In its 13th consecutive season, Del Mar's 'Ship & Win' program, which attracts out-of-state runners with bonuses and purse incentives, returns opening day July 21.
“This program has proven to be an absolute home run for Del Mar and all of California racing,” said David Jerkens, a Del Mar vice president and its racing secretary. “Our fields grow stronger each summer with 'Ship & Win' horses and then the lion's share of those runners stay on and race at other venues in the state.”
Drawing more than 2,400 equine competitors to Del Mar over the years, current additions include a $5,000 first-start bonus and a 50% purse supplement for all dirt runners. Also, turf horses earn a $4,000 starter bonus and a 40% purse supplement.
The purse supplements extend to any additional starts during the summer meet and hold true for first through fifth finishers in their races. Also, should an out-of-state horse be claimed out of its first outing, and subsequently run back at the session, the original owner will receive all earned supplements.
Josh Rubinstein, president and chief operating officer for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, admits the autumn Bing Crosby Season is a “different dynamic” from the summer meet that runs from mid-July until early September.
“It's more of a challenge than summer,” said Rubinstein, 53, who has been at Del Mar since 1997. “People are back to work, back to school. And when it's 60 degrees here, it's a little chilly.”
Rubinstein isn't looking for sympathy from his counterparts back east, where race meets at this time of year can be interrupted by extreme weather, including ice and snow, and grass racing is winding down. That's one reason trainers like Graham Motion, Chad Brown, Todd Pletcher, Shug McGaughey and Christophe Clement are taking shots in some of the stakes that comprise the Autumn Turf Festival, which wraps up this weekend with the Grade 1 duo of the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds on Saturday and Sunday's Matriarch for fillies and mares, three and up. The festival's final weekend also features a pair of G3 turf stakes for 2-year-old fillies and 2-year-olds, the Jimmy Durante and Cecil B. DeMille, respectively. There are mandatory payouts on all wagers on Sunday, including the Pick 6, which had a large jackpot going into Saturday's card.
“Overall, we're pleased with the meet,” Rubinstein said. “Racing has been safe, which is our top priority, and the feedback we're getting on our surfaces has been very positive.”
The Del Mar summer meet established new records – not just for the seaside track near San Diego but for all of California – in daily average handle ($18.7 million), purses ($800,000 daily), and field size (9.1 runners per race).
But zero is the number Rubinstein and Del Mar CEO Joe Harper are proudest of. That's how many racing fatalities there were after nearly 3,000 starts during the summer meet. While there were two instances of horses sustaining a heart-attack type of sudden death following their races on the Crosby season's opening weekend Nov. 11-13, Del Mar has had no fatal musculoskeletal injuries in racing or training going into the final stretch.
“Over the last few years, we've spent over $3 million on maintenance of the main track and turf course,” Rubinstein said. “From a safety standpoint, the results speak for themselves.”
Since 2018, Del Mar has ranked in the upper echelon of North America's safest racetracks, according to statistics compiled by The Jockey Club's Equine Injury Database.
Field size is not quite where it was in summer, but the Crosby Season is what Rubinstein calls a “ship-in meet,” with the vast majority of horses staying at Santa Anita rather than relocating to Del Mar for the 13 racing days, then vanning south on the morning of their race. Only about 400 horses are stabled at Del Mar, compared to 2,000 during the summer.
“That's part of doing business in the fall,” he said. “Our field size is 7.8, and we've got big fields throughout the weekend. Tom Robbins and David Jerkens put together incredibly strong cards this weekend, so that should get us well over eight (starters per race).”
The fall meet is in its ninth season, necessitated by the closure of Hollywood Park in 2013. Santa Anita extended its winter-spring meet to absorb some of the lost summer dates from Hollypark's demise, with Los Alamitos also stepping up to run some Thoroughbred dates.
“We need to operate a fall meet so California has a healthy circuit on a year-round basis,” Rubinstein said. “Sometimes you hear 'the sky is falling in California,' and there are certainly some things we can improve upon. It's always a challenge to stay competitive, but we are seeing positive trends. The horse recruitment programs that we've implemented in recent years are working, with about 15 percent of our starters last summer due to that recruitment. Ship and Win had a lot to do with that, so the good news is those horses stay in California, which helps not just Del Mar but Santa Anita and Los Alamitos as well.”
