California Horse Racing Board Rejects Humboldt County Fair Race Dates, Dealing Blow to Ferndale Fair

Stock photo of horse racing. [Image via Wiki commons. CC BY-SA 3.0]

Meeting Feb. 26 in Arcadia, the board declined to award 12 race dates requested by Humboldt over a four-week stretch from Aug. 5 through Sept. 1. Tehama had sought nine days of racing from April 29 through May 26 in Red Bluff.

Board staff outlined regulatory, financial and operational concerns in advance of the meeting. Staff cited unresolved agreements with industry stakeholders in Humboldt’s application. Commissioners also questioned whether sufficient horses, trainers and wagering interest would return to sustain racing in Northern California after more than a year’s absence.

According to Bloodhorse, the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers opposed awarding Northern California race dates, as did representatives of Southern California tracks.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the central issue is advance deposit wagering (ADW) and computer assisted wagering (CAW) revenue. That money that flows to the host track. If Tehama and Humboldt were racing, wagers placed in Northern California would remain with Northern California tracks, as they did from the start of ADW until shortly after the closure of Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley, instead of being redirected to Southern California.

The nearly three-hour meeting focused heavily on the financial condition of racing in California and whether diverting wagering revenue back to Northern California would threaten Southern California tracks.

“The point is, we’re right at the tipping point,” CHRB Chairman Greg Ferraro said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “And by furthering funds away in the north, it has no chance of success…mSo, you’re going to end up destroying all of racing in California to bet on a no-chance situation in the north.”

The Times also reported that a month of fair racing would cost Southern California $2 million in diverted revenue.

Locally, the decision landed hard.

Johanna Rodoni, who serves on the Board of Directors of the Humboldt County Fair, said fair leadership made a final effort in recent weeks to keep the possibility alive. “We jumped through all the hoops. We did everything they asked for and they still turned us down,” she told us by phone this afternoon.

She added, “This will be a big economic blow to the whole county.”

No one was available to speak when RHBB placed a call to the Humboldt County Fair office Thursday afternoon seeking additional comment.

For generations, horse racing has been a defining feature of the Ferndale fair. With Thursday’s vote, the 2026 season will move forward without live racing in Humboldt County, and the timeline for any possible return remains uncertain.