Past the midway point of the Bing Crosby Season at Del Mar, the effects of the rain and the closing of the track to training last weekend are showing up in the numbers used to gauge the success of the meet.
It affected field sizes, which are down a bit this year compared with 2022.
After six days there have been 52 races with 366 horses for an average of 7.04 per race, down from 7.55 per race at this point last year.
“Overall, it's been a little bit of struggle,” Racing Secretary David Jerkens said. “The training disruptions last week certainly didn't help. It's not up to the standard we typically have in the fall thus far, but six days is a small sample size.”
Just the threat of rain and the closing of the main track to training on Saturday and Sunday threw a wrench into things. Many trainers missed works for their horses and chose not to enter in the races. There were 176 starters in 26 races last week for a field average of 6.77, down from 7.15 in the second week of the fall meet a year ago.
“Trainers are very patterned,” Jerkens notes. “They have their regiments and when that gets disrupted, not only here but also at Santa Anita, certain trainers won't enter because they didn't get to work.”
“Hopefully we're clear the rest of the way,” Jerkens said. “So much of this fall meet is dependent on Mother Nature.”
The hope is those trainers who passed on the races last week will re-enter in races scheduled in the final two weeks of the meet.
The turf racing at Del Mar remains strong. There have been 27 races run on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course with a total of 206 runners for a 7.63 average field size. Those numbers are expected to increase this week during the Turf Festival.
“We're expecting probably about a dozen or so shippers,” Jerkens said. “That definitely helps add to the intrigue of those races. I know they're off the turf now in New York. In Kentucky, they're just trying to get through the Churchill meet, so we're hoping for a strong contingent of shippers.”
The number of shippers racing during the first two weeks of the meet are down sharply in 2023. This year there have been seven horses qualifying for the 'Ship & Win' program compared to 21 in the first two weeks last year.
“In years past we've had quite a bit of contributions from all over,” Jerkens recalls. “Locally, we have some participants that will be very strong. Phil D'Amato's all over every race so I think we'll have a good local contingent.”
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