Golden Gate Fields

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[upbeat music] Talks are ongoing to build a new waterfront park in the East Bay at Golden Gate Fields, the final site for horse racing here in the Bay Area.

The racetrack closed in 2024 after eight decades in operation, as California's racing industry struggled financially, and concerns from animal rights activists grew.

KQED's Katie DeBenedetti has more.

Here at Golden Gate Fields, the grandstands look pretty different than they did back in the 1990s, when the racetrack saw crowds of up to 20,000 people.

Coming out to Golden Gate Fields was just kind of a rite of passage.

Guillermo Rodriguez was a student at UC Berkeley, and recalls the racetrack's Dollar Sundays.

Dollar to get in, a dollar beer, and a dollar hot dog.

Despite the slowdown, Proctor says he believes the industry will eventually adjust to the changing market.

The future of Golden Gate Fields could be taking shape, but some Albany residents say they still have major questions.

A new state law sets aside $125 million to buy the former racetrack and turn it into a waterfront park.

The funding would come from a climate bond approved by voters in 2024.

Money

... for money at the Golden Gate Fields.

No, no.

We, we, uh, we, we-

In Foster City, Gloria Rodriguez, ABC7 Eyewitness News.

Golden Gate Fields is one big step closer to becoming a waterfront park.

Governor Newsom signing a bill that set aside $125 million to buy the property.

The money is coming from a climate bond that was approved in 2024 by California voters.

Had you ever been to Churchill Downs? No, no.

I've been to one racetrack, Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area.

I think it's in Berkeley technically, but wouldn't go on like dollar Sundays sometimes growing up.

So I'd done it before.

People will remember it.

And Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows and Sportsman's Park, they all had this cast of characters that were probably nothing like the actual people, but they enabled us to actually decode the racing.

And there was one track we were very fond of called Sportsman's Park, was a rider that was dominant in our area called larry sterling jr and he would ride five or six winners a night and of course watson park was in chicago so we had this mythology of the mob around you know they turned up to watch the guys with the violin whenever there was a gamble you know it it was all this kind of we cartoonified the whole thing none of it was personal or kind of libelous but it was just this cartoon Anyway, Larry Sterling Jr.'s agent, our producer who was marvelous for these things, would then get his agent on, like his real agent on.

And we found because in those days, you know, media interest from abroad in these racetracks was zero.