Top Caller Collmus Returns To Booth For Del Mar Fall Meet

For the fourth year in a row, top racing announcer Larry Collmus will be back in the booth at Del Mar to call the track's upcoming Bing Crosby Season from Nov. 10 to Dec. 3, their front office said in a release Friday.

Besides his three earlier fall sojourns, Collmus also covered the limited 2020 summer season at the track.

“We really couldn't ask for anyone better than Larry to be filling our booth in the planned absence of our longstanding caller Trevor Denman,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar's president and COO. “He brings terrific energy to his role here, both behind the mic and on the social media scene. To top it all off, he tells us he just loves calling races at Del Mar.”

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Record Stakes Schedule Highlights Del Mar’s Bing Crosby Season

Del Mar's Bing Crosby Season will present the richest stakes schedule in its nine-year history featuring 13 major stakes races–nine of them graded–and two overnight events worth a total of $2,450,000. The season kicks off Friday, Nov. 11 and goes through Sunday, Dec. 4.

Topping the roster for the 13-day Crosby session are a pair of Grade I offerings on closing weekend, each carrying enhanced purses of $400,000–the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at a mile and one-eighth on turf Dec. 3 and the Matriarch S. for older fillies and mares at a mile on turf Dec. 4.

Also of note on the stakes agenda are $50,000 purse boosts to a pair of tests, one on grass for fillies and mares, the other on the dirt open to all. The former is the GIII, $150,000 Red Carpet S. at a mile and three eights on the lawn slated for Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 24. The latter is the GIII $150,000 Native Diver S. at nine furlongs on the main track on Sunday, Nov. 27.

The meet presents racing three days a week–Fridays through Sundays–with the one exception of Thanksgiving when racing is held Thursday through Sunday. First post daily will be 12:30 p.m. with the special case of an 11 a.m. start for the Thanksgiving card.

For the complete stakes schedule, click here.

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Del Mar 2021 Seasons: Record Handle, Safe Racing Among Highlights

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., brought to a close its 2021 racing calendar on Sunday with the conclusion of its eighth Bing Crosby Season adding additional luster to its robust summer stand. Between them, the pair totaled an exceptional combined final wagering mark of $943.49 million, a record for the seaside oval.

The track could point to many other positives throughout the 2021 year – the return of racing fans, exceptional purses for its horsemen, and hosting another record-setting Breeders' Cup among them. But the standard the track is proudest of is its continuing mark as America's safest major racetrack. Only one horse was injured catastrophically in the 426 races and 3,552 starters that performed during the two sessions, a mark that is unmatched in the country.

Total handle for the four-week, 13-day fall session was $171.58 million. The fall meet average daily handle was a record $13.19 million, which was 1.0% higher than the record average daily handle posted last year.

The Breeders' Cup – conducted at Del Mar on November 5 and 6 – had a common-pool handle of $183,260,127, a two-day record for the championship event.

When Del Mar last hosted the Breeders' Cup in 2017, it posted a then-record handle of $166,077,486. The new mark is 10.4% higher than that.

The two-meet mark of $943.49 million is 21.3% higher than the 2017 standard of $779.97 million. Both years featured Breeders' Cups.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's CEO, Joe Harper, said he was extremely pleased by events at his track over the year. “I am exceptionally proud of our team and seeing all their hard work come to such wonderful fruition over the course of the two seasons,” he said. “We put on a helluva Breeders' Cup show once again; we were at our best for the best. And we're safe, very safe. That's just the best of all.”

“The racing world once again got to see what we're spoiled with every year – one of the best operations in the industry,” said Gary Fenton, chairman of the Thoroughbred Owners. “Breeders' Cup kicked off another wonderful meet and we're so grateful for the entire DMTC team. TOC couldn't ask for a better partner.”

The track's Ship & Win program – where it encourages horsemen and horsewomen to bring their runners to Del Mar for both of its seasons and has proven to be one of the great thoroughbred magnets in the country – had another banner session. Sixty-seven new runners came to town this fall under the program with six of them making a second start during the Bing Crosby Season. All told, 1,885 “S&W” runners have come to California since the program was put in place 11 years ago.

Its fall Turf Festival again drew high-class runners from across the land to compete in its seven-race stand over the final weekend of the meet. More than a dozen stakes aces shipped in to take on the local runners in the rich events.

The track's fall riding king was Juan Hernandez with his 17 firsts from 79 mounts during the 15-day (counting the Breeders' Cup) session. It is his first riding title at Del Mar. The top trainer was Phil D'Amato who registered 15 firsts from 52 starters. It is his first fall training championship, but his third at the track overall.

Racing will return to Del Mar next July 22 for the track's 83rd summer season.

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Del Mar Closing Day Pick 6 Pays $10,141 To Winners

The closing day Pick Six at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., Sunday returned $10,141 to 358 horseplayers who selected each of the final six winners on the nine-race card.

The pool for the wager had started the day with a $590,935 carryover and it attracted $3,975,017 in new money, meaning the final prize was $4,565,952. The bet was run under “mandatory payout” conditions because of California racing rules. It had not been hit for 12 consecutive days leading up to the 13th and final day of the track's regular Bing Crosby Season.

Del Mar will return to racing on Friday, July 22, 2022.

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