The coronavirus pandemic that hit in 2020 affected racing throughout the world. As a track that thrives on large crowds and big promotions, Del Mar had to make adjustments to its marketing program.
Concerts were a big part of that program, but they obviously were eliminated in 2020. In 2021, Rubinstein said, there was uncertainty about what would be permitted on-track when it came time to booking music acts, so a decision was made not to schedule concerts for the summer.
“In 2022, the concert market was so hot that music acts were two or three times as costly as they had been previously,” Rubinstein said. “Our model with those shows had a slim profit margin, so we just couldn't make it work. We'll consider concerts in 2023, but it's a different market than it was pre-pandemic. Plus there are new venues in town that would be competition, including an 1,800-seat venue here (on the Del Mar fair grounds property run by the 22nd District Agricultural Association) that our booking promoter, Belly Up, is involved with.”
Other promotions were brought back in 2021 and '22, including college days, craft beer festivals and local food events.
“Those have a smaller footprint than the concerts but most of those events sold out with 2,500 to 3,000 people,” Rubinstein said. Those promotions followed non-traditional marketing strategies to reach a younger crowd.
“We have a robust database that we use to target our core racing customers, but the people in Gen Z, Gen Y and Millennials that aren't necessarily racing fans are not consuming traditional media of TV, radio, and print,” he said. “The bulk of our marketing for them was social and digital. We also invested pretty heavily in influencer campaigns. We'll get the results of that soon, but the preliminary results have been good.”
Another benefit to the Bing Crosby Season has been to establish Del Mar as host for the highly successful Breeders' Cup World Championships in 2017 and '21. Rubinstein said Del Mar has put in a bid to host again, as soon as 2024.
“We have ongoing conversations with Drew Fleming (Breeders' Cup CEO) and his team,” he said. “We've had two great events here, and not just great racing. San Diego is a perfect location with many high-quality hotel rooms and restaurants, and there's great weather. Similar to Keeneland, the community really gets behind it. Local leaders and businesses keep asking, 'When is it coming back?'”
Tezzaray winning last year's Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes by a nose was a headline writer's dream – but somehow we all missed it.
Durante may be best known to racing fans as the namesake for this race and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's grass course (the street that fronts the racetrack is also named for him), but those who remember his days in vaudeville, Broadway, television, radio or the big screen may fondly remember Durante by the nickname he gave himself – “schnozzola” or “schnoz,” a slang term for big nose.
Durante had a very big nose.
So when Peter Miller-trained Tezzaray edged Awake At Midnyte by the narrowest of margins under Irad Ortiz Jr. in the 2021 Jimmy Durante, the headlines could have been something along the lines of: “Tezzaray Takes Durante By A Schnoz.”
Well, at least a few of us would have understood what it meant.
Naming a race after Durante (it was formerly known as the Miesque Stakes when inaugurated at Hollywood Park in 1990) is keeping with the Hollywood theme of the Bing Crosby season (Hollywood, as in Tinseltown, not just the defunct racetrack from which Del Mar inherited racing dates and many fall stakes).
The autumn season kicked off with the Let It Ride Stakes on opening day, and who doesn't love that 1989 movie starring Richard Dreyfuss about a horseplayer having “a very good day” at the betting windows?
The meet continued with the Kathryn Crosby Stakes, which honors the widow of track founder Bing Crosby, followed by added-money races named for celebrities and racing enthusiasts Betty Grable, Desi Arnaz, Cary Grant and Bob Hope.
The day after the Dec. 3 Jimmy Durante is the G3 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes, named for the legendary movie producer who also happened to be the grandfather of Del Mar CEO Joe Harper. The DeMille shares the Dec. 4 marquee with the G1 Matriarch Stakes, a filly and mare turf race that has been dominated in recent years by East Coast shippers.
The Fall Turf Festival rolls out on Thanksgiving Day with the first of eight graded stakes run over the final two weeks of racing, the G3 Red Carpet for fillies and mares, 3 and up, going 1 3/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course. The Festival continues on Friday, Nov. 25, with the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up going a mile and a half on grass. The big race on Saturday, Nov. 26, is the Seabiscuit Handicap for 3-year-old and up turf runners at 1 1/16 miles. The G3 Native Diver on Sunday, Nov. 27, is the lone main track stakes during the festival, featuring 3-year-olds and up going 1 1/8 miles.
