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TVG Plans Extensive Coverage Of Del Mar Meet

Opening Day at Del Mar begins on Friday, July 16 and TVG, America's horse racing network, will be live on-site for each day of the prestigious meet with enhanced coverage, features and expert analysis. The weekend broadcast will also include the $1 million TVG Haskell Invitational from Monmouth Park featuring TVG Pegasus Stakes winner Mandaloun and Belmont Stakes (GI) runner-up Hot Rod Charlie.

TVG will have a full roster of talent on-site at Del Mar throughout the meet including Todd Schrupp, Simon Bray, Christina Blacker, Joaquin Jaime, Caleb Keller, Dave Weaver and Scott Hazelton with exclusive interviews, insights and handicapping selections. There will be new touchscreen technology on the set which will allow mark-up replays and graphics to introduce enhanced handicapping coverage.

The supersized coverage will utilize a total of 28 cameras – eight more than in previous meets – and will also give fans a behind-the-scenes look through a Jockey Cam utilized every day of the meet by leading riders including Umberto Rispoli, Flavien Prat and Jessica Pyfer.

“We're investing more than ever before and pulling out all the stops to give viewers an immersive experience for the Runhappy Del Mar summer meet,” said Kevin Grigsby, Executive Producer and Senior Vice President of Television. “We're not just covering the races. We plan to follow horses from the barn, to the paddock, to the gate, around the track and back, and we plan to use the jockey cams to give our viewers a closer look at some of what happens before the actual races in a way that helps their handicapping.”

Del Mar has a ten-race card lined up for Opening Day and the featured race is the $100,000 Runhappy Oceanside Stakes. Restricted to three-year-olds, the one-mile contest will be contested on the turf and has drawn a full field of fourteen sophomores. Dream Shake, third in the Runhappy Santa Anita Derby (GI) will be making his turf debut for trainer Peter Eurton and will have Joe Bravo in the irons.

The coverage of Del Mar's meet will run through Labor Day and will include the TVG Pacific Classic (GI) on August 21. The TVG Pacific Classic is a Breeders' Cup “Win and You're In” Challenge races which will earn the winner an automatic berth into the Breeders' Cup which will be held at Del Mar on November 5-6.

There will be on-site coverage throughout the weekend at Monmouth Park leading up to the $1 million TVG.com Haskell Invitational on Saturday, July 17. TVG's Mike Joyce, Gabby Gaudet, Caton Bredar and Larry Collmus will be reporting live from New Jersey with insights, interviews and analysis leading up to the marquee race for 3-year-olds.

The TVG Haskell (GI) has drawn a field of seven 3-year-olds with the Doug O'Neill-trained Hot Rod Charlie installed as the morning line favorite at 6-5 odds with Flavien Prat aboard. Mandaloun, a homebred for Juddmonte Farms, is the second choice at odds of 2-1 for trainer Brad Cox and jockey Florent Geroux.

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Del Mar Kicks Off Summer Meet On Friday With Big Field In Oceanside, Fans Back In The Stands

A gate full of 3-year-olds will run a mile on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course Friday in the 76th edition of the Runhappy Oceanside Stakes, the highlight of a 10-race card that welcomes racing – and its fans – back to Del Mar for the start of the seaside track's 82nd summer season in Del Mar, Calif.

Following the 2020 session at the shore that saw racing conducted before a silent and empty grandstand, this year's roar of the crowd as the runners dash down the stretch should be sweet music for all involved. Del Mar is requiring that all in attendance have a seat, so it appears likely the opener will see approximately 16,000 fans on board as the show gets started with a 2 p.m. PT first post.

Fourteen runners have had their names listed for the grassy Oceanside, so traffic and good luck will play key roles in the first leg of the Del Mar turf triple for sophomores that will continue with the La Jolla Stakes on August 8 and climax with the Del Mar Derby on September 4.

While several of the Oceanside sophs deserve an extra look coming into the test, two seem to stand out a bit above their rivals: Exline-Border Racing, SAF Racing or Hausman, et al's Dream Shake and Downstream Racing's None Above the Law.

The former has been banging heads with some of the best 3-year-olds in the country during his brief five-race career so far this year and has been graded stakes-placed on three occasions. This will be his first attempt on the lawn, but his breeding – by Twirling Candy out of a Street Cry mare – says he should be right at home on it. Trainer Peter Eurton has named West Coast newcomer Joe Bravo to ride.

