BERKELEY — A small group of protesters descended upon Golden Gate Fields on Thursday, including four chained together on the track, to demand that the track be shut down in the wake of recent horse deaths.
A Berkeley-based group calling itself “Direct Action Everywhere (DXE)” held blue-and-gold placards as they gathered near the entrance to the racetrack at Interstate 80 and Gilman Street, while four others found their way onto the track and laid down in what the group described as “heavily-weighted PVC pipes”, according to the group.
Seventeen people protested outside the racetrack. The banner and placards read, “Shut Down Golden Gate Fields.”
Almira Tanner, the 33-year-old lead organizer of the group, said Direct Action Everywhere was there because after the recent horse deaths, “we felt like enough is enough.”
She said of the four people who were planning to chain themselves together in the hope of shutting down the day’s racing: “They’re prepared to get arrested.”
She identified them as Jamie Cron, Omar Aicardi, Rocky Chau and Rachel Ziegler.
“These beautiful animals live lives of exploitation and abuse for the sake of profit,” Chau said in a statement. “Then they’re killed for the same reason. The public is increasingly aware of the reality of this barbaric industry and is demanding that we leave it in the past.”
The protest delayed racing, with the day’s first race at 12:45 p.m. not going off as scheduled.
Tina Etcheverry, a Berkeley Hills resident and biochemist who said she had a COVID-19 vaccination appointment delayed by the protest, called the entire fracas chaotic.
“I’m pissed at the race track, I’m pissed at the city of Albany and I’m pissed at these guys,” Etcheverry said of the protesters, who she agreed with about horse deaths in spite of her delayed appointment.
Two horses have died at the racetrack this year, the more recent a 4-year-old filly on Feb. 11. That filly’s death came only two weeks after another horse died there.
Both horses were trained by Blaine Wright.
In 2020, more than 20 horses died on the track, causing Berkeley city council and Mayor Jesse Arreguín to request a special investigation on behalf of Berkeley residents.
The California Horse Racing Board’s website listed ‘other’ as the stated activity for the filly, Munnie, on the day of her death. That meant her death did not occur during racing or training.
Staredown, the other horse to die at the track in 2020, was a 4-year-old gelding. That horse died while training.
Below is a Facebook Live video of the protest from Direct Action Everywhere.
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