Horses
will return once again
to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds this year, marking the 114th season of racing at the Ferndale track. This was hardly a sure thing. On Friday, the California Horse Racing Board narrowly approved a summer season racing schedule that allows Ferndale five days of non-overlapped racing (Aug. 18-22) and four days overlapped with Santa Rosa (Aug. 12-15).
Three of the seven board members, including Bo Derek (yes,
that
Bo Derek), opposed the schedule specifically because of the allowances it makes for “the struggling Humboldt County Fair” in “the extreme northwest portion of the state.” (Ya hear that? We’re
extreme
!)
With declining revenues, increased costs and logistical challenges, horse racing at small tracks like Ferndale has been in ever-increasing jeopardy in recent years (see Bob Doran’s
“Eight Days at the Races”
from last summer). Trainer and owner groups didn’t want to give Ferndale the week without competition because of the expense of shipping up here and our relatively low purse levels. In fact, a representative of the California Thoroughbred Trainers in Northern California called it “a recipe for disaster.”
But CHRB Chairman John Harris had our back, citing Ferndale’s wonderful fan following. But the bottom line appears to be this: If we want to keep the horses coming back, we better get out there this summer and lose some money.
This article appears in Taking On City Hall.
Easy there, Ryan … those of us who are avid fans of the Sport of Kings reminded our friends at CHRD that Joe Russ’ father and grandfather used to race horses down what is now Ferndale’s Main Street.
We just opined that if they didn’t give us racing days, we’d put on our own races just like the good ‘ol days.
Yea, it is the "Sport Of Kings," but kings aren’t exactly known for giving a damn about the little guy. The real deal is the whole show is all about making money off of straight-up animal exploitation.
Some of those horse people claim to really care about animals and don’t want to see horses being used as meat etc. That doesn’t make sense to me. How can you on the one hand make money by fucking over animals and on the other hand claim to be doing them good? To me, that’s like a street pimp running a college scholarship for troubled girls.
If you really need to gamble, we can play some culturally significant games. How about ???? in the alley by Staples, no banker, ace outs… or handgame with a kickstick. Or something not involving breaking down thousand pound animals.
I thought you liked the Mule races, Mr. Nice?
I didn’t say I wasn’t a hypocritical Hot/Red Ticket devotee.