None Above the Law is a California-bred gelding by the Japanese-bred stallion Karakontie who races out of the Peter Miller barn. The gray stretch-runner was a double stakes winner at Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area this spring and has shown an affinity for the grass. None Above the Law is a four-time winner and will have the saddle services of top rider Juan Hernandez.

Del Mar will race Friday-Saturday-Sunday for the first two weeks of its 31-day session, then stretch out to a Thursday through Sunday format for the remaining six weeks that will finish finally on Labor Day Monday, September 6.

The track will feature one of its most robust stakes schedules ever with 39 black type offerings worth more than $7.1 million. It also has an enhanced “Ship & Win” program for attracting out-of-state horses and early word is that it is working. Several Eastern and/or Midwestern trainers have sent strings to the track and the spice of competition from new faces has the makings for a fine summer stew.

First post daily will be at 2 p.m. with the exceptions of Fridays (other than Opening Day) when it shifts to 4 p.m. The final two Fridays of the stand – August 27 and September 3 – will see an adjustment to a 3:30 p.m. start to the day's activities.

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Fans, Horsemen Alike Ready To Celebrate ‘Real’ Del Mar Summer

Peter Miller won a fourth Del Mar summer season training title in 2020, equaling the number of fall crowns for him at the place Miller refers to as his “home” track.

But the 55-year-old Encinitas and Manhattan Beach resident readily admits that it didn't feel the same as the other seven. Not in a time in which COVID-19 protocols for most of the meeting required stands empty of all but “essential” personnel and masks on the faces of everyone there in person.

“Last year felt abnormal, weird, very strange, surreal,” Miller said Monday during a break from morning workouts. “You'd win a race and it felt like you'd won a workout.”

Miller won 28 races, eight more than runner-up Phil D'Amato. Six came in stakes, to raise Miller's career total to 38 over the last 14 years. And none of those horses returned to a winner's circle ceremony of picture-taking, reward-presenting, hand-shaking, back-slapping and all-around smiling with success in accordance with decades of racing tradition.

So count Miller, Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper, and racetrackers of all sorts, who are looking forward to the return of fans and fanfare when the 82nd summer season commences a 31-day meeting on Friday.

“Real live people, that's terrific,” said Harper, in his 44th year at the track helm. “I spent a lot of time walking around talking to myself last year.

“It's just great. Having people around is what Del Mar is all about. It's not your average racetrack. It's a party, concerts and all the things that make people happy. It was kind of sad out here last year when your handle is $200,000 on track and $25 million off track. That was kind of a fun day, but it was just weird.”

“It's a credit to the whole industry that we got through COVID as well as we did,” said trainer John Sadler, No. 2 for stakes wins (78) in track history. “Now we're all happy and excited about having a return to normal.”

“We had gone through (COVID 2020 protocols) at Santa Anita before we came down here last summer, so we were kind of prepared,” said Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella. “But the stands without fans, the quiet during the races … the weird feeling never went away.”

Billy Koch heads the Little Red Feather racing partnership group, whose all-out-for-fun approach, to racing and life, is especially suited to Del Mar. Little Red Feather's Red King won the Del Mar Handicap and was voted the top grass horse of the meeting but only a handful of partners were able to celebrate on the tarmac down by the rail.

“We love it down here and Del Mar is the premier meeting we point to,” Koch said. “So it was difficult that a lot of our partners and fans couldn't get in to see the horses run. But Del Mar did a good job of getting some in to see the races and we appreciated that.

“We did nothing last year (in the way of pre-meet partying), but we're back this year and champing at the bit. Little Red Feather Nation will be out in force and we're looking forward to a really good meeting.”

Del Mar opens its summer season on a Friday for the third time since 1970 and the sixth time in its history. Before last year's COVID-forced no-count, the official totals were 42,562 on the grounds in 2016 and 11,998 in 1970. The other Friday openings came in 1959 and 1941.

Opening Friday 2021 won't approach 2016 – which ranks as the 10th-highest turnout in track history – but it figures to be a happy contrast to 2020. Del Mar will open with 100% capacity in its seating areas throughout the facility and an approximately 16,000 sellout has been announced. This decision was made in accordance with state and county public health guidelines.

All fans wishing to attend must obtain a seating package in advance of their arrival. Admission tickets and parking passes are included in the package.

