Fairplex Brings In a Familiar Name

Continuing to position itself for a run at possible racing dates should Hollywood Park close in a few years, Fairplex Park in Pomona has hired Cliff Goodrich, former president of Santa Anita and Arlington Park.

Goodrich, reached by phone in suburban Chicago, where he resigned at Arlington in January, described his role at Fairplex as a consultant who will be active in the conversion of the Pomona track from a five-furlong to a one-mile oval. The three-phase construction project, announced in December 2004, includes a new seven-furlong turf track at a cost of almost $100 million. George Bradvica, general manager of Fairplex, said that the one-mile dirt track could be ready in time for the 2007 meet.

Fairplex, on the Los Angeles County fairgrounds, has been a minor player on the Southern California scene, filling the gap between the close of the Del Mar season and the opening of the Oak Tree meet at Santa Anita with a mixed-breed meet in September. Last year, Fairplex averaged $7.1 million in daily betting for its 16-day stand. That was a record for the track, the first in California to conduct betting after the passage of a state pari-mutuel law in 1933.

“My wife, Karen, and I were headed back to California, anyway,” Goodrich said. “We have a young granddaughter that we want to see grow up. So it’s going to be exciting to re-enter the racing picture back there.

“There are some crucial decisions ahead for the California racing industry, and Fairplex, because of its long-term lease, has an advantage over Santa Anita and Hollywood Park. You know Fairplex is going to be there well into this century.”

The future of Hollywood Park turns on whether slot machines are legalized in California. Officials of the San Mateo-based Bay Meadows Land Co., which bought Hollywood last year, have indicated that they would sell the track for commercial redevelopment if slots aren’t installed in three years. Like Fairplex, Los Alamitos Race Course, which mainly runs quarter horses, is interested in remodeling to possibly make a bid for Hollywood’s thoroughbred dates.

Goodrich, 63, resigned as president of Santa Anita in 1999, ending a 19-year stint at the track. He worked for two years for the California Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Foundation, which funds medical care for backstretch workers at state tracks, before joining Arlington Park.