By Bloodhorse.com
DEL MAR, Calif. (Sept. 24, 2014) — Del Mar was granted approval to conduct its first fall meet in more than 40 years by the California Horse Racing Board at the commission’s regular monthly meeting Sept. 23.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which is stepping in to help fill a void in the Southern California racing calendar due to the demise of Hollywood Park, was approved for a 15-day stand running Nov. 5-30. It will be the first autumn meet at the seaside track since 1967, which discontinued fall racing because of poor results. The meet was replaced two years later by the Oak Tree Racing Association at Santa Anita Park.
The CHRB’s unanimous license approval Wednesday morning at Los Alamitos Race Course was conditioned on completion of horsemen’s agreements with the Thoroughbred Owners of California and the California Thoroughbred Trainers and the assigning of several racing official positions.
With a “Bing Crosby” theme to differentiate from its popular summer meet, Del Mar marketing director Craig Dado told the board it would use a $1.7 million marketing budget to promote the new meet. “Old Hollywood” fun will be at the center of the campaign, he said.
“We’ve got Bing Crosby everywhere at Del Mar but we’ve never had the focus on him,” Dado said. “Now we’re going to move the spotlight right to Bing.” It will be a completely different marketing pull from its summer fun campaign for the regular meet, he said.
Del Mar is coming off a summer season with disappointing results. All-source handle slid 7.3% and attendance was off 6.3% amid serious concern with its new turf course, which contributed to 16 equine fatalities during the 36-day meet.
The grass course could again be a focal point as Del Mar picks up many of the stakes races conducted during Hollywood’s former Turf Festival.
The fall meet will also be the final one conducted on Polytrack at Del Mar. The track intends to replace it with a dirt track for the 2015 summer meet.
Fourteen stakes, nine of them graded, worth a combined $2.25 million, are on tap. Many of the races have been renamed to invoke memories of old Hollywood. The Hollywood Prevue (gr. III) becomes the Bob Hope Stakes, the Beverly Hills Handicap (gr. IIIT) returns as the Red Carpet Stakes, the Citation Handicap (gr. IIT) will be replaced by The Seabiscuit Handicap, the Miesque (gr. IIIT) is now the Jimmy Durante Stakes, and the Generous (gr. IIIT) is renamed for Cecil B. DeMille.
Other stakes—the Hollywood Turf Cup (gr. IIT), Native Diver Handicap (gr. III), Hollywood Derby (gr.IT), and Matriarch Stakes (gr. IT)—will have the same names.
“We’re doing everything we can but it’s not easy,” Dado said of the first year of rebranding a new meet.
Some of the other stakes races formerly conducted at Hollywood will be picked up by Los Alamitos during December.
Tom Robbins, executive vice president for racing and industry relations at Del Mar, said, “The goal was to reinstate all of the graded races that were run at Hollywood, which we did.”
The projected average daily purse level at Del Mar of $497,279 would match Santa Anita’s fall meet level, excluding the Breeders’ Cup, said Robbins. He added that there was considerable guesswork involved in determining the figure.
Recognizing the additional financial burden on racing operations to compete at Del Mar on a short-term basis, he said the track will provide an additional $100 participation bonus for every starter. The “Ship & Win” program, which in recent years has helped Del Mar achieve some of the best field sizes in the nation, also will be in effect.
“I think we’re all going to learn a lot after this meet,” Robbins said.
Joe Harper, Del Mar CEO, said he has had “nothing but positive” reaction locally to the new meet.
“The town is basically abuzz with the meet coming up,” he said.
The stand will operate four days each week on a Thursday-Sunday basis. First post will be at 12:30 p.m. on Thursdays and Friday, and noon on weekends. Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 27, will have an 11 a.m. first post.
Elsewhere, the board heard a report from Brad Cummings, president of EquiLottery, a new “quick pick” wagering concept that combines horse racing and the lottery by commingling some of the $2 bet with California’s pari-mutuel pool. After hearing the report, the board passed a motion in support of approving the concept and encouraged Cummings to move forward with it through the state lottery system.
A scheduled status update from the Los Angeles Turf Club on backside improvement plans at Santa Anita and the San Luis Rey Downs training center was postponed until the board’s next scheduled meeting Oct. 23 at Santa Anita.