Del Mar Summer Meet Ends With ZERO catastrophic injuries, Wagering Increases
 

My take is that the 2 year old two turn turf racing made a HUGE difference in the meet. 2 Year old two turn turf racing was rare in previous years and I have a feeling that the 2 year olds who raced on the turf will be sounder in the long run for running on one of the best turf courses in the Country. Great job by David Jerkens for carding those races. It was outstanding. I still think Del Mar needs to run more races out of the chute.

The biggest downside once again were the Stewards. They made one call on Saturday that was so bad it's hard to believe they made it. They left Mike Smith up even though he cut off a horse that only lost by a half length. Then yesterday they take a horse down in a HUGE field on the turf for minor bumping. And on top of that THEY TAKE FOREVER to make their calls. This is unacceptable and there has to be a change at the CHRB. The Track Executives and the TOC MUST step up.

9.1 horses per race was fantastic. I remember Del Mar hitting 8.8 a couple of times but this was beyond expectations. A great meeting from beginning to end.

As many have said, a dirt course can be as safe as a synthetic course.

I'm glad you led with the zero fatalities- California has done a great job of cutting horse deaths, something that really could have killed the sport here given the amount of support for animal rights.

And yes, field sizes were great, racing was competitive, and Flightline was awesome.

The only problem was attendance. A Del Mar summer meet with empty grandstands and infields is foreboding for the long-term interest in the sport in California.

It still would be nice if the CA tracks publicly reported their actual handle numbers, and didn't add in simucast dollars bet on other tracks both at the host track and simulcast outlets, thus double counting and inflating their numbers.

That on track attendance figure was surprising and encouraging.

Right. They should break it down. Handle on a tracks product is what's most important.

Handle is also a little misleading, especially the last several years. It's possible that handle is up and revenue is down depending on where the bets come from.

Not really. The increase is from a pandemic trough, plus they ran more dates this year (they reported total, not average per day!).

If you actually went to the track this season, it was pretty empty. Very sad for a place that thrives on a big crowd of young people enjoying the races in the sunshine.

I thought they ran 31 days last year also? I’ll have to double check.

You are right. They ended later this year, but also started later. Still, it was a pandemic trough.

No trough.

They averaged over 13,000 in 2019, the last non-pandemic year, and under 9,000 this year. Yes, they were up from the trough last year, but that's still a historically terrible number for Del Mar.

They aren't pushing attendance and there are no concerts. I don't know why but they seem to like a smaller crowd