These are heady days around the Del Mar Throughbred Club.
Not only will the seaside oval host the Breeders’ Cup in back-to-back years in 2024 and 2025, the track’s 10th fall meeting begins Friday.
The four-week meeting consists of three, three-day weekends and one four-day weekend starting with the traditional Thanksgiving program on Nov. 23. First post is 12:30 p.m. daily except on Thanksgiving, when the holiday program commences at 11 a.m.
Del Mar’s annual Turf Classic will be split over the final two weekends, culminating with two $300,000 Grade I races — the Hollywood Derby on Dec. 2 and the Matriarch Stakes on closing day (Dec. 3).
Del Mar has reduced the purses for its 15 stakes races a total of $400,000 from the 2022 season. The races will have total purses of $2.05 million.
“We reduced some purses for this meet to reflect what wagering will look like,” said Josh Rubinstein, Del Mar’s president and chief operating officer.
“There was a little softness in the summer meeting. Handle was still up over 20 percent since 2019. We gained significant additional customers during pandemic and set records in 2021 and 2022. With things returning to normal, we anticipated a softening in wagering.”
The fall meeting is different from Del Mar’s premier summer schedule. During the summer, up to 2,000 horses are housed at Del Mar. During the fall meeting, there are under 500 horses permanently housed at the track; the rest are shipped in for their races. Del Mar still averaged eight starters per race during the 2022 fall meeting, also known as the Bing Crosby Meeting.
Toward the end of the fall meeting, key runners from the east will fly in to run in races during the Turf Festival, which features nine stakes races — including eight graded stakes — over the final two weekends.
“The Turf Festival is the highlight of the fall season,” said Rubinstein. “It comes at a time when there is no more turf racing in the east.”
Also returning from the east is defending fall meeting jockey champion Flavien Prat, who has won a total of seven Del Mar jockey titles since 2016. Johnny Velasquez will also be riding at Del Mar this fall.
Juan Hernandez, who won Del Mar’s past two summer jockey titles leads the local colony, which includes Hall of Famer Mike Smith, Umberto Rispoli, Hector Berrios, Antonio Fresu and Kent Desormeaux. Abel Cedillo returns after missing most of the summer meeting with an injury.
Also returning to Del Mar is the traditional Pick Six betting feature. “Some of our patrons asked for the return to the classic Pick Six,” said Rubinstein. “The fall meeting is the perfect place to try it out.”
Racing secretary David Jerkens said Del Mar is also drawing interest in trainers and owners from Northern California, where Golden Gate Fields is scheduled to close before the end of the year.
Del Mar will also continue several marketing initiatives introduced during the summer meeting. “We saw an increase in attendance during the summer meeting,” Rubinstein said.
Friday’s eight-race program features the $75,000 Let It Ride Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on the turf.
