Best Kept Racetrack Secret

[Vince P]

Have you ever dreamed of attending a racetrack that has all the ambience of The Curragh combined with the first class racing of Saratoga?

Well, one starts tomorrow and I'll be there for 10 straight days, gambling like a fool and riding between plunges.

And note, they'll have not one but two 1.625 extravaganzas on closing day. Be there or be square.

http://www.drf.com/news/article/106291.html

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Bigger purses, more horses at fair

By Chuck Dybdal

With its quaint surroundings and bullring racetrack, the Humboldt County Fair in Ferndale, Calif., is as popular with its fans as racing anywhere in California.

Locals call it "Ferndale fever," and Ferndale fans could see the best racing ever at this year's meet.

"We've got some supplemental purse money, so that our purses will be the same as other fairs," Humboldt County Fair general manager Stuart Titus said.

While Ferndale is a meet that caters to lower-end horses, the purse increase has every backstretch stall full, with more Thoroughbreds than ever arriving for the eight-day meet that begins Friday. Titus says more Oregon-based runners than ever are expected to attend the meet because of the purse increase.

The increase in purses is reflected in the meet's signature race, the 1 5/8-mile C.J. Hindley Humboldt County Marathon, where runners pass the finish line four times. The Marathon purse will be a record $25,000.

Titus says that with so many horses on the grounds, the fair plans to run a second 1 5/8-mile race on closing day just before the Marathon, which is traditionally the last race of the meet.

The fair cut two days from its usual 10-day schedule. The meet opens Friday, instead of Thursday, and, like other fairs as well as Del Mar, will be dark Monday.

"With so many horses, we may still run the same number of races as last year," Titus said. "We might be able to go with nine or 10 races."

The jockey race could be as exciting as the horse racing, now that eight-time champion Danny Boag has retired. Rachel Goodgame, James Wooten Jr., and Jorge Ayarza tied for second behind Boag last year.

Boag will be at the fair, serving as the agent for Wooten and Matt Garcia, who rode here in the early 1990s before going on to fame in Southern California.

Goodgame has won the Land of Jazz Stakes here the past three years, while Ayarza completed a double by winning the meet's top two stakes last year, the Les Mademoiselle and Marathon.

[Lurker]

About how far from the betting windows does one have to walk to get a corndog and diet soda?

[Vince P]

About how far from the betting windows does one have to walk to get a corndog and diet soda?

The fair is adjacent, so maybe 77 yards at the most.

I'm telling you, you have to come on up here. Simply take the 405 to 101 to 1 and bingo you're here in about 3.7 hours from Del Mar as the crow flies. You won't be disappointed.

As my friend in Winnemucca says, it's the greatest littlest place on earth.

Vince P

[Marat]

Don't know that I've ever bet a nickel on it, but I love to watch.

It's like greyhound racing with jockeys.

[MaryS]

One of the downsides of working a Del Mar is that I never get to attend Ferndale.

My mom grew up in nearby Eureka and we attended the Humbolt County Fair when I was about 12, long before they had pari-mutuel racing. They did have a rodeo, and one Quarter Horse race out of the gate. (The winner had his tack changed and came right back in the team roping event.)