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Larry Collmus To Again Fill In For Trevor Denman At Del Mar

With Trevor Denman again opting to stay home out of concerns about the coronavirus pandemic, Del Mar once more has called on his ace substitute – Larry Collmus – to take up the mic at the shore track's fall race meeting beginning on Saturday, October 31.

The 15-day session, named the Bing Crosby Season in a salute to the track's founder, will have a Saturday/Sunday opening weekend, then three Friday-thru-Sunday weekends before finishing up with a four-day run keyed on Thanksgiving Thursday (November 26) through to Sunday, November 29.

Denman, Del Mar's announcer at every meet since 1984, chose to stay at his Minnesota farm this summer instead of working the Del Mar meet in light of fears for himself and his family presented by the virus. He indicated to track officials that he planned to return for the fall stand. In his stead, the nationally prominent race caller Collmus filled in admirably with his sharp calls and enthusiasm shining through over the course of the summer.

“We talked to Trevor right after our summer meet and it was obvious he was torn,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's CEO Joe Harper. “There still was concern about the pandemic and his family, yet he also wanted to keep a commitment he'd made to us. But in the end we told him to stay home and stay safe; he appreciated that.”

Del Mar's next move was to reconnect with Collmus, the veteran announcer who has called at major race meetings from coast to coast over the past 35 years and who has been NBC television's voice of the Triple Crown for the last decade. Collmus quickly gave a thumbs up to the idea of returning to the seaside oval for another go-round and was signed on for the fall meet.

“I truly enjoyed calling the races this summer at Del Mar and look forward to the opportunity to return for the Bing Crosby meet,” Collmus said. “It's such a special place and I'm honored to be asked to come back.”

The seventh Bing Crosby Season, highlighted by 16 stakes and a strong emphasis on high-class turf racing, will see racing begin each day at 12:30 p.m. During the stand, Del Mar will serve as the California host track for the Breeders' Cup Championships, which will take place on November 6 and 7 at Keeneland in Lexington, KY.

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Del Mar Increases Overnight Purses 10 Percent, Boosts ‘Ship & Win’ Incentive Program

Del Mar's seventh fall race meeting – starting on Saturday, Oct. 31 – will provide horsemen with a healthy 10 percent blended increase in their overnight purses and the highest bonuses ever tied to the popular “Ship & Win” program.

Despite the ongoing pandemic situation, the track was able to hold firm on its recently announced stakes schedule that offers 16 events with $2,250,00 in purses. Beyond that, though, overnight purse levels will be increased by approximately 10 percent across the board.

Examples include:

First level allowance purses increase from $53,000 to $59,000.
Maiden Special Weight races jump from $52,000 to $57,000.
$32,000 claimers go up from $33,000 to $36,000.
Maiden-Claiming $50,000 rises from $28,000 to $31,000.
Racing officials noted also that the track's minimum purse has increased from 2019's $17,000 to this fall's $20,000.

Additionally, the track's “Ship & Win” program – now in its 10th year – will provide its richest incentive ever with a guaranteed $3,000 “starter fee” for all runners.

Further, those runners will be eligible for a 30% purse bonus added on top of whatever they win (for finishing first through fifth) in that initial outing.

“We worked with our partners at the Thoroughbred Owners of California on this and I think we've got a solid foundation that should encourage our horsemen – as well as those from other racing venues – to want to be part of what we do here in the fall,” said Del Mar's executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins. “Our fall meet has grown year by year and is now as good a run of racing as you're going to find anywhere in the country this year.”

In reference to the “Ship & Win” program, Robbins noted that since its inception in 2011, the incentive plan has drawn more than 1,400 runners to Del Mar and they've made more than 2,000 starts at the track, as well as more than 4,200 starts at other state tracks, such as Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Golden Gate.

The simple rules for “S & W” runners are as follows:

Horses must have made their last start outside of California.
Horses cannot have raced in California in the past 12 months.
First-time starters are not eligible.
$3,000 starter fee for all eligible horses; 30% purse bonus for initial start.
Stakes runners (including overnight stakes) are not eligible for the 30% bonus.

