Thoroughbred horses - and the inevitable contests pitched among them first reached the shores of the Pacific during the Gold Rush years. Though "the sport of Kings" gained an quick and enthusiastic foothold in the wild West, within a few decades it had fallen into "the hands of Knaves": soon after the turn of the century, thoroughbred horseracing in California was, it seemed, finished. Ruined by corruption, it was literally (and voluntarily) abolished by horsemen.

While racing flourished in the Eastern United States, it languished in the West, particularly California, for three decades. Thoroughbred stallions and mares disappeared from California, and thus a part of the state´s farming industry was wiped out. During the same years that the economic depression of the late 1920s and early 1930s was taking its toll on all forms of agriculture, a resolute group of principled horsemen determined to bring thoroughbred racing back from its own "famine" years. In 1933, they finally convinced the California legislature to pass a Constitutional Amendment (colloquially known as "The Horse Law"), which instituted guidelines and statutes designed to provide for a healthy, thriving, and clean thoroughbred racing industry. A carefully-regulated pari-mutuel wagering system was established and a governing body (the California Horse Racing Board) was appointed to supervise the conduct of racing and its participants. Agriculture became the central force in restoring quality racing to California: farming´s importance to the state´s economic status was the legislative lever needed to jump-start the sport. The first tracks to be opened, in racing´s new era, were all located within existing County Fairs - the showcases for agricultural products.

During California´s 30-year thoroughbred "drought," Kentucky, New York, Massachusetts, Illinois and Florida became the leaders in the breeding of racing stock. The great stallions and the mares of eye-catching pedigree were, in the main, beyond the reach of California´s newly-born, County Fair racing program. The prime stock was hoarded, protected by law, rewarded by sharing in racing´s income - and it became the foundation on which racing, in every state, was preserved and enriched. The progress of California racing through the late 1930´s - which included the opening of new, non-Fair aligned racetracks, found its races filled with "imported horses." Most were lured West by the increase in racing fans and the chance to make "easy money" versus California´s newly minted home-breds. The prizes for breeding successful thoroughbreds were and still are (but to a lesser extent) found in the East. California has only recently begun a serious, competitive push to match the traditional stake programs that produce Triple Crown champions.