All signs point to strong meeting

Southern California racing returns to Del Mar on Friday, and for fans that means the sun block and shorts from the summer are largely replaced with wind breakers and fleece pullovers.

The weather may be cooler than the summer meeting, and the crowds smaller, but the venue and many of the participants are largely the same.

Friday’s eight-race program begins at 12:30 p.m. Pacific.

This is the fifth year Del Mar has run an autumn meeting, and there are high expectations for the 16-day season, even though the Breeders’ Cup won’t be held at Del Mar like it was last year. The Breeders’ Cup returns to Del Mar in 2021.

Business-wise, Del Mar has been on an upward trajectory in the last year.

In the summer, Del Mar had an average daily all-sources handle of $13.44 million, a gain of 6.8 percent over the 2017 summer season. The 2017 autumn meeting had an average daily all-sources handle of $10.9 million (omitting the two Breeders’ Cup programs), a gain of 7.5 percent over the autumn of 2016.

“Last year, our fall meet was bolstered by having a Breeders’ Cup here,” track chief executive officer Joe Harper said. “When we took the BC figures out, it was a successful meet.”

While the ontrack experience at Del Mar is popular, Harper said the track’s simulcast and account-wagering business can thrive in the autumn with the largely reliable weather in Southern California.

“A lot of times we’re the big dog at the trough across the country, especially if the weather is bad back East,” he said. “We become more attractive to offtrack folks.”

Strong field size is important to the success of the meeting. The 2017 autumn meeting averaged 8.5 runners per race when the Breeders’ Cup races were omitted. Track officials hope to equal that figure this meet.

“I’m cautiously optimistic going into the fall,” racing secretary David Jerkens said. “We’ve set the bar high in the last few fall seasons. We’re hoping to match last year.”

This year, the autumn meeting runs through Dec. 2, with eight graded stakes on the final two weeks of the meeting. With many owners and trainers exposed to Del Mar for the first time in 2017, there is hope among track officials that horses based on other circuits will come for the meeting’s leading races.

“The fact that Breeders’ Cup was greeted so successfully by people that hadn’t been here before, I’m hoping we could see some of the East Coast horses,” Harper said.

The track is hosting 14 stakes, including nine graded stakes. There are two Grade 1 turf races worth $300,000 each on the final weekend – the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds on Dec. 1 and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares on Dec. 2.

Earlier this fall, Del Mar announced that overnight purses will rise by approximately 5 percent for the autumn meeting, with the bulk of the increase dedicated to races for lower-level claimers. Of the 26 categories of overnight races, the purse levels of 20 categories have been increased from $1,000 to $4,000 compared to purse levels at the 2017 autumn meeting.