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Key Del Mar Names Reflect Upon 2021, Look Forward To 2022

The curtain comes down today on the Bing Crosby Season and, thereby, racing at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club in Del Mar, Calif., for 2021. An appropriate time, it would seem, for a few key figures to, upon request, provide thoughts and comments on the summer and fall meetings this year, reflect back on COVID-marked 2020 and ahead to 2022.

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper – “It has been a long couple years (2020-2021), but when all the dust settles, we've done terrific, and we've had a terrific year this year. I've learned not to count the people, just count the money on the tote board and there's your happy ending.”

Hall of Fame trainer Richard Mandella – “The summer for our stable was wonderful (three stakes wins highlighted by United in the Eddie Read). The fall? It was nice to be down here, but we're packing up and heading north tomorrow licking our wounds…

“It was a big difference this year to have people back in the stands. That's what we need more of in racing is people to be here and have some fun and excitement. During COVID, it was just ourselves and the horses. With nobody to brag to after you won a race, it got pretty dull.

“Thankfully, we had racing and I don't want to take away from how lucky we were to have racing. A lot of businesses just stopped and we got to go ahead and continue to make a living without major job losses. But last year compared to this? There's no comparison. We need the people here.”

Trainer Peter Miller – “The summer was great (winning the training title and five stakes). The fall has not been up to our standards, but we've closed out with two wins on Friday and the (Jimmy Durante) stakes yesterday.”

Earlier this summer, Miller announced he was stepping back from racing and turning day-to-day operations over assistant Ruben Alvarado starting with the end of the Bing Crosby Season.

“Tomorrow morning I'm going to sleep in, have breakfast with my two boys and take them to school,” Miller said. “To say that has not been routine to this point is a real understatement.”

Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert – “It was nice to be able to go to the track and have people there again. Clients love to win at Del Mar, and even when you lose, it doesn't feel as bad there. It's a fun atmosphere and they've done a good job of keeping it that way. ”

Baffert won four stakes in the summer, among them the Debutante and Futurity, and added four more during the Bing Crosby meeting – among them the Breeders' Cup Juvenile. It boosted his track record stakes victory total to 147.

“I have the sign that says record (victory) No. 75, seems like a long time ago,” Baffert said … “I'll have a lot of 2-year-olds again next summer…It's the best place to develop young horses.”

Trainer Bob Hess, Jr. – “Our summer meet started out pretty darn slow, but we finished with a flourish. The fall has been a bit slow but productive. We had a big winner (Saturday) in Miss Mattie B ($61.80), a 2-year-old filly we look forward to (campaigning) next year.

“For our barn and racing in general, I believe this Del Mar dirt surface is the safest in the country and it's even better in the fall than it is in the summer. That's why I personally like to have my horses down here in the fall. It doesn't make economic sense, but I think it makes a lot of horse sense.”

Trainer Phil D'Amato – “We've had a nice exciting year (26 wins overall, six stakes) and we're looking forward to 2022. I think it's only going to get better.”

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Record Handle For 38th Breeders’ Cup

Edited Press Release

Total all-sources common-pool handle for the two-day Breeders' Cup World Championships at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was $182,908,409, a new record for the two-day event.

The total represents a 4.7% increase over the prior record of $174,628,986 set when the event was held at Santa Anita Park in 2019 and a 14% increase from the total handle of $160,472,893 at the 2020 event held at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, KY.

Total common-pool handle on Saturday's 12-race Breeders' Cup card was a record $121,562,392. All sources common-pool handle on Breeders' Cup's 10-race Future Stars Friday card was $61,346,017, also a new record for a Breeders' Cup Friday. This is the fourth consecutive year that Breeders' Cup grouped all its juvenile races together on Friday.

“We had an extraordinary two days of racing showcasing the best Thoroughbreds from around the world and we want to thank our partners here at Del Mar, who did an amazing job, and the greater San Diego community, our gracious hosts this week,” said Breeders' Cup President and CEO Drew Fleming. “The Breeders' Cup is a truly global event with winners this weekend bred, raised and raced on three different continents.”

On-track handle for the two days was $19,032,307, while on-track attendance for the two days was 47,089. Due to precautions related to COVID-19, Breeders' Cup and Del Mar reduced ticket capacity for the 2021 event.

“Our team at Del Mar was thrilled to host this year's renewal of the Breeders' Cup,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar's President and Chief Operating Officer. “We want to extend our congratulations to all of this weekend's participants. They put on an amazing display of world-class competition.”

The Breeders Cup World Championships will return to Keeneland in 2022.

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‘Del Mar Was Del Mar Again’: Record Wagering, Return Of Fans Highlight Summer Season

Record wagering and highly competitive, quality racing highlighted Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's eight-week summer race meet which concluded its 31-day stand on Labor Day, Sept. 6, in Del Mar, Calif.

The 82nd summer season at the seaside oval welcomed back racing fans who participated enthusiastically to help set a Del Mar record for daily average wagering of $18.38 million, the highest in the track's long history. Top-of-the-line racing flowed daily with a highly competitive jockey colony and a deeply experienced training corps putting on a show each afternoon that was enhanced by some of the sweetest weather Del Mar has experienced in many seasons.

“Terrific, simply terrific,” said Del Mar CEO Joe Harper. “We had our fans come back this year and we put on a show of shows for them. The racing was first-rate, the wagering was over the moon and Del Mar was Del Mar again in all its glory. Special, very special.”

The handle numbers raced past an impressive 2020 racing season when “stuck at home” horse players went all out and set a record for daily average handle at $17.32 million. The total handle for the 2021 meet was $569.98 million for 31 days of racing. The 2020 total handle – for 27 days of racing – was $467.60 million.

Field size, often a key driver of wagering, improved as well. In 2020, the track had an exceptional 8.36 horses per race, one of the best marks in the country. In 2021 – running four more days this year than last (31 vs. 27) – that number rose to 8.45.

“Our horsemen and horsewomen were excellent in responding to the goals we set out to bolster our Southern California horse population,” said Del Mar executive vice president of racing Tom Robbins. “We substantially increased purses and incentive bonuses and they replied in fine fashion. When you realize that other meets across the country are struggling with horse population, we feel we're fortunate to receive the strong participation form owners and trainers coming. Our core racing product was excellent.”

The track's popular “Ship & Win” program in its 11th season offered its highest engagement bonus at $4,000 in addition to 50% and 40% purse supplements. It attracted 181 horses from across the country – as opposed to 104 in 2020 – with the majority of them owned and trained by Southern Californians.

Racing fans got to see some stellar performances by potential champions across the summer. Old pro United took down the Eddie Read Stakes; Shedaresthedevil sparkled in the Clement L. Hirsch; Princess Grace took the Yellow Ribbon handily; Astronaut, Mo Forza and Going Global bested their competition on the turf course. Tripoli rose to the top in the TVG Pacific Classic. Medina Spirit made his return to racing memorable. Flightline wowed the crowd on closing weekend. Grace Adler and Pinehurst proved to be juvenile stars.

“Another amazing summer in the books”, said Thoroughbred Owners of California, Gary Fenton. “A big thank you to DMTC. After months of planning and hard work they hit a grand slam for us and continue to provide our membership with an incredible racing experience.”

Del Mar will return to action on Wednesday, Nov. 3 for the start of its 15-day Bing Crosby Season which this year will feature the 38th running of the Breeders' Cup Championships on Friday, November 5 and Saturday, November 6.

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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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