11/24/2024

The Berkeley-Albany horse-racing track Golden Gate Fields, the last full-time horse-race track in Northern California, ran its last race ever on Sunday as the facility is now closed permanently. And no one has any idea what will happen next to those 140 acres.

Sunday was the end of an era, not just for the East Bay racetrack Golden Gate Fields, but for all of Northern California. That’s because Sunday was the last-ever day of horse racing at Golden Gate Fields according to KGO, ending operations at the last full-time horse racing track in NorCal after 83 years. Golden Gate Fields was actually supposed to close last fall, but managed to squeak out eight more months past its original closure date, though those months were still marred by horse deaths for which the facility has unfortunately has long been known.

The last race was at 5:37 pm Sunday, per KPIX

People may get all “doom loopy” about this, but the reality is that horse racing has suffered a massive decline in popularity, and frankly is nowhere near as popular a pastime as it was in granddad’s day. Plus, the sport requires a great deal of costly real estate (the Golden Gate Fields property is 140 acres). That’s a lot of maintenance for an attraction that is substantially less economically feasible than it was in decades past.

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