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Publication Date: Friday, June 22, 2001

They're off!

Beginning Wednesday, horses will line up at the starting gate at the Alameda County Fair racetrack, to the thrill of horserace enthusiasts in the area. For 11 days those who enjoy betting on races will turn their attention from the year-round simulcast wagering to the live drama of the thundering hooves and the cheering fans.

Each summer, Pleasanton's racetrack hosts the second of eight county and state fair horse race meets. These races, known as the "leaky roof" circuit among horsemen in the 1940s and '50s, contrast with the private tracks that hold races for four to five months during non-summer months.

Unlike the majority of California's county fair racetracks, however, Pleasanton's track is used year round for training racehorses. An average of 250 horses are boarded at the Fairgrounds' 700-stall stable at any time, said racetrack superintendent Paul Wayt. The summer races involve approximately 1,000 horses.

But Pleasanton's track has an even more distinctive claim: It's the oldest one-mile racetrack in the country, said Fairgrounds General Manager Rick Pickering.

The racetrack has a proud history. It was built by Don Agustin Bernal and his sons, Fred and Antonio, in 1859 or possibly the early 1860s, and was extended to a one-mile track in 1874. In the early years, the racetrack saw friendly competitions between the Bernals and their neighbors, such as Robert Livermore and Jose Amador, no doubt accompanied by some gentlemanly wagering. But over time, the racetrack's fame spread and it became a renowned training ground.

Its attraction to trainers, historical writers say, were the region's mild climate, the high quality of the local feed (which was sometimes shipped to stables on the East Coast) and, above all, the quality of its soil.

"The soil on which the Pleasanton track is built is beyond question the nearest to perfection of any in the world that has thus far been discovered and utilized for a training track," extols a 1902 booklet, entitled "Progressive Pleasanton."

The tract selection, reprinted in "A Hundred Years of Pleasanton" by Patricia Soito (1949), continues: "It is a sort of sandy clay that is best in the rainy season for training purposes.... Within a few hours after the heaviest rain, the track is fit to work on and there has never yet been a time that horses could not be speeded over it with safety when the sun was shining.... Out of 365 days in the year more than 300 are such as the trainer of horses delights in."

Today that high quality dirt is maintained, just as at other modern racetracks, through careful and scientific management, with regular tilling, watering and applying seasonally appropriate soil amendments. If too soft or too hard, a track can increase injuries to the horses, whose legs are susceptible to frequent strains and soft tissue inflammations, and occasional fractures.

"I love this track. It has very good training facilities," said trainer Jerry Puertes. "Any horse I've had here that's a good runner has always done well." His only major complaint, he said, is that golfers are allowed to play on the 9-hole golf course inside the track at the same time that riders work their steeds during the 6-10 a.m. daily training period. Despite the presence of an "outrider" who monitors the track during training, Puertes said, occasionally golfers run onto the track to retrieve a stray ball, risking injury to a startled horse and its rider.

The earliest champion horses to train on the track were mostly trotters and pacers in harness races, usually half a mile long. In the late 1880s, the Australian-born Monroe Salisbury and his famous stallions arrived in town. The so-called "king of harness racing" purchased a 3-year-old black stallion, Director, for $10,000, according to a 1972 article in Twain Enterprises. Lauded by some eastern sports writers as "the greatest horse ever seen on any turf," Director sired other champion horses as well.

The inside half-mile track is now gone and the last harness racing took place in the 1960s. An unsuccessful move to re-introduce a six-week winter harness meet in 1980 faced opposition from neighboring residents.

The racetrack changed hands several times before it was acquired in 1911 by Rodney MacKenzie, son of a Canadian railroad tycoon, who built a grandstand and 300-stall stable. MacKenzie spearheaded the successful effort to establish the Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton in 1912, with the track as its centerpiece. It was managed by the Alameda County Fair Association, financed by selling stock, and offered chariot racing, donkey riding, cowboy relay racing and bronco busting, in addition to horseracing.

