News

Jun 09, 2023

Del Mar CEO hopes Golden Gate closure has a silver lining

Del Mar, Calif. With 45 years at the helm of the racing palace that Bing built and broad experience in the Thoroughbred industry, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper usually has a pretty good

Del Mar, Calif.

With 45 years at the helm of the racing palace that Bing built and broad experience in the Thoroughbred industry, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper usually has a pretty good handle on where California’s horse-racing industry is headed. But he’s not sure what things will look like in the state after the planned shutdown of Golden Gate Fields at the end of the year.

“There’s just a lot of things up in the air right now,” Harper said last weekend in his office, a few short steps and a flight of stairs away from the Del Mar paddock.

Harper, 80, said his management team is in early discussions with officials with The Stronach Group, which made the surprise announcement July 16 that Golden Gate Fields would be shuttered at the conclusion of its fall meeting Dec. 10. But he said they haven’t gotten into the details of what a new racing calendar in the state would look like minus Golden Gate, the historic racetrack perched on the east side of the San Francisco Bay that opened in 1941.

Racing dates and the question of what will become of the horses stabled at Golden Gate, many of which will not be suited to compete on the tougher Southern California circuit, are two main points that will need to be addressed, Harper said.

The two go hand in glove as The Stronach Group’s plan to bolster racing at Santa Anita is dependent on attracting horses and horsemen from the north and finding spots for them at the various racing and training facilities in the south.

Officials with 1/ST Racing, the Stronach Group’s racetrack operating arm, have indicated Santa Anita will ask the California Horse Racing Board to add a fourth racing day on Thursdays to the Arcadia track’s current three-day-a-week schedule. But Harper said the talks could venture into other areas such as extending current meets or even adding a new, short meet if it made sense.

“Everything’s probably going to be on the table. What works for both of us?” he said. “I look forward to figuring this out.”

Whatever comes out of the negotiations between the two major players in Southern California racing, the CHRB likely will have to weigh similar proposals by other stakeholders. The California fair circuit is expected to seek an expanded schedule to provide an outlet for the remaining Northern California horsemen, and Los Alamitos, which mainly races quarter horses, could seek additional Thoroughbred dates as a result of Golden Gate’s closure.

“There are a lot of things that require negotiation,” Harper said. “Those things always take time to work through.”

As for the eventual destinations of the more than 1,000 horses stabled at Golden Gate, Harper said that only about one-fifth of the current backstretch population is likely to be competitive down south.

“Maybe about 20 percent would be of the caliber and the eligibility that we would have in the south, so what do you do with the other 80 percent?” he said. “The fairs picking up dates is possible. But how does this affect Santa Anita and Del Mar and the racing-date calendars and things like that? Those are the main things we’re looking at right now and talking to Santa Anita about what’s realistic.”

Harper also said he doesn’t see any possibility of a hail Mary solution to avoid the closure of Golden Gate.

“I think’s it’s inevitable and it’s going to happen,” he said. “I think they (TSG) see consolidation as being more profitable. ... It’s a shame, but it’s the financial reality.”

Asked whether he believes The Stronach Group remains committed to racing in California, Harper paused before answering.

“Good question,” he said. “I hope so. I hope so. I don’t think they want to get rid of Santa Anita. ... I think the commitment is there. I think Belinda (Stronach, head of The Stronach Group and 1/ST Racing) is a smart lady. And I think Santa Anita is their flagship operation, and if they can make that better, that’s better for all of us.”

Harper was referring to plans for nearly $32 million in renovations and improvements at Santa Anita announced by 1/ST Racing officials on Friday during a teleconference.

To Harper, that investment and TSG’s plan to bolster the racing program at Santa Anita suggest the two tracks can work together to maintain high-level racing in Southern California for many years to come. It’s a symbiotic relationship that benefits both tracks, and one he would hate to see end.

“I don’t want to be the last guy standing,” he added. “We’d still be successful, but it would be a different kind of thing.”