Del Mar | Horse Racing Free Tips

David Jerkens: Del Mar Stable Area Showing Good Signs For 2020 Fall Meet

Based on stall applications and assignments, racing secretary David Jerkens projects there will be more horses on site for Del Mar's Bing Crosby meeting than usual in 2020.

“I'd say around 400-425 a day will be stabled here,” Jerkens said Wednesday afternoon. “That's slightly higher than usual (300-350) and I take it as a good sign.”

While most trainers will, for economic reasons, continue to house charges at Santa Anita, Los Alamitos or San Luis Rey Downs training center and ship in for the races, Jerkens listed 10 who are sending their entire Santa Anita stable to Del Mar. They are: Phil D'Amato, Doug O'Neill, John Shirreffs, Ron McAnally, Bill Spawr, Bob Hess, Jr., Kenny Black, Sal Gonzalez, Gary Mandella and Alfredo Marquez.

Saturday's opening day program of the Bing Crosby meeting was put together on Wednesday with 76 total entries, 73 in the “body” of the nine-race card and three listed as also eligibles.

“We expected maybe a few more, but there are going to be some very competitive races and we're certainly happy with the eight we got for the stakes (Kathryn Crosby),” Jerkens said.

After its Saturday-Sunday opening, the 15-day meeting runs Friday through Sunday through November 22 and closes with a four-day “Turf Festival” from Thanksgiving Day, November 26 to Sunday, November 29. Seven of the nine graded stakes during the meeting will be staged over the final four days over the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Those races, especially the Grade I Hollywood Derby and Grade I Matriarch Stakes, have been major enticements to East Coast trainers in the past and elite trainers Chad Brown, Mark Casse and Graham Motion, among others, have sent marquee runners with good success.

“Even in this COVID era, when people aren't shipping to the extent they used to, we've received quite a bit of interest from back east,” Jerkens said. “And I know some local trainers have been acquiring horses (for turf stakes) as well.”

It has been so long since rain graced San Diego County that's it's easy to forget that torrential downpours forced cancellations of two race programs last fall, one of them a Thanksgiving card scheduled to start the final week, and the rescheduling of some graded stakes.

Still, the East Coast contingent was a strong one and the appropriately name Got Stormy closed things with a victory in the Matriarch for Casse.

“If the weather cooperates, I think we'll get some very good horses from the east like we usually do,” Jerkens said.

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Del Mar Fall Meet Kicks off Oct. 31

Del Mar’s seventh Bing Crosby fall race meeting, which begins Saturday Oct. 31 for its 15-day run and continues through Sunday, Nov. 29, will offer 16 stakes races, headed by the GI Hollywood Derby Nov. 28 and GI Matriarch S. Nov. 29. Nine of the track’s fall stakes will be run on its Jimmy Durant Turf Course.

Following its Saturday/Sunday opening weekend, the track will settle into a Friday-through-Sunday format for the following three weeks, then close things out with a four-day finish starting on Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov. 26.

The track will continue its emphasis on the safety of its horses and riders. Its extensive program of enhanced procedures and protocols include additional veterinarian oversight, a panel of experts that scrutinizes all horse entries and overriding analyses of medications and workout routines for its horses. As was the case during recently concluded summer meet, the track will operate its fall season under stringent COVID-19 protocols, including daily health screenings for all employees and essential personnel. It will have medical professionals onsite and require both the wearing of face masks and social distancing. In accordance with state and local guidelines, racing again will be conducted without fans in attendance.

“Safety is on our menu from start to finish,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s CEO Joe Harper. “If you start with safety, everything else just flows. And not only will we again have safe racing, but we’ll once more have the best racing in the country throughout our stand, something racing fans are going to love to watch.”

First post throughout the season will be 12:30 p.m. on all days with the exception of Thanksgiving Day, which gets an 11 a.m. start. Live cards will also be presented on both Breeders’ Cup days at Keeneland Nov. 6 and Nov. 7.

