Del Mar’s “Bing Crosby Season” got up and running last weekend and the
running was good. The seaside track’s new 15-day fall meet completed its first
week of action Sunday and the numbers, the racing and the general demeanor of
all on hand said something special appears to be going on.
Attendance numbers, when placed alongside the gate count from the
now-shuttered Hollywood Park during the same period last year, show a marked
jump on Del Mar’s end. The fan total after three days at the shore was 29,076,
as opposed to the L.A. track’s digits of 10,344. The daily average of 9,692 was
181 percent above Hollywood’s 3,448.
Handle numbers were robust also — across the board. On-track handle averaged
$1,249,348 per day, as opposed to Hollywood’s $834,298, an increase of 49.7
percent. California’s off-track wagering patrons (ITW and ADW customers)
averaged $4,040,916 (against $3,088,514), up 30.8 percent. Out-of-state betting
saw the average daily number at $5,002,388 (against $4,376,415), a rise of 14.3
percent.
Overall, Del Mar’s daily average handle registered in at $10,766,286, which
stacked up 23.2 percent higher than the Los Angeles track’s 2013 number of
$8,739,957.
There were nine races run on each of the first three days and, of the 27
total, 11 of them — or 40 percent — were run on the track’s expanded turf
course that was installed back in the spring. Trainers and jockeys responded
positively to the grass strip, running an average of 9.73 horses per race on it
during the extended weekend.
The praise for the new course, now fully settled and deep-rooted, was near
universal. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith went so far as the call it “brilliant;
one of the best courses I’ve ever ridden on.” Smith added that the lush course
all but took the sound out of the horses running over it. “Like riding with
earplugs,” he said.
Overall, including 16 races on the track’s Polytrack — which is in its final
meet before being replaced by dirt this coming winter — the per-race field size
was 8.59 horses, a very solid number in the currently national environment of
short fields and a general lack of horses. Six out-of-state horses took
advantage of the track’s ongoing “Ship and Win” program to race at the session
during the first three days.
“A very fine start to this new venture,” said track president and CEO Joe
Harper. “Anyone who came these first three days went away feeling like they’d
been part of a special thing; there’s just a good vibe about it all. The racing
was safe and first-rate and we really couldn’t be more pleased.”
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