An animal rights group will hold a memorial protest outside Golden Gate Fields on Sunday, the Berkeley racetrack’s last scheduled day of horse racing before it closes permanently.
The vigil by the Berkeley-based animal rights network Direct Action Everywhere is meant to recognize horses killed since the track opened in 1941.
Track owner The Stronach Group announced in July 2023 that it would close the track at the end of last year’s season to “double down on its prestigious racing and training venues at Santa Anita Park and San Luis Rey Downs,” both of which are in Southern California.
The company later decided to push back the closure until this year, ending on Sunday.
The track has been targeted by animal rights activists in recent years for the number of horses killed there.
Direct Action Everywhere said in a statement Friday that more than 2,000 horses have died at Golden Gate Fields since it opened.
Mike Marten, spokesman for the California Horse Racing Board, said Friday that since the state began tracking horse deaths at the track in 1994, “There have been 1,056 equine fatalities at Golden Gate Fields over the last 30 years. Those include many deaths from illness.”
The board said in November that 17 racehorses died at Golden Gate Fields in 2023.
Activist and horse trainer Samantha Faye said in a statement Friday that 18 horses have died at the track in the 11 months since the closure announcement.
The Stronach Group didn’t respond to a message requesting comment on the closure Friday morning. The track’s website shows no planned activities on its schedule after Sunday, which is listed as “closing day.”
A symbolic funeral
Direct Action Everywhere said its protest Sunday will feature a symbolic coffin and flowers for the horses killed at the racetrack.
The group said it has used a wide range of tactics while advocating for the closure of Golden Gate Fields. In 2021, four activists chained themselves together across the track to raise awareness about what they said was the cruelty of horse racing.
They also stopped a horse race from occurring, which the group said Friday led to legal backlash from Golden Gate Fields that they are still battling.
“Humans can consent to run and risk injury. The horses do not, and when they get injured and can’t run anymore, they are killed,” said Direct Action Everywhere organizer Paul Darwin Picklesimer in a statement.
The group said it is one of many working on a ballot initiative to ban concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in Berkeley, which would impact the Golden Gate Fields stables. The ballot measure launched in June 2023, one month before the Stronach Group announced it would be closing the racetrack.
Direct Action Everywhere said the measure qualified for the November 2024 ballot, meaning Berkeley voters will decide whether the city should ban any future CAFOs from operating in the city.