All quiet on the Del Mar front these days, but the Bing Crosby Fall Season carries on at the track where the ‘Surf Meets the Turf.’
The Breeders’ Cup is long gone, the iconic track is now the mellow place it’s always been, and a three-day race weekend is set for Friday-Sunday featuring 2-year-olds.
Baoma Corp.’s Tenma and jockey Kazushi Kimura win the Grade I $300,000 FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante Saturday September 7, 2024 at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Del Mar, CA.
Benoit Photo
Two-year-olds grab the Del Mar spotlight this weekend
With the year coming to an end, now is a good time for those who bet horse racing to keep a lookout for potential rising stars as the 2025 roads to the Kentucky Derby (G1) and Kentucky Oaks (G1) move forward.
On Saturday, it’s the $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for 2-year-old fillies going 7 furlongs. On Sunday’s it’s the Bob Hope Stakes (G3) for 2-year-olds going 7 furlongs.
Entries come out in a few days, but (surprise, surprise!) Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert dominates the nominations lists. He trains six of the eight nominated for the Desi Arnaz, among them Silent Law (2-for-2), Del Mar Debutante (G1) winner Tenma, and debut winner Mawu, and three of the seven Bob Hope nominations – Emerald Bay, Kalea Bay, and unraced Madaket Road.
Baffert has won the Bob Hope seven the last nine years. Tim Yakteen will look to end Baffert’s current winning at three years when he sends out of McKinzie Road, scratched from the BC Juvenile (G1) in favor of the Bob Hope.
The Bing meet is in its 11th year after Del Mar absorbed the racing dates used at Hollywood Park, which closed the previous year. While there’s not much bang in the Bing compared to the summer season and Breeders’ Cup, there will be plenty of betting options with potential for some hefty payoffs.
The field sizes and the number of horses that will race at Del Mar are expected to remain among the best in the country.
“The numbers are where I thought they would be after two weeks of entries,” racing secretary David Jerkens said. “We knew it was not going to be ‘write a book and watch the races fill.’ We knew we were going to have to work at it and so far, it’s been pretty much what we expected.”
The ‘Bing’ meet continues through Dec. 1. Graded stakes on the schedule:
Next weekend (Nov. 22-24)
Nov. 23 — Native Diver (G3) for 3-year-olds and up
Nov. 24 — Red Carpet (G3) for 3-year-old fillies & mares on turf
Final weekend (Nov. 29-Dec. 1)
Nov. 29 — Hollywood Turf Cup (G2), for 3-year-olds and up
Nov. 30 — Jimmy Durante (G3) for 2-year-old fillies; Hollywood Derby (G1) for 3-year-olds; Seabiscuit (G2) for 3-year-olds and up on turf.
Dec. 1 – Cecil B. DeMille (G3) for 2-year-old fillies on turf; Matriarch (G1) for 3-year-old fillies & mares.