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After 2020 Hiatus, Trevor Denman Ready For Del Mar Return

Trevor Denman called the last race at Del Mar's fall session on December 1, 2019. Shortly thereafter, he and his wife of 26 years, Robin, saddled up and headed east to their little piece of heaven in Kellogg (population 450), Minnesota for a winter's nap that turned out to be a whole lot longer than they'd planned.

As a result of the COVID pandemic, the Denmans opted to lay low on their 500-acre rural farm for what wound up being the whole year and even into 2021, causing the race caller to miss his first Del Mar season since he began employing his distinctive tones and style at the shore oval in 1984.

Del Mar was able to plug in a fine pinch-hitting caller for both of its 2020 meets in Larry Collmus, but now stands ready to return its longtime (this will be his 37th Del Mar summer) “voice” to the stand starting on July 16.

How and what has Trevor been doing during his extended hiatus? Read on and let him tell you.

Q – How are both you and Robin doing after approximately 20 months at home avoiding the pandemic?

A – We are doing really well. We are so remote that COVID did not affect us very much. We have a driveway which is a mile long, so we do not even see the mailman – he drops the mail at the end of the drive. We have a new farmhouse and these new houses are practically sound proof, so we don't even hear the UPS deliveries arrive (which is about twice a week). We open the front door and there they are. I get gas once every 5 or 6 weeks and even grocery shopping is a breeze nowadays – one orders online, arranges a time for pick up and someone bring a trolly out and loads your groceries into the trunk. No contact at all! Since we live in farmland and the towns are very small the chances of getting enough vegetarian supplies are not very high, so our grocery shopping is done 45 miles away in Rochester (population 106,000). Ironically, Rochester is the home of the Mayo Clinic, which means there are tons of healthy food choices. Overall, dealing with the pandemic has gone well in Minnesota. They're mostly law-abiding citizens with great morals and they have handled it very responsibly.

Q – You built a new house and moved into it in 2019. You said your old farm house (built in 1858) was simply going to be 'left to the critters' (mice, squirrels, etc.) How are the critters doing in their new home?

A – We were just a nuisance to them when we lived in the house; we were squatting in their territory. They think they own the house anyway, so they are doing just fine.

Q – How will you return to Del Mar – take a train, take a plane, take a car?

A – We are driving. I have a penchant for Indian War battle sites. We are going through South Dakota, Montana and Wyoming, which are prime battle site states. So we will take a week to get to Del Mar.

Q – Do you have your regular spot to stay here for the summer?

A – Yes, we stay in a very quiet area near Lake Hodges. It's tucked away behind trees on a large lot.

Q – Will you go back to Kellogg between Del Mar's summer and fall meets?

A – Yes. It's just too long to stay in California for that period of time (approximately two months).

Q – It's going to be more than a year and a half between race calls for you. Any concerns?

A – I feel a little weird right now. I will probably call some races off TVG in my entertainment room this week just to 'loosen up.'

Q – Del Mar used to race six days per week, but now the focus is on fuller weekend race cards and less weekday racing. How much easier is it for you now with the fewer race days?

A – Thank goodness I was in my 30's and 40's back then! (He's 68 now). We would live life to the fullest each night and still be at the track six days a week. I dare not go out at night now because I might miss work for two days afterwards! It is certainly much easier now, though I wouldn't mind a five-day week.

Q – There aren't a lot of Mexican restaurants in the Kellogg area; there are many in Southern California. How do you and your vegetarian ways get on with Mexican cuisine?

A – We have a great Mexican restaurant (authentic) in a place called Lake City, which is about 35 miles away, but that's no problem when you have all day to eat lunch. Besides, the drive is along the shores of beautiful Lake Pepin and there is hardly any traffic. They have delicious vegetarian food. In San Diego we have a Mexican restaurant where they have a special menu just for vegetarians – perfect!

Q – When you dropped back from a year-round schedule to calling only Del Mar in 2016, you used a lovely phrase to explain it: “It is time to stop counting dollars and start counting stars.” How have those stars been looking in Minnesota?

A – The stars at night are truly unbelievable! One looks up and sees a billion stars. Then one gets the binoculars out and looks up and sees a trillion stars. We see the International Space Station all the time. It feels like you can almost touch it. The night sky is just so tranquil. You want to be awed by the solar system? Come see it in rural Minnesota. Ursa Minor (Big Dipper) is right outside my bedroom window and the North Star is right there, too. Awe-inspiring sight!

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