Those who have questions concerning the program are encouraged to contact Robbins or racing secretary David Jerkens at (858) 792-4230.

The fall session will have a first post daily of 12:30 p.m. with the exception of its special Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) card that begins at 11 a.m. Closing day will be Sunday, November 29.

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Del Mar Maintains Purse Levels For 2020 Fall Stakes Schedule

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will present its seventh fall race meeting – officially titled the Bing Crosby Season in a salute to the seaside track's founder – with 16 stakes worth $2,250,000 scheduled during a 15-day session starting on Saturday, October 31.

Despite the concerns and obvious issues around the ongoing pandemic, the track was able to maintain the same purse amounts for its stakes as presented in 2019, including $300,000 incentives for its pair of Grade Is and $200,000 for its two Grade IIs.

Additionally, because Del Mar serves as California host for the Breeders' Cup races this year, it also will run two California-bred sprint stakes for juveniles that were not on its agenda the past two seasons.

Nine of the 16 fall stakes are graded; nine of the 16 stakes will be run on turf; seven of the stakes – all of them on grass – will be presented over the track's extended closing weekend which begins on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, November 26, and goes until closing day on Sunday, November 29.

“Given the current climate of things, we are very pleased to keep our fall stakes purse levels intact,” said David Jerkens, Del Mar's racing secretary. “The response to our summer racing program was exceptional. We are expecting similar results this fall. I am especially excited about our Thanksgiving stakes weekend, which has taken on national prominence.”

The track's two premier stakes will be presented on its closing weekend – the Grade I, $300,000 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at nine furlongs on Saturday, November 28 and the Grade I, $300,000 Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on Sunday, November 29. Both are run on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Additionally, closing weekend also will offer the Grade II, $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up at a mile and one-half on Thanksgiving Friday, November 27 and the Grade II, $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap for 3-year-olds and up and a mile and one-sixteenth on November 28.

Racing will be conducted Saturday and Sunday for opening weekend, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the next three weeks, finishing finally with a four-day week around Thanksgiving.

First post daily will be 12:30 p.m. on all racing days with the exception of the track's special holiday card on Thanksgiving Thursday when racing begins at 11 a.m.

There will be six stakes offered for juveniles, led off by the two Cal-bred dashes – the $150,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies on Friday, November 6 and the $150,000 Golden State Juvenile on Saturday, November 7, both at seven furlongs.

Three of the juvenile tests are Grade IIIs – the $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes at seven furlongs on Sunday, November 15; the $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on the grass on Saturday, November 28, and the $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on Sunday, November 29, also at a mile on the lawn.

The Bing Crosby Season once again will kick off with a pair of $75,000 overnight stakes — the Kathryn Crosby Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf October 31 and the Let It Ride Stakes for 3-year-olds at the same distance and surface on November 1.

As in past years, Del Mar's racing office plans to card eight races during its weekday cards and nine for the weekend programs.

The complete list of stakes follows:

