A Stop Horseracing Article from All-Creatures.org

Victory: Golden Gate Fields to Shutter for Good

FROM HorseracingWrongs.org
July 2023

The elimination of Golden Gate, which opened in 1941, will leave the whole of Northern California without a single commercial track. This, folks, is a major victory – and make no mistake, it’s a victory won by us activists. Unrelenting pressure.

Yesterday, word came that The Stronach Group, one of the racing industry’s major brokers, is closing Golden Gate Fields for good this December. (Stronach is also reportedly considering a move to pull out of Maryland – it currently owns both tracks there – entirely.) The elimination of Golden Gate, which opened in 1941, will leave the whole of Northern California without a single commercial track. This, folks, is a major victory – and make no mistake, it’s a victory won by us activists. Unrelenting pressure.

One of the better quotes I’ve read is this one from retired trainer Greg Gilchrist in BloodHorse: “Everything changes. When Santa Anita is down to running three days a week, that’s pretty clear. The horse population has gotten smaller and smaller and politically it’s tough for racing right now in California. There are a whole lot of minuses and not many plusses.”

Exactly. The writing, as they say, is on the wall. And now we can look forward to updating this come December…

The following racetracks have closed since 2000. In this same period, only three new tracks have opened: Pinnacle in Michigan – which, as you’ll see, closed after only two years – Presque Isle in Pennsylvania and Running Aces in Minnesota. It must be noted, however, that both Presque Isle and Running Aces are racinos, meaning they never could have opened without taxpayer subsidization. Clearly, the demand for the racing product itself is going in one direction. Progress.

Two other tracks, not listed below, were for all intents and purposes simply replaced after they closed: Ohio’s Beulah Park closed in 2014; its license was then picked up by Mahoning Valley, which opened that same year. Kentucky’s Thunder Ridge closed in 2017; its license was eventually transferred to Oak Grove, which opened in 2019. Of course, both Mahoning and Oak Grove are racinos.

The shuttered tracks (41, and counting):

• Pompano Park, Florida, closed 2022 after 58 years of abusing horses
• Arlington Park, Illinois, closed 2021 after 94 years of abusing horses
• Calder Race Course, Florida, closed 2020 after 49 years of abusing horses
• Scarborough Downs, Maine, closed 2020 after 70 years of abusing horses
• Bluegrass Downs, Kentucky, closed 2019 after 35 years of abusing horses
• Suffolk Downs, Massachusetts, closed 2019 after 84 years of abusing horses
• Portland Meadows, Oregon, closed 2019 after 73 years of abusing horses
• Hazel Park, Michigan, closed 2018 after 69 years of abusing horsesLes Bois Park, Idaho, closed 2016 after 46 years of abusing horses
• Atlantic City Race Course, New Jersey, closed 2015 after 69 years of abusing horses
• Balmoral Park, Illinois, closed 2015 after 89 years of abusing horses
• Maywood Park, Illinois, closed 2015 after 69 years of abusing horses
• Sports Creek Raceway, Michigan, closed 2015 after 28 years of abusing horses
  
• ollywood Park, California, closed 2013 after 75 years of abusing horses
• Mount Pleasant Meadows, Michigan, closed 2013 after 28 years of abusing horses
• Eureka Downs, Kansas, closed 2011 after 108 years of abusing horses
• Atokad Downs, Nebraska, closed 2011 after 55 years of abusing horses
• Northwest Montana Fair, closed 2011 after unknown number of years abusing horses
• Yellowstone Downs, Montana, closed 2011 after 65 years of abusing horses
• Blue Ribbon Downs, Oklahoma, closed 2010 after 47 years of abusing horses
• Dayton Days, Washington, closed 2010 after 122 years of abusing horses
• Manor Downs, Texas, closed 2010 after 20 years of abusing horses
• Pinnacle Race Course, Michigan, closed 2010 after 2 years of abusing horses
• Waitsburg, Washington, closed 2010 after 99 years of abusing horses
• Walla Walla Fair, Washington, closed 2010 after 144 years of abusing horses
• Western Montana Fair, closed 2010 after 96 years of abusing horses
• Anthony Downs, Kansas, closed 2009 after 105 years of abusing horses
• Rockingham Park, New Hampshire, closed 2009 after 103 years of abusing horses
• Solano Fair, California, closed 2009 after 58 years of abusing horses
• Bay Meadows, California, closed 2008 after 74 years of abusing horses
  
• Jackson Harness Raceway, Michigan, closed 2008 after 60 years of abusing horses
• Great Lakes Downs, Michigan, closed 2007 after 18 years of abusing horses
• Rochester Fair, New Hampshire, closed 2007 after 73 years of abusing horses
• Woodlands Racecourse, Kansas, closed 2007 after 17 years of abusing horses
• Northampton Fair, Massachusetts, closed 2005 after 62 years of abusing horses
• Saginaw Valley Downs, Michigan, closed 2005 after 25 years of abusing horses
• Sportsman’s Park, Illinois, closed 2002 after 70 years of abusing horses
• Brockton Fair, Massachusetts, closed 2001 after 60 years of abusing horses
• Garden State Park Racetrack, New Jersey, closed 2001 after 59 years of abusing horses
• Playfair Race Course, Washington, closed 2001 after 100 years of abusing horses
• Lone Oak Park, Oregon, closed 2000 after 67 years of abusing horses

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