Stronach exec says Golden Gate could get 6-month reprieve
An executive with The Stronach Group told a California HorseRacing Board committee Wednesday that the closing of Golden Gate Fields couldbe pushed back from December to June, but anything long term would be a financial failure.
Aidan Butler, CEO of Stronach’s 1/ST Racing, told the group, “Wewill do everything we can to keep it open for a short period.” He defined thatto be about six months.
Holding its meeting at a hotel in Del Mar, Calif., the CHRB race-datescommittee took Butler’s statement under advisement without making a finaldecision on the exact calendar for 2024. The full CHRB meets Thursday to get a reportfrom the committee, but the only pertinent action shown on the agenda is forSouthern California dates.
The intended Dec. 10 closing of Golden Gate Fields was announcedhastily by Stronach on July 16, the Sunday afternoon when the Los AngelesTimes broke the news.
Committee member Wendy Mitchell wondered Wednesday why theannouncement came “basically overnight” when she said “the governor’s officehad heard about it months before we did.”
“We weren’t aware, either, from a racing standpoint,” Butlersaid. “Our company is a large company. I am the CEO of racing and gaming, but Iwas not part and parcel of that conversation. You would think I would be, but Iwasn’t. That was a conversation that had been had between corporate and thegovernor’s office. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, either, why it was sucha quick announcement.”
Butler told the committee the economic reality of Californiaracing dictated a consolidation of the sport in the southern part of the state.He added that decisions needed to be made now in order to re-establish a strongfoundation for the future.
Asked by Mitchell what was needed to keep Golden Gate openuntil the middle of 2024, Butler said he could not offer specifics because of billsthat have yet to be introduced in the state legislature. He did, however, doubledown on the economic challenges facing Northern California racing.
“There seems to be some legislation trying to be introducedwhich, depending on what that is or isn’t, could render this a moot subject,”Butler said. “I can’t give you an exact what it is, but we don’t believe NorthernCalifornia can sustain anywhere close to year-round racing.”
Butler disagreed with the California Association of RacingFairs’ belief that the sport could continue in the north state throughout theyear with a new hub at Cal Expo in Sacramento.
“To make statements that the fairs are doing great, I stareat the handle,” Butler said. “I don’t have much of a life. The betting just isn’tthere. It isn’t doing well.”
Butler did not say anything about Stronach’s plans for the140 acres of bayside land in Albany and Berkeley, Calif., where Golden GateFields has been located since it opened Feb. 1, 1941.
