ARTICLE 6. Racing Days Generally [19530. - 19535.]

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC 6.

in effect

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19530. Section 19530.

(a) The board shall have the authority to allocate racing weeks to an applicant or applicants pursuant to the provisions of this article and Article 6.5 (commencing with Section 19540) and to specify such racing days, dates, and hours for horse racing meetings as will be in the public interest, and will subserve the purposes of this chapter. The decision of the board as to those racing days, dates, and hours shall be subject to change, limitation, restriction, or reallocation only by the board. No municipality or county shall adopt or enforce any ordinance or regulation that has or may have the effect of directly or indirectly regulating, limiting, restricting, or reallocating the racing days and dates of horse racing meetings. (b) The board may, at any time, change, limit, restrict, or reallocate racing weeks, days, or dates that are allocated pursuant to this section regardless of whether a condition giving rise to that action is foreseen at the time of allocation or whether a license is issued to conduct a horse racing meeting during an allocated week, day, or date. The board’s exercise of authority pursuant to this subdivision is not a revocation subject to the proceedings required by Section 19461, regardless of any effect on a license issued under this chapter.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19530.5. Section 19530.5.

For the purposes of this article there shall be three geographical zones which shall be designated (a) the “southern zone,” which shall consist of the Counties of Imperial, Orange, Riverside, and San Diego; (b) the “central zone,” which shall consist of the Counties of Kern, Los Angeles, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura; and (c) the “northern zone,” which shall consist of the remaining counties in the state.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19531. Section 19531.

(a) The board shall make allocations of racing weeks, including simultaneous racing between zones, as it deems appropriate. The maximum number of racing weeks that may be allocated for horse racing other than at fairs, shall be as follows: (1) For thoroughbred racing: 44 weeks per year in the northern zone; and 49 weeks per year in the combined central and southern zones. (2) For harness racing: 25 weeks per year in the northern zone. (3) For quarter horse racing: 25 weeks per year in the northern zone. (4) For harness racing and quarter horse racing: a total of 77 weeks per year in the combined central and southern zones. (b) In its written application for a license, an applicant shall state the time of day, consistent with this chapter, during which it will conduct its racing meeting, and particularly the first race starting time for the various racing days. After receiving a license, a licensee shall not change the first race starting time without securing prior approval of the board. (c) Notwithstanding this section or any other provision in this chapter, the following provisions apply: (1) From the weeks available in the combined central and southern zones pursuant to subdivision (a), the board shall allocate a minimum of seven weeks per year to a thoroughbred racing association to conduct thoroughbred racing at a racetrack that was used to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting in the southern zone prior to 2012. (2) The board shall not allocate dates to a thoroughbred association in the central zone for the purpose of conducting racing if a thoroughbred racing association is conducting racing in the southern zone on the same date during daytime hours. (3) From the weeks available in the combined central and southern zones pursuant to subdivision (a), the board shall allocate a minimum of 25 weeks per year to a thoroughbred racing association to conduct thoroughbred racing at a racetrack that was used to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting in the central zone prior to 2012. (4) The board shall not allocate dates to a thoroughbred association in the southern zone for the purpose of conducting racing if a thoroughbred racing association is conducting racing in the central zone on the same date during daytime hours. (5) From the weeks available in the combined central and southern zones pursuant to subdivision (a), the board may allocate a maximum of five weeks per year to a thoroughbred racing association to conduct thoroughbred racing at a racetrack in the southern zone that was not used to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting in the southern zone prior to 2012. (d) (1) Notwithstanding any other law, if the board does not license a thoroughbred race meeting to be conducted by a racing association at a racetrack located in the cities of Berkeley and Albany after July 1, 2024, a thoroughbred racing association, or racing fair, in the southern or central zone licensed by the board to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting or fair meeting shall, during racing weeks not allocated by the board for a race meeting in the northern zone, be deemed to be operating in the northern zone for the purpose of conducting all permissible forms of wagering in the northern zone pursuant to this chapter and making and receiving required distributions from those wagers in accordance with this chapter. (2) Required distributions described in paragraph (1) shall be made in accordance with the requirements applicable to a racing association in the northern zone and any consent or approval rights shall be exercised by the appropriate racing association or racing fair in the central or southern zone conducting racing. (3) The amounts generated for purses and commissions pursuant to this subdivision shall be used to pay simulcast funding requirements and board support that the thoroughbred racing associations and racing fair in the central or southern zone are required to make under Section 19616.51. Any remaining funds after those payments are made shall be distributed to each thoroughbred racing association and racing fair in the central and southern zones proportionally based on their respective handle in the central and southern zones during the previous fiscal year and that money shall be divided between purses and commissions in the same relative proportion as was generated in the central and southern zones during the previous fiscal year.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19531.1. Section 19531.1.

