Horse racing at the Humboldt County Fair is facing an uncertain future after this week’s news that the California Authority of Racing Fairs, or CARF, is not pursuing race day applications for this summer.

The news has massive ramifications on the fair, with CARF managing horse racing and without CARF, Humboldt County Fair and other fairs around California must decide whether they’ll continue horse racing without CARF or see the tradition come to a close.

“We’re not going to say we’re going to have horse racing and we’re not going to say we’re not going to have horse racing,” president of the board of directors for the Humboldt County Fair Association Andy Titus said. “We’re in the process of seeing if there’s any common interest out there at an affordable way to still do it.”

Titus expects the Humboldt County Fair and other Californian fairs to make a decision about horse racing in the coming weeks because if the uncertainty carries on too long, industry professionals will head elsewhere this summer to find races.

CARF made the announcement Tuesday but it was a reality that Titus and other fairs have been preparing for. If the Humboldt County Fair does lose horse racing, they lose the profits that come along with it, which brings the long-term viability of the fair into question.

“It was not a huge surprise, the announcement that came down with CARF,” Titus said. “We’ve already been looking at other options, trying to figure out if there’s a way to make it happen.”

There’s been a long-standing tradition of horse racing at the fair, and once horse racing was made legal again in 1933, the races have become a staple at the Humboldt County Fair.

“If we don’t have this, we’re not going to be generating money for the community that we normally do,” Titus said. “The money that we bring in, that the fair brings into Humboldt County is primarily through races.”

From 1987-2024 a total of $19.9 billion was wagered at California fairgrounds, with another $963 million was generated for purses, according to CARF. The Humboldt County Fair paid CARF $350,000-$500,000 per year to handle all of the horse racing duties and costs at the fair.

“I don’t see how we could have a two-week fair. It’d probably be a lot like what Redwood Acres is,” Titus said if horse racing were to not continue at the Humboldt County Fair. “I have a hard time believing we’d still get 4,000-5,000 people on a Saturday and Sunday without the main draw of horse racing.”

After Golden Gate Fields closed in June, CARF took over Golden State Racing, which is a commercial meet in Pleasanton. Golden State Racing didn’t end up being profitable, draining CARF of their financial resources which put them in the position to not pursue race day applications this year. Other fairs around the area run races without CARF, so while it is possible, it is a new position for Humboldt County Fairgrounds to be in.

“With CARF going broke, it doesn’t have the money to continue on with the fair meets,” Titus said. “The model is out there. We just got to figure out if it makes sense financially for us to do it. We can’t do it and have it cost way more because if we’re going to lose money by having horse races then there’s no point in doing that.”

Titus doesn’t believe there’s a possibility of horse racing taking a one-year hiatus from the fair and then returning in 2026 or after.

“Our family just welcomed a new baby and I look at my son, you can’t start showing (animals) until you’re 10,” Titus said. “I never thought I would say this but if we don’t have horse racing, I don’t feel like there will be a fair 10 years from now for my son to show at.”

The 2025 Humboldt County Fair will carry on with or without horse racing but as you look farther into the future, there’s less certainty.

“Everyone expects the fair in August. Whether we have horse racing or not, we need to have the merry-go-round, we need to have the carnival, we need to have corn dogs, we need to have kids showing their animals,” Titus said. “I know that we can make that happen for 2025. I don’t know how long we can make that happen if we don’t have the revenue that we generate from horse racing.”

Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.