After a brief post-Los Alamitos respite, racing returns to Southern California on Saturday as The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s 2024 summer race meet gets underway for the 85th time. The San Diego-area track will operate on Saturday and Sunday for the first week of of the meeting and switch to a Thursday-through-Sunday lineup for the remainder of the season until the three-day closing weekend, September 5 through Sunday, September 8.
While the seaside oval doesn’t carry as lengthy a history and tradition of its sister summer track Saratoga in Saratoga Springs, NY, it does offer some of its own customs, including a rich stakes schedule and some of the sport’s top runners listed in the record books as previous winners.
Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. Benoit Photo.
Eleven races are on tap for Saturday’s opening day card
This year a total of 39 stakes worth $8.75 million are on tap over the 31-day season, led by the $1 million FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic (G1) on Saturday, August 31. The 1 1/4-mile fixture will be run for the 34th time and is one of the six Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” qualifying events held at Del Mar, this one guaranteeing the winner a spot in the gate for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic (G1) over this main track on November 2.
Eighteen of the stakes will be run on the grass with the other 21 on the main track. The turf course, which was expanded and totally replaced prior to the 2014 season, will be in full use all summer long while the main track was returned to dirt after an eight-year run with the synthetic Polytrack in 2015.
The other five races offered as “Win and You’re In” events this summer are the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes (G1), which guarantees admission to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint) on July 27; $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) on August 3 and assuring a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff); the $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2) on August 24 for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile; and the Green Flash Handicap (G3) at five furlongs on turf on Saturday for the $1million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint on August 31; and the he Del Mar Handicap (G2) for the Breeders’ Cup Turf, also on August 31.
As always, juveniles are a major part of the summer racing scene at Del Mar and several stakes for next year’s Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) hopefuls are on tap, the first being for California-breds, the CTBA Stakes on August 4 for girls and on August 9, the Graduation Stakes for boys. Fillies get their first chance in open company in the Sorrento Stakes (G3) on August 10, a prep for the September 7 Del Mar Debutante (G1), and the colts and geldings will get their chance in the Best Pal Stakes (G2) on August 11, which is a prep for the Del Mar Futurity (G1) on closing day on September 8.
Some amazing runners in history have brought home the win in the big Del Mar two-year-old races, including Triple Crown winner American Pharoah in 2014 and notable names Best Pal, Bertrando, Gato Del Sol, Silver Charm, Declan’s Moon and Nyquist. Hall of Fame Trainer Bob Baffert has won the Del Mar Futurity a whopping 17 times and is odds-on to have another talented runner this year attempt to give him his 18th.
Opening day offers a 11-race card with most drawing full fields, including the traditional feature, the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for sophomores and this year, because opening day falls on a Saturday for the first time since the 1950s, the one-mile San Clemente Stakes for sophomore fillies.
There is something for everyone at Del Mar this season whether playing live on-track or at home and betting online.
Familiar Wagering Menu
The full Del Mar wagering menu:
$2 win, place and show (all races)
$1 Exacta (all)
$2 Quinella (all);
50¢ Trifecta (all)
$2 Rolling Doubles (all except last)
50¢ Rolling Pick 3* (all except last two)
$1 Superfecta (10¢ minimum – all)
$1 Place Pick All (starts w/Race 1 or 2)
50¢ Super High 5 (last five)
20¢ Pick Six (last six)
50¢ Pick 4 (Races 2 thru 5 and last four)
$2 Win-Place-Show Parlay (all races but last)