Del Mar lifts the curtain on its 82nd summer season Friday with a 10-race program that attracted 114 entrants, which includes eight also-eligibles. While last year’s meet was closed to fans due to COVID, this summer’s 31-day stand is open at 100 per cent capacity in all seated areas. Opening day is already a sellout with a crowd of approximately 16,000 expected.
“Real live people, that’s terrific,” Del Mar CEO Joe Harper. “I spent a lot of time walking around talking to myself last year.
“It’s just great. Having people around is what Del Mar is all about. It’s not your average racetrack It’s a party, concerts and all the things that make people happy,” Harper continued. “It was kind of sad out here last year when your handle is US$200,000 on track and $25 million off track. That was kind of a fun day, but it was just weird.”
Highlighting Friday’s card is the $100,000 Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds going one mile on the Jimmy Durante turf course. It drew a full field of 14.
Among the entrants are Pat Day Mile runner-up Dream Shake for Peter Eurton, multiple stakes-winner None Above the Law for Peter Miller, Petruchio, who exits a runner-up in the Singletary Stakes at Santa Anita for Richard Mandella. Also Doug O'Neill's Hockey Dad, who was last seen finishing eighth in April’s Lexington Stakes (G2), and recent Desert Code winner Whatmakessammyrun for Mark Glatt.
Del Mar’s summer season will be buoyed by the addition of strings coming west for the likes of Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse and Mike Maker. Casse has not had a full-time presence at Del Mar since the synthetic track era ended in 2014.
For the opening-day card, South Florida-based Jeff Engler has two horses entered, including Fighting Force in the Oceanside, and Todd Fincher ventures from the Texas-New Mexico circuit to enter one starter.
Miller will look to add a fifth Del Mar summer trainer’s title after besting Phil D’Amato last season. Bob Baffert, who has been suspended from entering horses at tracks in Kentucky in New York, will participate. He has four horses entered Friday including maiden winner Brutto in the Oceanside.
As far as the jockey’s race, Flavien Prat and Umberto Rispoli will do battle once again after Prat edged Rispoli by a single win last summer 50-49. A new face in the Del Mar jockeys’ room this summer will be Joe Bravo, who switches coasts after previously riding at Monmouth Park in the summer.
Also back at Del Mar this summer is longtime track announcer Trevor Denman, who skipped last year because of COVID-19.
