THEY TORE UP losing tickets and swore they won $14,000. Drained cases of Modelo and ate $9 hot dogs. Debated jockeys’ forms and what a superfecta bet might entail. The people who came to the last day of Berkeley’s sole horserace track filled the metal fold-down seats in stands saturated with salt air breeze. Several longtime bettors said they saw the Golden Gate Fields’ busiest crowd that Sunday.
Just before World War II, Golden Gate Fields ran its inaugural meet (season of races) in 1941. The Navy took over the track during the war. Horses returned in 1947. Along with the fillies and colts (female and young male horses), scandal and rumors came to the Berkeley track.
Its modern-day financial issues became apparent when the track was put up for auction in 2009. Last year, the current owners, the Canada-based Stronach Group, told the jockeys and owners to start packing up.
Some cite the work of animal rights activists. Some blame the track’s finances. Regardless, many came to celebrate a storied history that included Bing Crosby, Jack Kerouac and a lot of horses with fanciful names.
Get me to the race by post time
Terry’s Boy and Baby Kristen vied for first place in the third race as Terry Bennis made notes in his racing book. His wife, Carol Bennis, sped from their Lake Tahoe home beginning at 5 a.m., getting a ticket near Sacramento. She said she wanted to be at their home track in time.
She remembered coming to Golden Gate Fields since in the 1940s. When she was nine months pregnant in the ’60s, Bennis said, they used daily double winnings of $1,500 to buy a washer and dryer. Her husband worked for the track in the decades following.
A Crown for Kitten won the fifth race.
Rob Tuggle celebrated his 40th birthday in a cream suit, his father in red-and-white stripes carrying a silver-handled cane. Like them, a few of the most fashionable groups had never visited the track before. But they came to bid the place adieu.
The sixth race came, Dad’s Jubilee taking first.
Teddy Valli joked and ran to make a quick bet with his group of longtime race aficionados. He called himself the “undertaker of racetracks” because he attended closing days at the Bay Meadows racecourse in San Mateo and other venues in the area.
Cousin Richie won the seventh race and the crowd started to thin. Little kids dressed like diamond-patterned-clad jockeys and friends in colorful hats stayed, riding the day through its home stretch.
The final turn
The concessions stand had run out of food two races ago. Its penultimate customer asked for only tortilla chips, because the cheese sauce was finished.
Close to the track, the crowd was quiet as the pack bounded down the backstretch in the eighth and final race. After they took the far turn, cheers and cries of despair grew louder. The race had only seconds left.
Then, it was over.
The final bettors mounted the escalator to collect winnings or head to their cars. In the Paddock Pub at the bottom level, Frances O’Leary and his family washed down a beer.
“The Stronach Group let us down,” O’Leary, a horse owner said, “It’s a very sad day.” A few people took selfies in the empty stands until security ushered them out. By then, the seagulls were fighting over leftover nachos.
Sareeha had crossed the finish line last, the final steed to race in Berkeley.
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