Notwithstanding any other law, the board shall not allocate racing dates to a thoroughbred racing association in the central or southern zone for the purpose of conducting thoroughbred racing during daytime or nighttime hours if a fair racing association is conducting racing in either zone on the same dates.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19532. Section 19532.

(a) Any association licensed to conduct thoroughbred racing in the northern zone may receive no more than 35 weeks of that racing. (b) Any association licensed to conduct thoroughbred racing in the central zone may receive no more than 17 weeks of that racing, except that any association which conducts a split meeting may receive up to 20 weeks of that racing. No more than one such split meeting may be licensed in any one year. (c) This section and Section 19531 shall not operate to deprive any association of any weeks of racing granted during 1980. (d) This section and Section 19531 shall not operate to deprive the California State Fair and Exposition of any weeks of racing granted during the previous calendar year, and the board may continue to allocate those weeks of racing to the California Exposition and State Fair or any lessee thereof. (e) Nothing in subdivision (d) is a limitation on the board allocating racing weeks to any private racing association as a lessee of the California Exposition and State Fair racetrack facility pursuant to Sections 19531 and 19532.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19533. Section 19533.

(a) Any license granted to an association other than a fair shall be only for one type of racing, thoroughbred, harness, or quarter horse racing as the case may be, except that the board may authorize the entering of thoroughbred and Appaloosa horses in quarter horse races at a distance not exceeding five furlongs at quarter horse meetings, mixed breed meetings, and fair meetings. If the board authorizes the entering of thoroughbred or Appaloosa horses in quarter horse races, the following conditions shall be met: (1) Any race written for participation by quarter horses, Appaloosas, and thoroughbreds shall be written as quarter horse preferred. (2) The number of races written as quarter horse preferred at a distance exceeding 870 yards shall not exceed more than three races per program without the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association. (3) More than one-half of the races on any program shall be for quarter horses at a distance not to exceed 550 yards, unless the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization is received. (4) Mixed races with Appaloosa and quarter horses may only be written with the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association. (5) Thoroughbreds shall constitute less than half the number of horses in these races although an exception may be granted on a race-to-race basis with the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association. (b) The association that conducts the meeting shall pay to a thoroughbred trainers’ organization an amount for a pension plan for backstretch personnel to be administered by that trainers’ organization equivalent to 1 percent of the amount available to thoroughbred horses for purses. The remainder of the portion shall be distributed as purses. Any redistributable money paid to the board pursuant to Section 19641, which is paid to a welfare fund established by a horsemen’s organization from races with both thoroughbred and quarter horses, shall be divided pro rata between the two welfare funds based on the number of thoroughbreds and quarter horses in the race. (c) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, any association licensed to conduct quarter horse racing may apply to the board for, and the board shall grant, authority to conduct thoroughbred racing as part of its racing program if all of the following conditions are met: (A) The thoroughbred races are for a claiming price of not more than five thousand dollars ($5,000), and at a distance of four and one-half furlongs or less. The races may not be stakes, allowance races, or maiden allowance races. (B) More than one-half of the races on any program shall be for quarter horses at a distance not to exceed 550 yards, unless the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization is received. (C) The consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association is obtained with respect to the inclusion of thoroughbred racing. (2) The quarter horse racing association conducting thoroughbred racing pursuant to this subdivision shall pay to a quarter horse horsemen’s organization the amount specified in subdivision (e) of Section 19613, and an amount for a pension plan for backstretch personnel to be administered by a thoroughbred trainers’ organization equivalent to 1 percent of the amount available to thoroughbred horses for purses. The remainder of the portion shall be distributed as purses. The quarter horse racing association shall also deduct the appropriate amount to comply with subdivision (a) of Section 19617.2 for distribution to the thoroughbred official registering agency.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19533.5. Section 19533.5.

