at Bay Meadows. Difficulties continued to be experienced during the 1990’s with shareholder infighting, fixture date competition and the declining popularity of the sport impacting. However, a record $8,660,396 was bet on Breeders’ Cup Day, 6 November 1999. Rumours circulated about Bay Meadows closure with investors vying for control of the tracks land. The MEC (Menendez Enterprises Corporation) acquired the track operations leasing the facility in November 2000.
In the early 2000s plans to demolish the Sam Mateo track with a completely new track built near Dixon, California led to Bay Meadows operating on a year by year basis. The city council of the city of San Mateo adopted the Bay Meadows Phase II Specific Plan Amendment on 7 November 2005. It called for 1,250,000 square feet (116,000 m2) of office space, 1,250 residential units, 150,000 square feet (14,000 m2) of retail space and 15 acres (61,000 m2) of public parks and a rebuilt Hillsdale Caltrain station near the site of the old Bay Meadows Caltrain station.
The California Horse Racing Board in 2006 required the state’s major dirt tracks to be replaced with synthetic surfaces for horse safety reasons. Bay Meadows could not meet the $10m installation cost to comply with the state ruling. Scheduled for closure and demolition following its summer season on 4 November 2006, Bay Meadows received an extension, however it was obvious that the track was more valuable for its land.
On 3 July 2007 the California Horse Racing Board unanimously approved a one year exemption for Bay Meadows to continue racing on its current racing surface in 2008. The last year of racing commenced with its final Spring meeting from 6 February to 11 May; daily simulcasting from 14 May to 4 August; final ten live racing dates for the San Mateo County Fair with the last official meeting held on 17 August 2008 with 8,000 patrons in attendance and a final day of simulcasting on 18 August. An auction of Bay Meadows paintings occurred from 23 – 25 August.
A housing and commercial development, Bay Meadows Village, commenced on the site in September 2008. Debris waiting to be recycled from the demolition of the grandstand and clubhouse was left in “unsightly” piles on the site for several months drawing criticism from local newspapers and community groups.
Chico
An early one mile track in Chico featured a number of famous horses during its period of operation. In 1854 Pocahontas and again after the track was rebuilt in 1875, a match race between Rarus and Goldsmith Maid hosted by the track. A trotter’s race mile record of T2:14½ set on 19 May 1877 by Goldsmith Maid. This was the fastest of her five race mile records set between 1871 and 1877; she also set the trotters and mare’s mile record of T2:14.0 at Mystic Park, Boston on 2 September 1874.
Next Article : Closed Californian tracks – part two
Peter Craig
18 January 2023
Approved By Dean Baring www.harnessbred.com
Driving The Future Of Harness Racing
