BERKELEY — 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.
Attendees react to a horse race during the final day of racing at Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley on Sunday. The venue opened in 1941, closed during World War II and reopened in 1947.
The people who came to the last day of Berkeley’s sole horse racing 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 on Sunday.
Just before World War II, Golden Gate Fields ran its inaugural racing season in 1941. The Navy took over the track during the war. Horses returned in 1947. Along with the fillies and colts, scandal and rumor 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 owner, the Canada-based Stronach Group, told the jockeys and owners to start packing up.
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Some cite the work of animal rights activists. Others 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.
Terry’s Boy and Evenerevenworse 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 the 1940s. When she was nine months pregnant in the 1960s, 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.
Topanticipation 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, Thirsty Lov 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 race course in San Mateo and other venues in the area.
Explain This Audit won the seventh race and the crowd started to thin. Little kids dressed like diamond pattern-clad jockeys and friends in colorful hats stayed, riding the day through its home stretch.
The concessions stand had run out of food two races earlier. Its penultimate customer asked for only tortilla chips, because the nacho cheese sauce was finished.
Close to the track, the crowd was quiet as the pack bounded down the back stretch 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.
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.
My Yammy Lady had crossed the finish line last, the final steed to race in Berkeley.
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