Tehama And Humboldt Request Summer Fair Dates, Questions Remain

[Wandering Eyes]

The Tehama and Humboldt County Fairs have submitted summer race date applications to be considered at this Thursday's California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting. Tehama's proposed fair racing meet would run from Apr. 29 to May 26. Humboldt's requested dates would go from Aug. 5 to Sept. 1.

There remain, however, several outstanding financial, bureaucratic and logistical questions about the proposed race meets that need to be rectified and a tight timeline to rectify them (particularly for Tehama County), according to a racing board staff analysis.

The race date applications follow on from January's CHRB meeting, when the board took issue with the race-date proposal (for 19 weeks of fair racing between three different fair tracks) put forth by the Bernal Park Racing Management Company (BPRMC) under owner-breeder George Schmitt.

The CHRB tabled the proposal, arguing it violated multiple sections of the horse racing law and CHRB Rules. Instead, the board asked the three fairs involved in that request–including Alameda County Fair–to resubmit their race date requests independent of Bernal Park Racing.

Tehama County's revised proposal outlines a $2.5 million line of credit “along with an account balance statement showing $500,000 in available funds to cover fair meet operations” provided by Bernal Park.

The track hasn't conducted live fair racing in over 40 years. As such, it's in the process of making some major modifications to the facility to get it up to par with state and federal safety requirements. The track must pass an inspection before the next board meeting on Mar. 11.

A safety steward visited the track on January 23 and noted at the time there remained “a large number of updates/improvements that need to be made to the track before it can pass an inspection.”

Tehama also has a tight deadline of Mar. 2 to submit a complete license application. The draft application Tehama submitted to the CHRB on Feb. 4 was missing several key components including occupational licenses; letters adopting vet emergency procedures, inclement weather, and concussion management; along with an AmTote contract, and ADW agreements and approvals.

The staff analysis also raises questions about the financial feasibility of the proposed meet under Bernal Park's role as a financial guarantor, which they describe as being “unprecedented” and “not contemplated in the Horse Racing Law, Food & Agricultural Code, or CHRB Regulations.”

“Staff estimates that conducting a 4-week fair meet will cost between $3 and $4 million. Some of Tehama's cost estimates seem too low. Staff has not seen payroll estimates, nor has staff been provided with a list of all Tehama's race operations employees. In addition, Tehama's estimate for the time and cost of completing updates to the track so that it can pass an inspection also deviates from what the CHRB estimates. Tehama estimated needing only $55,000 and four weeks to get the track ready to pass an inspection. The CHRB estimates that the track updates will cost around $1 million and take several months to complete,” according to the staff analysis.

Humboldt County's revised proposal includes a $3 million line of credit agreement with Bernal Park Racing beginning Aug. 1. The racing board staff question whether these funds are a separate line of credit to that extended to Tehama, or whether Bernal Park intends to “reuse” the same line of credit.

Unlike Tehama, Humboldt County Fair annually operated a fair meet up until 2024, which was done under the auspices of the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF).

Once again, the board staff raise questions over Humboldt County's new contract with Bernal Park Racing, the latter of which they argue lacks “experience operating race meets and its past submissions to the Board have been inconsistent and untimely.”

Efforts remain ongoing for Tehama, Humboldt, and Alameda County Fair (and other counties) to form a Joint Powers Authority, similar in effect to the way CARF managed and oversaw fair racing in the North.

Racing last occurred in Northern California in 2024. A recent TDN analysis of the fate of former NorCal horsemen and women since the closure of Pleasanton for Thoroughbred stabling last March found a significant number of barns had either left the state (for tracks like Emerald Downs in Washington or Turf Paradise in Arizona) or called it quits altogether.

The overall impression among barns that maintained a footprint in the state was one of an average 50% decline in both earnings and starts.

Proponents of a renewed racing program in the North argue it's needed to better support a NorCal breeding industry, as well as to provide better opportunities to keep and lure back horses to the state.

On the flip side, proponents of the current consolidated program argue this existing system is needed to shore up the fragile California racing industry as a whole. Any overlapping calendar in the North, they say, would siphon off and dilute valuable resources (both equine and financial) needed to maintain recent upticks in things like purses and field size in the South.

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