Jack Steiner, one of the leading trainers in Northern California in recent years, is relocating to Santa Anita later this month. Steiner said on Wednesday that he plans to bring a 10-horse team to Southern California, having reduced his stable from 40 since last fall. He currently has 17 horses in his care at Golden Gate Fields. Some of those horses will be sent to other trainers at Golden Gate Fields, while others will be shipped to Turf Paradise in Arizona, he said. “I’ll leave [behind] all my horses that I don’t think will be real competitive” at Santa Anita, he said. “I’m trying to get down there by the end of the month. :: Access morning workout reports straight from the tracks and get an edge with DRF Clocker Reports “I’ll come down with a small string. I could have taken more. Why do that?” Steiner, 58, is relocating slightly more than three months before the scheduled closure of Golden Gate Fields on June 9. “I’ll start my life over,” Steiner said. Golden Gate has had the bulk of Northern California racing dates since the closure of Bay Meadows in San Mateo in 2008. With Golden Gate Fields closing, a group of Northern California breeders, trainers, and owners have been working with the California Authority of Racing Fairs to develop a replacement schedule that will ensure the continuity of racing on a year-round basis at Pleasanton or Sacramento when the Northern California fair circuit is not operating. No formal plans have been introduced. The issue of racing dates in Northern California later this year is scheduled to be discussed at the California Horse Racing Board’s next meeting in March. Many Northern California racing observers hope Pleasanton can be used as a venue in the short-term beginning in September, while renovations take place in Sacramento. Steiner is the third Northern California-based trainer to form a stable in Southern California this year in advance of the closure of Golden Gate Fields. Brendan Galvin and Ed Moger, Jr., opened stables at Santa Anita in January. Moger, who has an extensive background of racing in Southern California, continues to have runners at Golden Gate Fields. Steiner won a career-best 66 races from 235 runners in 2023, for a 28 percent winning average. His runners earned a career-best $1,235,634 in 2022, a figure that fell to $1,203,652 in 2023. Through Thursday, Steiner was tied for sixth in the trainer standings at the current Golden Gate Fields meeting with eight wins from 22 runners, a 36.3 winning percentage. Steve Sherman led all trainers with 13 wins. Steiner said a goal in Southern California is to continue to win at a high rate, even if means taking a patient approach to the number of starters he has in Southern California in coming months. “I don’t want to run a bunch of horses just to run a bunch of horses,” he said. “I want to start out small and get familiar with how things are doing and build. I’d rather be selective with what I run.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.