Live Thoroughbred racing returns to Southern California on Friday as The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s 2025 summer race meet is set to get underway for the 86th time. Opening day offers a 10-race card with a whopping 110 horses entered, including in the feature, the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for sophomores. The traditional first-day test attracted 10 who will race the one-mile over the turf.
Initially, the San Diego-area track will operate on a Friday-through-Sunday schedule for the first week of the 31-day meeting and switch to a Thursday-through-Sunday lineup for the remainder of the season until the three-day closing weekend, Friday, September 5 through Sunday, September 7.
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.
With the retirement announcement from longtime racecaller Trevor Denman this spring comes a new era where the turf meets the surf. A name familiar to racing fans as the voice of the Breeders’ Cup and Triple Crown races – Larry Collmus -- will be behind the mic to bring extra life to the races every day.
And again this year, the Del Mar Summer Meet will provide a glimpse into the year-end Breeders' Cup World Championships, set to be held for the second consecutive year this year at the seaside oval on November 1 and 2.
And this year, Del Mar has implemented across-the-board increases in overnight purses from top allowance offerings all the way down to the maiden-claiming ranks.
Overall, an estimated 300 races with guaranteed overnight purses worth $15.7 million will be contested, which represents an 8% jump from the 2024 summer season. Additionally, 38 stakes races valued at $7,825,000 will be on offer, the centerpiece again being the $1 million Pacific Classic -- a Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” event for the BC Classic -- set for Saturday, August 30.
The famed Jimmy Durante Turf Course 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. Half of the stakes will be run on the grass with the other half on the main track.
The other five races offered as “Win and You’re In” Breeders’ Cup events this summer are the $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes (GI), which guarantees admission to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint); on Saturday, July 26; the $300,000 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes (G1) assuring a spot in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff) on Saturday, August 2; the $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes (G2) on August 23 for the Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile; the Del Mar Handicap (G2) for the Breeders’ Cup Turf and the Green Flash Handicap (G3) at five furlongs for the $1 million Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint, both on the Pacific Classic undercard on Saturday, August 30.
And this year both open and Cal-Bred maidens will run for purses of $100,000, and the Maiden Dirt Bonus that provides a 25% increase to non-winners races at the $62,500 level and above which means that trainers with fewer than 100 horses on the Southern California circuit will be competing in straight maiden affairs for more than six-figure prizes for their horses.
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 on August 3 in the CTBA Stakes for girls and on August 8 in the Graduation Stakes for boys.
Colts and geldings will get their graded stakes chance in the Best Pal Stakes (G2) on August 9, which is a prep for the Del Mar Futurity (G1) on closing day Monday, September 7. Fillies get their first chance in open graded company in the Sorrento Stakes (G3) on August 10, a prep for the September 6 Del Mar Debutante (G1).
Some amazing runners in history have brought home the win in the big Del Mar 2-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 18 times, including the last four years, and is odds-on to have at least one talented runner this year attempt to give him his 19th.
Once again, bettors can take advantage of traditional Win/Place/Show wagers and five different multi-race exotic offerings -- Early Pick Four, the Late Pick Four, the early Pick Five, the late Pick Five and the Pick Six.
This year there will be a trio of new options on the betting menu:
The $1 Pick 6, a huge fan favorite, is back with its traditional arrangement of 80/20, meaning the majority of the pool goes to those tabbing six winners and the lesser percentage to those with five. If nobody manages to pick six winners on a card, the 80% pool goes to a carryover for the next day of racing.
The full Del Mar wagering menu:
$2 win, place and show (all races)
$1 Exacta (all)
$2 Quinella (all)
$2 Rolling Doubles (all except last)
$1 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)
50¢ Players’ Pick 5 (first five and last five)
50¢ Pick 4 (Races 2 thru 5 and last four)
$2 Win-Place-Show Parlay (all races but last)
Post time every day is 2:00 p.m. PDT.
The writing team at US Racing is comprised of both full-time and part-time contributors with expertise in various aspects of the Sport of Kings.
