The Sonoma County Fair in Santa Rosa reportedly will not request racing dates for its annual two-week event in August, becoming the last of Northern California’s fair racetracks to abandon the sport in the wake of the closure of Golden Gate Fields.

In a news release this week, the Sonoma County Fair board of directors said it had abandoned plans to seek a racing license for the year from the California Horse Racing Board due to “the changing dynamics within the Northern California Live Horse Racing Industry,” according to Paulick Report, which first reported the development.

“The board recognizes that, unless an extraordinary opportunity arises, horse racing at Santa Rosa is not financially viable for the 2025 fair,” the statement read in part, expressing concern over the available number of horses in Northern California to conduct a race meeting.

“We remain indebted to the legacy of racing and the industry,” the statement read. “We are deeply saddened by the conditions in the horse racing industry that have unfolded to prompt this decision.”

The Santa Rosa track’s decision was the last domino to fall for horse racing in Northern California following the closure of Golden Gate Fields and the cancellation of races in 2025 by the California Association of Racing Fairs, which announced in late January that it would not seek racing dates for the fairs in Pleasanton, Sacramento and Ferndale in the summer or a fall meeting in Fresno.

The Sonoma County Fair is not part of the CARF organization. Sonoma and the four CARF-affiliated fairs are the only ones that have raced in Northern California in recent years following the closure of fair tracks in Vallejo and Stockton.

CARF also announced in January that Pleasanton would no longer operate as a training center on March 25, forcing trainers to relocate horses stabled there to Emerald Downs in Washington, Southern California or tracks beyond.

Santa Anita Park is hosting a small number of races daily for horses that previously raced on the fair circuit and some Northern California trainers have transferred their operations to the south.