DATE	RACE / CONDITIONS	PURSE / DISTANCE
Sat. Oct 31	Kathryn Crosby Stakes* Fillies & Mares, Three-year-olds & up	$75,000 Added 1 Mile (Turf)
Sun. Nov 01	Let it Ride Stakes* Three-year-olds	$75,000 Added 1 Mile (Turf)
Fri. Nov 06	GOLDEN STATE JUVENILE FILLIES Fillies, Two-year-olds, Cal-Bred	$150,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Sat. Nov 07	GOLDEN STATE JUVENILE Two-year-olds, Cal-Bred	$150,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Sun. Nov 08	BETTY GRABLE STAKES Fillies & Mares, Three-year-olds & up, Cal-Bred	$100,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Sat. Nov 14	DESI ARNAZ STAKES Fillies, Two-year-olds	$100,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Sun. Nov 15	BOB HOPE STAKES (GR. III) Two-year-olds	$100,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Sat. Nov 21	NATIVE DIVER STAKES (GR. III) Three-year-olds & up	$100,000 Guaranteed 1 1/8 Miles
Sun. Nov 22	CARY GRANT STAKES Three-year-olds & up, Cal-Bred	$100,000 Guaranteed 7 Furlongs
Thu. Nov 26	RED CARPET HANDICAP (GR. III) Fillies & Mares, Three-year-olds & up	$100,000 Guaranteed 1 3/8 Miles (Turf)
Fri. Nov 27	HOLLYWOOD TURF CUP (GR. II) Three-year-olds & up	$200,000 Guaranteed 1 1/2 Miles (Turf)
Sat. Nov 28	JIMMY DURANTE STAKES (GR. III) Fillies, Two-year-olds	$100,000 Guaranteed 1 Mile (Turf)
Sat. Nov 28	SEABISCUIT HANDICAP (GR. II) Three-year-olds & up	$200,000 Guaranteed 1 1/16 Miles (Turf)
Sat. Nov 28	HOLLYWOOD DERBY (GR. I) Three-year-olds	$300,000 Guaranteed 1 1/8 Miles (Turf)
Sun. Nov 29	CECIL B. DEMILLE STAKES (GR. III) Two-year-olds	$100,000 Guaranteed 1 Mile (Turf)
Sun. Nov 29	MATRIARCH STAKES (GR. I) Fillies & Mares, Three-year-olds & up	$300,000 Guaranteed 1 Mile (Turf)

* Indicates Overnight Stakes

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Maximum Security Unanimous Choice As Del Mar Horse Of The Meet

Gary and Mary West and partners' Maximum Security was unanimously voted the Horse of the Meet for Del Mar's 81st summer season in a poll of racing media.

Victories in the San Diego Handicap and the TVG Pacific Classic by the 4-year-old West Stables homebred son of New Year's Day made the choice for Horse of the Meet and Top Older Horse easy for voters, some of whom casts ballots electronically since COVID-19 rules limited on-site attendance.

The first two starts for Maximum Security since being transferred to the care of Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert – also comeback efforts following a five-month layoff after a disputed victory in the inaugural $20 million Saudi Cup — were scintillating for racing aficionados.

In the San Diego on July 25, “Max,” as he's known around the stable, had to dig deep into his competitive spirit to edge Midcourt by a nose. Given a month more of training under Baffert, Maximum Security produced a dominating wire-to-wire, 3-length victory in the $500,000 TVG Pacific Classic, the winner's share of the purse putting him over $12 million in career earnings.

Maximum Security was not the only unanimous choice in the voting.

The West's solely owned homebred Fighting Mad, a 4-year-old daughter of New Year's Day trained by Baffert and, like Maximum Security, ridden by Abel Cedillo, was marked on every ballot for Top Older Filly/Mare as a result of her victory in the Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on August 2.

Unanimity was also expressed for the winners of the Grade I, $250,000 stakes for 2-year-olds which highlight the final two days of the meeting. Princess Noor earned Top 2-Year-Old Filly honors off her win in the Del Mar Debutante and Dr. Schivel was Top 2-Year-Old via his victory in Monday's Del Mar Futurity.

Other divisional honors went to Bing Crosby winner Collusion Illusion (Sprinter); Shared Belief Stakes champion Thousand Words (Top 3-Year-Old); Del Mar Oaks victor Red Lark (3-Year-Old Filly), and Red King, who took a close vote for Top Grass Horse via victory in the Del Mar Handicap.

Champions of Del Mar 2020

Horse of the Meeting	Maximum Security
Top Sprinter	Collusion Illusion
Top Grass Horse	Red King
Top Older Horse	Maximum Security
Top Older Filly/Mare	Fighting Mad
Top 3-Year-Old	Thousand Words
Top 3-Year-Old Filly	Red Lark
Top 2-Year-Old Filly	Princess Noor
Top 2-Year-Old	Dr. Schivel

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