Closing weekend features the Dec. 3 Jimmy Durante for 2-year-old fillies as the supporting stakes to the G1 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on turf, with the curtain coming down on Sunday, Dec. 4, following the Cecil B. DeMille and Matriarch.
With limited turf racing this late in the season back east, the Fall Turf Festival often attracts out of towners, and this year figures to be no different, making the stakes more competitive and challenging to handicap.
Back to Jimmy Durante. He was one of many old-time Hollywood celebrities who enjoyed a day of racing at Del Mar and had a house on the beach near where Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball also spent their summers. Durante was honored by Del Mar Aug. 22, 1958, and San Diego's CBS 8 television captured the schnoz and other entertainers who turned out that day. See the video below.
Durante died more than 40 years ago, in 1980. Betty Grable passed in 1973 and Desi Arnaz and Cary Grant both left us in 1986. Bob Hope hit the century mark when he died in 2003, while Cecil B. DeMille has been gone since 1959. All are legends in the annals of Hollywood in its heyday and their work lives on forever.
There could be a touch of Hollywood in this year's Fall Turf Festival, starting with the Red Carpet Stakes. Duvet Day, an Irish-bred filly trained by Michael McCarthy, is entered in the race and she is owned in part by music man Burt Bacharach, 94, who still owns a house in Del Mar. Bacharach, a longtime horse owner, has won numerous Grammy Awards, three Oscars, and the Gershwin Prize for popular song from the Library of Congress, among many other honors. He's also won a San Diego Handicap, a Del Mar Oaks and finished second in the 1995 Pacific Classic with runners from his stable.
Perhaps Duvet Day can provide some additional hardware for his trophy case.
Bo Champlin was watching on television at his home in Visalia, Calif., when Rick's Dream and 11 other horses left the starting gate in the fourth race on the closing-day card at Del Mar on Sept. 7, 2020.
A California-bred gelding by Coil, Rick's Dream had given Champlin's Big Iron Racing its first winner nearly a year earlier when trainer Reed Saldana sent him out for an allowance/optional claiming victory at Santa Anita. Saldana and Champlin claimed Rick's Dream for $12,500 in his previous start at Del Mar in August 2019, and he was entered for a $10,000 tag at the seaside track just over one year later.
Early September is a busy time for Champlin, who grows alfalfa, corn, cotton, wheat, and pistachios on his 2,900-acre farm in the San Joaquin Valley. Visalia is located between Fresno and Bakersfield, about 300 miles north of Del Mar.
“I wasn't able to go down there for the race,” Champlin recalled. “It's a 4 ½- to seven-hour drive, depending on traffic, and it's just a busy time of year at the farm.”
Rick's Dream, sent off as the fourth betting choice at 5-1, raced just off the early leaders under jockey Heriberto Figueroa in the 6 ½-furlong test. When the field straightened away in the stretch Rick's Dream had about two lengths to make up, but something went amiss. Figueroa quickly pulled the horse up, and he was attended to by veterinarians and taken back to the stable area in the horse ambulance.
Rick's Dream giving Bo Champlin his first win as an owner in 2019
“I knew something was wrong,” Champlin said. “Reed texted right away and about 30 minutes later a veterinarian called, describing the injury.”
It was what Southern California veterinary surgeon, Dr. Ryan Carpenter, called a “typical fetlock breakdown,” an injury that for many years almost always led to the horse being euthanized – especially when that horse is a bottom-level claimer. When Santa Anita experienced a spike in racing and training fatalities in 2019 that would eventually lead to significant safety reforms in California and other racing jurisdictions, Carpenter said 19 of the 21 fatal injuries were fetlock fractures.
“That gave us a specific injury to target,” he said.
The attending veterinarian who called Champlin said Rick's Dream was a good candidate for a surgical procedure for fetlock injuries, arthrodesis, where sesamoid fractures are repaired by fusing the bones in the ankle joint with a metal plate and screws.