Sometimes the track was used for non-equestrian purposes, including motorcycle racing, car racing and demolition derbies. One historical photo even shows an early "aeroplane trial."

The advent of the automobile and a 1911 California law outlawing gambling probably contributed to the decline of the racetrack in the 1920s. However, local racing fans note with pride that the famous horse Seabiscuit, grandson of the extraordinary Man o' War, trained here in 1936, albeit for only 10 days.

The annual County Fair, which had been suspended in 1917, was revived in 1938, two years after pari-mutuel betting for horse racing was legalized in the state. Promoters of the legal change tied their cause to improvements in animal husbandry, said Pickering. Thus the new law required that a portion of wagering proceeds go to support a network of California fairs and two state agricultural polytechnic universities - Pomona and San Luis Obispo.

The reintroduction of legalized horse race wagering also ushered in privately run for-profit horse racetracks, such as Bay Meadows in San Mateo and Golden Gate Fields in Albany. Yet racing at fairs continued to be popular. As harness racing in Pleasanton ended, other "emerging breeds" were added. Quarterhorse racing (for typically a quarter of a mile) began in the 1950s. Then came the Appaloosas, Arabians and, most recently, mules.

In 1984, state legislation passed permitting simulcast wagering.

"That was a huge boon for all horseracing tracks," said Pickering. "It has increased the purses." A purse is the amount of money distributed to a designated number of top finishers in a race. In 2000 the Alameda County Fairground's facility handled $70 million in simulcast wagers, netting the Fairgrounds $1 million. Pickering said that the Pleasanton operation has been rated the most efficient in the state.

Last year's live racing was especially successful, with $36 million in wagers, netting the Fairgrounds another $1 million. These proceeds are ploughed back into Fairgrounds facilities, said Pickering, and cover the approximately $300,000 lost on its year-round training operations. The city of Pleasanton benefits, too, last year receiving $208,000 in its share of horserace taxes.

Prior to simulcast wagering, the stables were full all year, recalled Peter Bailey, Fairgrounds manager from 1987-99. But with the new wagering system, fewer horses were needed in the racing industry, and also Bay Meadows expanded its stables, he explained. More recently, Bay Meadows relocated and reduced the number of its stable stalls, but the majority of displaced horses ended up at Golden Gate Fields.

Not everyone sees simulcast wagering as a blessing.

"I wish that people appreciated the horse more like they did in the old days," commented trainer Jeff Bonde. "Simulcasting has taken away a lot of that; it's become more gambling. (Previously) people would come to the track and they could see the horses, and almost touch them."

The rising costs of raising and training racehorses have made some gloomy about the future of the sport in California.

"Racing is having its difficulties, it's sad to see," commented Carmela Anderson, a trainer for many years at the Pleasanton track. "It's changing because of the shortage of horses in California."

Track superintendent Paul Wayt said the decline started with changes in the federal tax structure in 1986, which took away some industry tax exemptions. He and others also cite rising workers compensation insurance costs, which for some trainers can equal more than 40 percent of the salaries they pay to their hired help, said Pickering. Since the insurance rates depend on a trainer's record, it's especially costly for new trainers, whose rates are calculated differently, said Charlie Dougherty, northern manager for the California Thoroughbred Trainers. This discourages new entrants to the field.

Another change, just in effect last July, was in the California labor law. Previously considered agricultural workers, horserace employees could work up to 56 hours a week before a trainer had to pay overtime rates. Now categorized as part of the entertainment industry, those who work in horseracing, including grooms, exercise riders and others, get overtime after 40 hours. Collectively, these changes have had the greatest impact on smaller trainers.

"For the little trainer, you're always robbing Peter to pay Paul," said Anderson. "It's a tough way to make a living."

Yet for many in the racing business, horses have been a way of life for generations, and commitment to the field is high. Involvement with horses is still a family affair, and caring and training for the horses remains a seven-day-a-week job for most trainers and their employees.

"Almost anybody in the field has to love horses because it's not that lucrative for the average person," said Wayt, a former trainer himself. "It's all about you training a horse and watching the fruits of your labor."