Golden Gate Fields
Golden Gate Fields 2013 Summer Meeting
Live thoroughbred racing returns to Golden Gate Fields Friday when the East Bay track opens its 2013 summer meeting, a 19-day affair that runs through Sunday, Sept. 15.
The Golden Gate Fields summer meet runs mostly on a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule, with special racing on Labor Day and Wednesday, Sept. 4. The track will be dark on Thursdays, Sept. 5 and 12.
Post time will be 1:15 p.m. Pacific, except on the three remaining Fridays in August, which will have a first post of 3:45 p.m. to tie in with Del Mar’s 4 p.m. Friday starts.
Golden Gate Fields 2013 Summer Meet
Racing Dates: August 16 - September 15
Racing Schedule: the weekly breakdown of the racing schedule is as follows:
- Week One (Aug. 16-18): Racing Friday through Sunday.
- Week Two (Aug. 22-25): Racing Thursday through Sunday.
- Week Three (Aug. 29-Sept. 1): Racing Thursday through Sunday.
- Week Four (Sept. 2, Sept. 4, and Sept. 6-8): Racing Monday (Labor Day), Wednesday (closing day at Del Mar), and Friday through Sunday.
- Week Five (Sept. 13-15): Racing Friday through Sunday.
Post Times: Post time opening day – as well as Friday, Aug. 23, and Friday, Aug. 30 – is 3:45pm PT. Post time all other days is 1:15pm PT.
Golden Gate Fields 2013 Summer Meet Race Track Information
Main track (Tapeta): 1-mile oval
Length of stretch from last turn to finish line: 1,000 feet
Width of stretch: 78 feet
Width of backstretch: 75 feet
Composition: Tapeta
Turf: 7 furlongs plus 132 feet (9/10 of a mile) with a 3/16-mile chute Width of stretch: 65 feet
About Golden Gate Fields Racetrack
Golden Gate Fields is also the only racetrack operating year-round in Northern California. This gem of California thoroughbred racing, opened in 1941 on the shores of San Francisco Bay, is a required stop for any horse lover.
Much of the sport’s attention has drifted southward since the track’s heyday; Noor and Citation once dueled here at the 1950 Golden Gate Handicap, but the current focus is on volume with Grade 3 stakes and lower. This lures horses and trainers northward to prepare for larger events at Del Mar and Santa Anita.
The Stronach Group currently owns and operates Golden Gate Fields, as well as Santa Anita and several other tracks across America. This entity is basically a spin-off of the previous owners, Magna Entertainment, who filed for bankruptcy in 2009. Golden Gate is home to a one-mile Tapeta synthetic track that was installed in 2007, along with a 9/10-mile turf course built in 1972.
Golden Gate has pared its list of Grade 3 stakes races down to four, led by the $200,000 El Camino Real Derby (nine furlongs, dirt, 3-year-olds) and the $150,000 San Francisco Mile (one mile, turf, 4-year-olds and up). The bulk of the racing calendar is devoted to overnight handicaps and ungraded stakes. Horseplayers will find no shortage of betting opportunities at Golden Gate Fields.