For the complete stakes schedule, visit www.dmtc.com

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Del Mar’s Seventh Consecutive Fall Meet To Be Conducted Without Fans

Del Mar's seventh consecutive fall race meeting – presented with a Hollywood flare and a title that honors the track's founder, Bing Crosby – breaks from the starting gate this Saturday for a 15-day stand that will take it through to Sunday, Nov. 29.

The Bing Crosby Season will offer 16 stakes races during its run, headed by a pair of grassy Grade 1's on closing weekend – the $300,000 Hollywood Derby on Nov. 28 and the $300,000 Matriarch Stakes on Nov. 29.

After its Saturday/Sunday opening weekend, the track will settle into a Friday-through-Sunday format for the following three weeks, then close things out with a four-day finish starting on Thanksgiving Thursday, Nov. 26.

The track will continue its emphasis on the safety of its horses and riders which has now resulted in a highly successful three-year span that has seen it rise to the top of a list of the nation's safest racetracks. Its extensive program of enhanced procedures and protocols include additional veterinarian oversight, a panel of experts that scrutinizes all horse entries and overriding analyses of medications and workout routines for its horses. These once novel steps now have become part of the day-to-day routine at the shore racing headquarters.

As was the case during recently concluded summer meet, the track will operate its fall season under stringent COVID-19 protocols, including daily health screenings for all employees and essential personnel. It will have medical professionals onsite and require both the wearing of face masks and social distancing. In accordance with state and local guidelines, racing again will be conducted without fans in attendance.

“Safety is on our menu from start to finish,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's CEO Joe Harper. “If you start with safety, everything else just flows. And not only will we again have safe racing, but we'll once more have the best racing in the country throughout our stand, something racing fans are going to love to watch.”

Nine of the track's fall stakes will be run on its Jimmy Durant Turf Course starting with the opening day Kathryn Crosby Stakes for fillies and mares going a mile. The meet's last seven stakes – presented over the extended Thanksgiving holiday weekend – are all contested on the lawn, leading up to the two Grade I offerings mentioned earlier.

In keeping with its Bing Crosby/Hollywood theme, the majority of the track's stakes are named for stars of the past who had Del Mar connections. Among the black-type presentations are races named for Desi Arnaz, Bob Hope, Betty Grable, Cary Grant, Jimmy Durante and Cecil B. DeMille.

Del Mar's racing office – headed by a pair of pros in its executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins and racing secretary David Jerkens – will be presenting either eight or nine races daily with a first post of 12:30 p.m. on all days with the exception of Thanksgiving Day and its special 11 a.m. start.

It also will present live cards on both Breeders' Cup days – Friday, Nov. 6 and Saturday, Nov. 7. Eight Del Mar races will be run both afternoons around the 14 championship events – five on Friday and nine of Saturday — conducted at Keeneland Race Course in Kentucky this year.

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CHRB Allocates 2021 Race Dates For Southern California, First Six Months Of Northern California Season

The California Horse Racing Board conducted a meeting by teleconference on Thursday, October 22. The public participated by dialing into the teleconference and/or listening through the audio webcast link on the CHRB website. Chairman Gregory Ferraro chaired the meeting, joined by Vice Chairman Oscar Gonzales and Commissioners Dennis Alfieri, Damascus Castellanos, Brenda Washington Davis, Wendy Mitchell, and Alex Solis.

The audio of this entire Board meeting is available on the CHRB Website (www.chrb.ca.gov) under the Webcast link. In brief:

