The race track was originally a part of the slough into which three creeks drain, the Schoolhouse Creek, Codornices Creek, and Marin Creek. It was also used as a transshipment point for sending cattle across the bay to San Francisco for slaughter and processing. Then, later on, purchased by a Giant Powder Company and recorded that the plant blew up twice between the years 1879 and 1892.

Just before World War II, the Golden Gate Fields opened in 1941. Shortly right after the opening, Golden Gate Fields created the Golden Gate Handicap. In 1950, Noor and Citation met in that event and were considered the most exciting horse racing rivalries in the sport’s history for some fans. In the summer of 2007, a synthetic track was installed and called Tapeta. The owners changed through time, and the current owner, The Stronach Group, purchased the Golden Gate Fields on July 3, 2011, to salvage from its bankruptcy.

Today, it is an American horse racing track straddling both Albany, California, and Berkeley, California, along the shoreline of San Francisco Bay adjacent to the Eastshore Freeway in the San Francisco Bay Area.