Thursday Thoughts with Jason Beem for Jan. 30, 2025

A good Thursday morning to you all! Already wrapping up January, 2026 will be here before you know it! Obviously the last couple weeks there’s been a lot of talk about the future of Gulfstream Park after news broke about the racing and casino situations down there. A little bit quieter on the tracks closing front was that the California Fairs are not applying for dates in 2025. When I first really started following racing outside of just Washington State, I remember the Cal Fairs moved around a ton and it was a really long season of racing. Vallejo, Stockton, Pleasanton, Fresno, Sacramento, Santa Rosa, San Mateo, Ferndale, and I’m sure I’m probably missing some. But it was a really cool and somewhat unique thing. I know other states had fair circuits as well, but California always seemed the best of them, plus they had mule racing! 

Stockton was the first of the fair meets I was able to attend and in subsequent years I also got to hit up Sacramento and then work at Pleasanton this past fall when it was Golden State Racing. Pleasanton is an amazingly nice area and the grandstand and the facility for being a fair track were pretty good. It just seemed like the momentum never got going for racing to continue up in Northern California. They said in the press release that the local fairs still have the option to run racing and who knows, maybe a Ferndale or one of the other fairs will still run. The field sizes have been pretty anemic at the Fairs for quite a while and that certainly affects the handle and interest as well. 

I’m always a little sad when a track or tracks close because the people who work there and the community around it who enjoy going to the races now don’t have that option. But fair racing to me is one of the more pure kinds of racing. It’s truly festive and fun and so unique compared to the day in and day out parimutuel racing most of us know and love. I came to racing first as a fan as a kid, but my primary interest as I got older became betting the races. For me the real enjoyment of the game was trying to piece together the puzzles within a race and make some money off it. Or more often, lose some. But when it came to going to the fair races, I usually would just resort to being a $2 bettor and enjoy the festivities. 

My two favorite racetrack fair experiences were about 2,800 miles apart. The Tillamook County Fair in Oregon and the Farmington Fair in Maine. Tillamook featured three days of racing and each entrant in the race got a block of cheese from the famous local cheese makers at Tillamook. The winner got a whole wheel of cheese! They even let me call a race there once and a guy in the crowd asked me afterward, “Are you the Big City racecaller?” I laughed because Portland Meadows was the big city track and 90% of our races were $2,500 claimers. Not sure how “Big City” that is. That fair was also known for the Pig N Ford races where drivers in old Model T Fords race a lap around the track, then pick up a pig and put it in the front seat, then drive another lap. You can find videos of it online, it’s a scene! 

The Farmington Fair in Maine is probably still my favorite day of fair racing I ever took in. I walked around all day, ate a turkey leg, sampled all the various local syrups, and watched harness racing in the afternoon. It was a perfect New England fall day and I made a video of the day and every so often will watch it and think about going back. Maybe this year after Colonial? 

Fair racing still has a place in our game and even though it appears the Cal Fairs might be going away, hopefully you can still find some fair racing somewhere near you. 

Have a great weekend everyone!