It’s the end of an era in the East Bay as one of the oldest horse racing tracks in the country officially shut down Tuesday at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton.
The California Horse Racing board posted an advisory on Sunday that the track must shut down before midnight Wednesday because workers compensation insurance no longer will be in effect after Tuesday.
Tuesday morning's training sessions marked the last time riders, trainers and horses appeared on the 1-mile track built in 1858.
Earlier this year, the fairgrounds decided to shut down racing operations, citing a lack of profitability. Golden Gate Fields in Albany shut down last year, and Bay Meadows in San Mateo closed several years ago.
Monte Meier, a longtime trainer at the Pleasanton track told NBC Bay Area he's been losing a lot of sleep this week after learning a deal to extend the original March 28 deadline to vacate the stables fell apart last weekend.
"Knowing that we were being kicked out of here, getting the shaft, people stabbed in the back," Meier said. "We were granted 35 days. Two days later, they told us we had five days to be out of here. Everybody is in a rat race to get things lined up to go somewhere."
The stables where the trainers keep their horses must be vacated by Friday before midnight. The stable manager said some horses are headed for Seattle but most are going to tracks down in Southern California.
Local
There were about 280 horses left at the Pleasanton track as of Tuesday morning.
Melanie McDonald was packing up her boxes at the Alameda County Fairgrounds Horse Racing Track on Tuesday. She said she was 18 years when she started walking horses in 1957.
Get a weekly recap of the latest San Francisco Bay Area housing news. Sign up for NBC Bay Area’s Housing Deconstructed newsletter.
Now, the 86-year-old trainer is trying to figure out where to go next.
Other families who live on the fairgrounds are also impacted by the closure.
“My family has decided that we’re moving to Washington or my parents are,” said Maricela Trujillo. “They have five grandkids not longer get to see them.”
Trujillo’s family owns horses and is in all aspects of the industry.
The closure comes after weeks of back and forth between race track workers, their supporters and the fairgrounds.
“Tomorrow, these horses will not be able to go on the track,” said George Schmitt with Bernal Park Racing. “It’s sad to see the history here going down the drain.”
The California Horse Racing Board put out an advisory this past weekend.They said the Pleasanton race track will no longer be an approved auxiliary training facility of Santa Anita Park in Southern California.
It’s a problem because workers compensation policies only cover approved facilities.
“it’s a lot of money it’s $20 million that gets bent in the north that’ll now go to the south because there’s no place in the north they can be what’s called host track.” Schmitt said.
The Alameda County Fairgrounds said in a statement that it made every effort to find a path forward and we disappointed in the outcome and will support those affected by the transition.
