No Synthetic No Racey!
Until it's final race on August 18, 2008 Bay Meadows was the longest
consecutive running race track in California, due to the fact that it
was allowed to remain open during World War II. It was a unique
situation because of rationing, patrons were not allowed to drive cars
or take buses to the track. Anyone going to the track had to ride in
horse or mule drawn wagons. In the 80's it had a purse value of 14 which
would pretty much qualify as major league racing.
First scheduled to close after the 2006 season because it could not comply with a state ruling that said all racing surfaces must be synthetic it received an extension but time ran out in 2008. Even though it got an extension it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Bay Meadows was more valuable for its land.
In existence for 78 years Bay Meadows had a very storied career from 1945 when a horse named El Lobo was the first horse transported by air landed in the parking lot and taxied to the grandstand to be unloaded. Legendary Jockey Bill Shoemaker begin his career and won his first stakes race here. Another legend Russell Baze won many of his races here including the one that made him the winningest jockey of all time. Seabiscuit twice won the Bay Meadows derby and Phar Lap was stabled here after his flight from Australia in route to Caliente, but the weirdest tale would be that of Jockey Ralph Neves who after a spill on the track was pronounced dead upon arrival at a local hospital only to bolt upright five minutes later proclaiming he needed to return to the track because he had a mount in the next race. Somehow not seriously injured he returned to riding the next day.