Justin Oldfield

In an effort to stimulate the California breeding industry, the California Thoroughbred Breeders Association (CTBA) unveiled several new breeding incentive programs Monday, highlighted by the 'Flagship Foal Incentive Program.' With the CTBA awarding $1,000 for each foal registered as a Cal-bred, the Flagship Foal Incentive Program begins with foals of 2027 at a cap of 25 foals per breeder. Payments will be made upon the CTBA receiving a Cal-bred application and the registration papers from the Jockey Club, due Dec. 31 of the foal's yearling year. In addition, the CTBA...

The news has arrived thick and fast for the Northern California industry over the last couple of months, as racing operations have consolidated in the Southern half of the state. Few state industry stakeholders remain unaffected by these developments, certainly not the breeders, whose commercial decisions today ripple years into the future. The breeding sheds don't open for another couple of weeks. During that time, many currently undecided minds will be resolved. Among those California breeders currently canvassed, however, their outlooks for 2025 are a mixed bag. On the one...

Ahead of a critical California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) meeting Thursday to decide essentially whether or not to give Northern California stakeholders a fighting chance to build a circuit in the void left by the imminent closure of Golden Gate Fields, 1/ST Racing and Gaming set out their stall Tuesday in a letter to the regulator urging them to decline race dates to the North. In a proposal to the state regulator, the California Association of Racing Fairs (CARF) outlined a 10-week meeting this year that would run from Oct....