Del Mar Announces Stakes Schedule

Nineteen of the stakes will be run on the grass with the other 22 on the main track. The turf course was expanded and totally replaced prior to the 2014 season, while the main track was returned to dirt (after an eight-year run with the synthetic Polytrack) in 2015. 

 

“For the most part, this is the traditional Del Mar stakes schedule that’s been a popular presentation for us for the last decade,” said the track’s racing secretary, David Jerkens. “Our horsemen know it and like it; our fans do, too. It’s a case of a perfect racetrack axiom: you stick with a winner.”

 

The track’s executive vice president for racing, Tom Robbins, found additional reasons to hail the rich stakes schedule.   

 

“We’ve got the only $1-million race in the west for older horses in the TVG Pacific Classic,” he said. “We’ve got a race that’s showcased the Kentucky Derby winner in three of the last four years in the Del Mar Futurity. And we’ve got a series of races in all our categories that flow beautifully during our meet and then project forward to the Breeders’ Cup championship events, which, of course, we have right here this year.”

 

As in previous summer seasons, five of Del Mar’s key stakes have been scheduled as Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races, meaning a victory in any of them will guarantee the winning horse an entry – with all fees paid – in a corresponding Breeders’ Cup divisional race, along with a travel bonus if the horse is based outside California. One of the “Win and You’re In” races is the TVG Pacific Classic, which guarantees admission to the $6 million Breeders’ Cup Classic. Besides the $600,000 winner’s share of the purse, the victorious TVG Pacific Classic horse also has his or her pre-entry and entry fees to the BC Classic covered – a savings of $150,000 – as well as a travel bonus – either $10,000 (national) or $40,000 (international) – granted to a Breeders’ Cup horse (coming from outside California) for the capstone event of the Breeders’ Cup programs.

 

Besides the TVG Pacific Classic, Del Mar’s other stakes with direct Breeders’ Cup ties are the $300,000, Grade I Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday, July 29 (guaranteeing admission to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint); $300,000, Grade I Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Sunday, July 30 (BC Distaff); the Del Mar Handicap (BC Turf), and the Grade II, $200,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes for 3-year-olds and up at seven furlongs on Saturday, August 26 (BC Dirt Mile).

 

Del Mar will present its two championship races for 2-year-old on its Labor Day weekend. The pair of Grade I headliners – the Del Mar Debutante for fillies on Saturday, September 2 and the Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Monday, September 4 – are run at seven furlongs and carry purses of $300,000.

 

Del Mar has returned to its traditional Wednesday opening this year and will race five-days-per-week (Wednesday through Sunday) for the entire summer, finishing with a six-day week concluding on the Labor Day Monday holiday. Post time throughout the session will be the normal 2 p.m. with the exception of Fridays (“Four O’Clock Fridays”) when the first race goes off at 4 p.m. for the first five of those days, then at 3:30 p.m. for the last two (August 25 and September 1).

 

The complete list of stakes follows: