Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

New Kings Arena Could End Cal Expo

June 14, 2008

Just as thoroughbred racing searches for a replacement for Bay Meadows, Cal Expo could be the next Northern California racetrack shuttered by redevelopment.

That has left the 400-plus horsemen who make Sacramento their year-round home searching for long-term stability while dealing with myriad short-term crises.

"We're out there planning," said Ben Kenney, the president of the California Harness Horsemen's Association. "We can't wait to be told, You don't have a home anymore."

Cal Expo officials and the NBA recently entered a 180-day negotiation period with the goal of creating a new arena for the Kings and new vision for the State Fair. But to pay for the project's estimated $600 million to $1 billion price tag, Cal Expo might lease the 96 acres now occupied by its one-mile racetrack and barn area to developers for other uses, such as housing and a retail complex.

"I just don't see how racing is going to fit in," Kenney said of the Cal Expo-NBA negotiations.

Meanwhile, a long-shot plan is in the works to move harness racing year-round out of Sacramento to Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County.

"It's something we're seriously considering, but it's no slam dunk," Los Alamitos owner Dr. Edward Allred said. "It has some definite pluses."

Kenney and other harness representatives have met several times with Allred, who is being courted by both harness and thoroughbred racing interests. Allred has worked with harness racing for many years; Los Alamitos used to be the sport's West Coast winter home. Since 2000, his track has hosted year-round quarter horse racing.

Los Alamitos intends to keep quarter horse racing, its hallmark for half a century. But Allred doubts it will stay with only one breed.

"By percentages, I'd say it's 40 to 50 percent we'll do some kind of thoroughbred project, 25 to 30 percent we do a harness project and 25 to 30 percent we do nothing other than what we do now," he estimated. "The next three months should tell the tale."

Bay Meadows Land Co., which owns both Bay Meadows and Hollywood Park, has not guaranteed racing at either facility past this year. After 74 years of racing, Bay Meadows is expected to be demolished following its San Mateo County fair meet in August. Hollywood Park's situation is more nebulous, but the loss of the Inglewood track – home to almost 2,000 horses – would be a major blow to California thoroughbred racing.

To accommodate the addition of either harness or thoroughbred racing to its 5/8-mile venue, Los Alamitos would need renovations, including expansion of its barn area and installation of a new one-mile track.

"There's going to be a critical shortage of stabling for thoroughbreds (without Hollywood Park)," Allred said. "We're debating various alternatives, but there's not a lot of lead time."

If Cal Expo's track is demolished, fair facilities in Vallejo and Stockton are other alternative homes for harness racing, CHHA officials said, but both venues need significant capital improvements.

"If Doc Allred decides to race harness racing on a year-round basis, then our future is exceedingly bright," said CHHA director Chris Schick, the former general manager of Sacramento Harness Association. "The other scenarios are more challenging. The really big issue for the industry is maintaining a competitive product. That's the struggle we're facing."

Without Bay Meadows, Cal Expo also could absorb more thoroughbred racing, but that situation also is in flux.

"The whole (Cal Expo-NBA) project would take many years to complete," added Ivan Axelrod, the national chairman of the United States Trotting Association who took over briefly as president of now-defunct Sac Harness. "Another facility would be found. I can't imagine that three years from now Cal Expo (as a racetrack) would go away."

After continuous harness racing at Cal Expo since September 2004, the harness horsemen are preparing to leave this August to make room for the return of thoroughbred racing at the State Fair, Aug. 20-Sept. 1. The CHHA plans to stable and train at Vallejo's Solano County fairgrounds before returning to Cal Expo in September for at least three more months.

After the financial collapse of the 3-year-old Sac Harness, Cal Expo took over as operator of the harness meet March 6. At its June 27 meeting, Cal Expo's board will consider requesting more harness dates for 2009 from the California Horse Racing Board.

"We're paying ourselves as operator instead of collecting rent," Cal Expo racing director David Elliott said. "It's a lot harder. It's a little too early to make the determination if we'll reach that $1.8 million (in lost rent), but so far, so good."

The nightly average from all sources now tops $970,000, up about 25 percent from SHA's average in the first two months this year.

We're holding our own," Elliott said. "We're working hard at it. We're going to be OK." But Cal Expo cut back the harness program from four or five nights a week to three. That has severely affected the horsemen, they said.

"It has been a very difficult and challenging year," breeder and owner Alan Kirschenbaum said. "Just look at the purses. That's the clearest, quantifiable way to judge. We're down 30 percent from last year. It's a little depressing."

Cal Expo also eliminated some of SHA's fan features, such as Reno vacation giveaways and a weekly TV show.

"There's a reason Sac Harness went out of business," Elliott said. "They spent a lot of money."

In recent weeks, scores of horses have left Cal Expo to race in the Midwest, on the East Coast or in Canada. Three years ago, Cal Expo's backstretch was filled to capacity with about 900 horses. Kenney now estimates the total of race-ready trotters and pacers at about 300.

Thursday, Cal Expo announced it would start paying a $50 starter bonus for all horses who finish out of the purse money as an incentive for horsemen to keep racing here.

"A lot of our horses and horsemen are leaving because it's hard to make a living," Kenney said. "We're begging Cal Expo to put some money back into the product and give people some incentives to come back.

"The horsemen were already hungry, but now we're starving."