(a) Notwithstanding Section 19533, the board may authorize the following mixed breed racing: (1) An association licensed to conduct a quarter horse meeting to include Appaloosa races and Arabian races with the consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association with respect to the conduct of the racing meeting. (2) A race between a quarter horse and a thoroughbred horse at a thoroughbred meeting with the consent of the thoroughbred horsemen’s organization contracting with the association with respect to the conduct of the racing meeting. (b) Notwithstanding Section 19533, an association licensed to conduct quarter horse racing or a fair may conduct races that include paint horses racing with quarter horses or Appaloosa horses in the same race. When paint horses race with quarter horses, the consent of the organization that represents quarter horse horsemen and horsewomen shall first be obtained. A quarter horse association may write a race for paint horses only to replace an Appaloosa or Arabian race without increasing the average number of races run per race day with the consent of the organization representing the quarter horsemen and horsewomen. (c) A quarter horse race with seven or more entries shall not be replaced by a race that includes paint horses, without the consent of the organization that represents quarter horse horsemen and horsewomen. (d) Notwithstanding any other law, a quarter horse racing association or fair conducting barrel racing, paint horse racing, show jump racing, or steeplechase racing shall pay to the quarter horsemen’s organization the amount specified in Section 19613 for purposes of representing the horsemen and horsewomen conducting these races. (e) Notwithstanding Section 19533, the board may authorize an association licensed to conduct a thoroughbred race meeting to include up to six nonthoroughbred races per calendar year with the consent of the organization representing thoroughbred horsemen and horsewomen, provided, however, that a nonthoroughbred race shall not be held when a fair in the northern zone is conducting a race meeting without that fair’s consent. Notwithstanding subdivision (b) of Section 19617.8, amounts deducted and distributed pursuant to this chapter from wagering on nonthoroughbred races authorized pursuant to this section shall be deducted and distributed as if the wagers were placed on a thoroughbred race.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19533.6. Section 19533.6.

Notwithstanding Section 19533, the board may authorize any racing association licensed to conduct a live quarter horse racing meeting to also conduct mule racing at that racing meeting, subject to the following conditions: (a) Mule races may only be conducted when a fair is not licensed to conduct live races with parimutuel wagering. (b) The consent of the quarter horse horsemen’s organization contracting with the association shall be obtained with respect to the inclusion of mule racing. (c) The majority of the races conducted on any given racing day shall be quarter horse races. (d) A quarter horse association may conduct mule races provided that the total number of Arabian and mule races run in a year do not exceed the total number of Arabian races run in the state in 2001. (e) An Arabian race with seven or more entries shall not be replaced by mule race, without the consent of the organization that represents Arabian horsemen and horsewomen.

Cal. Business and Professions Code - BPC § 19535. Section 19535.

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, at the time the board allocates racing weeks, it shall determine the number of useable stalls that each association or fair shall make available and maintain in order to conduct the racing meeting. The minimum number of stalls may be at the site of the racing meeting or at board-approved offsite locations. (b) With respect to racing meetings conducted in the northern zone, the association or fair conducting the meeting shall provide all stabling required by the board pursuant to subdivision (a) without cost to participating horsemen. Offsite stabling shall be at a board approved facility or facilities selected by the association or fair, with the agreement of the organization representing horsemen participating at the meeting. If there is a disagreement between the association or fair and the organization representing the majority of horsemen participating at the meeting with respect to the selection of offsite stabling facilities, the board, at the request of the association or fair or the organization representing the majority of horsemen participating at the meeting, shall promptly determine the board-approved facility or facilities at which offsite stabling shall be made available. The organization representing horsemen participating at the meeting and the association or fair shall mutually agree on the criteria and selection of horses that may use stalls required pursuant to this section. Northern zone racing associations or fairs may provide, subject to the availability of funds pursuant to Sections 19607, 19607.1, 19607.2, and 19607.3, at the option of the horse owner, vanning of participating racehorses from any board-approved offsite stabling facility. (c) (1) With respect to racing meetings conducted in the central or southern zones, all costs associated with the maintenance of the useable stalls for the racing meeting shall be borne by the association or fair conducting the meeting, and, with respect to useable stalls at an offsite location, the association or fair may be required, by order of the board, to bear the costs of vanning from the offsite location to the racing meeting. However, with respect to any racing association in the central or southern zone that conducted a racing meeting in 1986, if the number of useable stalls made available onsite by a racing association during a racing meeting is less than 95 percent of the number of useable stalls made available onsite by that racing association during its 1986 racing meeting, the racing association shall reimburse the facility providing offsite stabling for the difference in cost between the actual number of useable stalls made available and 95 percent of the useable stalls made available in 1986. (2) The racing association shall, in addition, reimburse the owner for vanning to the onsite location with respect to those horses stabled at an offsite location necessitated by the failure of a racing association to maintain 95 percent of the useable stalls made available by that racing association during its 1986 racing meeting.

Source: CA Legislative Counsel Bulk DataURL: https://downloads.leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/pubinfo_2025.zipFetched: 6/27/2026