Final weekend at Bay Meadows

Racing memorabilia, horse racing-related artwork, track equipment and restaurant and bar equipment, along with the commercial assets of the track will be on the auction block, according to a press release issued yesterday by Great American.

After years of debate, the race track is closing and developers are planning to redevelop the land into 83.5 acres of housing, retail and commercial buildings. The Bay Meadows Land Company is proposing 800,000 square feet of office space, 1,066 residential units and 100,000 square feet of retail space. The City Council approved the development agreement in 2005.

Race track officials are expecting large crowds this weekend. However, the numbers are not expected to exceed the 14,000 people who attended the final Friday’s Alive of the track’s regular season, which ended May 11.

Bay Meadows opened in 1934. Reports of the track closing have circulated for at least a decade. It became an almost certain fact that it would, in fact, close after Bay Meadows sold half its land to developers in the mid 1990s and moved the stables to the infield. The former training track was developed into housing, office and retail space in the late 1990s.

Bay Meadows legend Russell Baze will not race during the final stretch because he is competing in an international competition.

Bay Meadows opened Nov. 13, 1934. The famed thoroughbred Seabiscuit ran there, winning the Bay Meadows Handicap twice, in 1937 and 1938. In 1948, Hall of Fame jockey Bill Shoemaker began his career at Bay Meadows by exercising horses, and won his first stakes race on the track in 1949.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106.