The surgery and rehabilitation can be expensive, Carpenter explained, costing from $20,000 to $30,000. Owners of a stallion prospect or a filly destined for the breeding shed can justify the expense from a financial standpoint, but that may be a different matter for a $10,000 claimer. The procedure leaves a horse pasture sound and comfortable, but the horse is left with a mechanical gait that will preclude it from having a second career as a sporthorse.
That's where the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and Thoroughbred Owners of California come into the picture. Following a similar program launched in 2019 by Santa Anita and other tracks owned by The Stronach Group, Del Mar and TOC provide financial assistance for the type of surgeries that can save a horse from euthanasia and provide a good outlook for a life after racing.
“It's a cooperative deal between the track, TOC and the horse owners,” said Tom Robbins, Del Mar's executive vice president of racing. “Everybody takes part.”
Satisfied over the prospects that Rick's Dream could have a good quality of life, Champlin agreed to have the surgery done to try and save the horse that gave him and his family the thrill of their first win.
“I feel like if you're going to be in this sport, you've got to accept what happens and do the right thing,” Champlin said. “I felt it was the right thing to do.”
Rick's Dream became the first horse at Del Mar to have surgery funded jointly by the track, TOC, and an owner. Robbins said there have been four others since the program began in 2020, three which were injured during racing and one during training. Those low numbers reflect the success of initiatives by Del Mar and the California Horse Racing Board that make it one of safest tracks in North America.
Radiographs of Rick's Dream following arthrodesis surgery
And how is Rick's Dream doing more than two years after the surgery?
“He's just a happy guy,” said Champlin, who quickly built a corral and barn and seeded a pasture on his farm while Rick's Dream was recovering from surgery at San Luis Rey Equine Hospital. “He rules the roost out here. Such a cool horse, though we've spoiled him a little bit.”
Rick's Dream shares a paddock with two goats and a longhorn steer, said Champlin. Irish-bred Liberal, another runner for Big Iron Racing, recently joined Rick's Dream in the paddock while getting some turn-out time away from the track.
“Dr. Carpenter and his staff have been really great,” Champlin added. “They really took a liking to the horse. He kept following up and following up to see how he was doing.”
If it weren't for a trip Carpenter took to the East Coast in 2017, the outcomes for this type of surgery would not be as successful.
Carpenter got a call from Paul Reddam after the California-based owner's Irap suffered an injury past the wire after finishing second in that year's Grade 1 Pennsylvania Derby. Reddam wanted Carpenter to fly east to perform surgery.
“The horse needed a fetlock arthrodesis,” Carpenter recalled. “I told him Dean Richardson was the best person to take him to.”
Richardson, the chief of large animal surgery at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine's New Bolton Center, is best known as the veterinarian who performed surgery on Barbaro and tended to the colt after he suffered a severe injury in the Grade 1 Preakness in 2006.
Reddam persisted, and Carpenter agreed to go in to surgery with Richardson, taking a red-eye flight that night and joining the surgical team the following morning.
Dr. Dean Richardson (photo courtesy of American Association of Equine Practitioners)
“Dean certainly doesn't need my help, but from a personal and professional standpoint, this was the best continuing education I could ever have gotten in my career,” Carpenter said. “I had done this surgery before, but seeing the master at work and how he did things a little differently led me to change my style from the way it was.
“I credit that experience to why we have the success we have here today,” he said. “If I had stayed in California and not gone to see his work, I wouldn't have learned what I did.”
With Richardson now retired, Carpenter has been refining the fetlock arthrodesis surgeries in ways that avoid some post-surgical complications, including subluxation of the pastern. The latest improvement involves use of a human distal femur plate that incorporates the pastern. “We are not seeing the subluxation problems now,” Carpenter said. “This is going to have a positive impact on our profession moving forward.”
Not to mention the positive impact it has had on horses.
“The philanthropy of the racetracks and other stakeholders has allowed us to take finances out of the equation,” Carpenter said. “That permits us to make decisions based on what's in the best interest of the horse. The surgeries and techniques have advanced over the past 20 years to give these horses a chance for a successful outcome, keeping in mind the importance of their health and welfare. If it's good enough for a champion, it should be good enough for Rick's Dream.”