The Board allocated 2021 racing dates for Southern California thoroughbreds (and one fair meet), harness racing, and quarter horse racing, The Board also allocated dates for Northern California thoroughbred racing for the first six months of the year. Due to uncertainties created by COVID-19, the Board delayed consideration of dates for the latter half of 2021 for Northern California thoroughbred meets and fairs. At this time, all meets are expected to run without the public in attendance, but that also could change depending on circumstances. Allocated dates include dates for simulcasting without racing. The actual dates a meet will offer racing will be approved when the meet's license application is considered. As allocated:
The Southern California thoroughbred racing circuit will begin December 23, 2020, at Santa Anita, through June 22, 2021, then proceed to Los Alamitos (day racing, June 23 through July 6), and then to Del Mar (July 7 through September 7). The Los Angeles County Fair meet will run daytime at Los Alamitos from September 8 through September 28. The thoroughbred circuit will continue at Santa Anita (September 29 through November 2), Del Mar (November 3 through November 30), Los Alamitos (day racing, December 1 through December 14), and then back to Santa Anita for simulcasting only from December 15 through December 21.
Golden Gate Fields received allocated dates for thoroughbred racing from December 23, 2020, through June 15, 2021.
Los Alamitos received allocated dates for quarter horse racing from December 23, 2020, through December 21, 2021. Commissioner Mitchell made a point to advise Los Alamitos management that the CHRB will be looking for further improvement in quarter horse safety relative to the racing dates. This message was echoed by others during discussions of daytime thoroughbred and fair allocations given to Los Alamitos.
Watch & Wager received allocated harness racing dates at Cal Expo from December 23, 2020, through May 11, followed by a second meet from October 27 through December 21.
The Board approved the license application for the Los Angeles County Fair to run a race meet at Los Alamitos operating from December 4 through December 20. This day meet will run concurrently with night quarter horse racing at Los Alamitos. In conjunction with this license, the Board approved an agreement between the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the racing secretary at Los Alamitos regarding entry conditions limiting specific drug substances for entered horses.
The Board approved two regulatory amendments to limit the practice of some owners and trainers conditioning their horses at non-CHRB locations and then shipping them to operating meets shortly before their races into the care of trainers who have not been involved in the care of those horses, a practice known as program training. In addition to expressly forbidding program training, the Board voted to require all horses to be within a CHRB-licensed facility and in the care of a licensed trainer for at least seven days before a race.
Executive Director Scott Chaney reported that the CHRB's concerns about the proposed federal Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act (HISA) have been communicated to legislators. A principal concern is that national standards, as called for in HISA, may actually be less strict than California's safety rules and protocols, which are the strictest in the nation.
Chairman Ferraro reported on the previous day's meeting of the Medication, Safety, and Welfare Committee. Dr. Francisco Uzal presented the annual CHRB/University of California, Davis, Postmortem Report, which is available on the CHRB website. Chairman Ferraro pointed out that 90 percent of the horses that have been examined in the Postmortem Program had pre-existing lesions. When he then reported on the next agenda item discussed by the committee – a proposal to clarify that official veterinarians may require diagnostic imaging before removing some horses from the Veterinarian's List – he said this should help identify those pre-existing lesions that contribute to equine fatalities. He said the committee also discussed the need to eliminate the use of thyroxine in horse racing, given that thyroid problems in young horses “are practically nil.” He reported that the committee supports a proposed elimination of a requirement for each track to receive a fire clearance just prior to each meet, as local fire authorities seldom visit racetracks that often. He said a one-year clearance from fire authorities should be sufficient. Dr. Arthur, the CHRB's equine medical director, reported at the committee meeting that California horse racing experienced 20 Class 1, 2, and 3 violations last year from more than 30,000 samples.
In a separate report, Dr. Arthur described the Postmortem Program and methods of tracking and reporting equine fatalities at facilities under the jurisdiction of the CHRB as consistent, complete, and transparent for over 30 years.
The Board approved for 45-day public notice a proposed regulatory amendment to eliminate the requirement for retention of syringes used to administer furosemide, or Lasix, to racehorses. Chairman Ferraro stated that because Lasix must be administered by regulatory personnel, never by private veterinarians, there is no chance of the syringes containing anything but the authorized bleeder medication.
The Board approved a regulatory amendment stipulating that the racing veterinarian is under the supervision of the official veterinarian.
Because the pandemic forced the cancelation of the Big Fresno Fair meet this year, the mandatory payout of carryover money in Pick 5 and Pick 6 pools at the fairs did not take place as scheduled. The Board authorized the fairs to distribute those carryovers on the final day of the 2021 Big Fresno Fair meet if there are no winning tickets beforehand.
Public comments made during the meeting can be accessed through the meeting audio archive on the CHRB website

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