Horsemen looking for fresh start at Del Mar after Santa Anita crisis
DEL MAR – In the six years that David Jerkens has been the racing secretary for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, he hadn’t quite seen such a traffic jam of horses.
Not on the track, but at the entrance to stables on the backstretch as Del Mar officially opened for business late on Thursday night. By early Friday morning, the long-legged athletes were getting settled in, and they did their first true galloping Saturday morning on the dirt oval.
It was as if Southern California’s horsemen couldn’t wait to get to Del Mar and put the last few months and tumult of Santa Anita in the rear-view mirror.
“I honestly think a lot of people are anticipating Del Mar,” Jerkens said. “It’s stronger than I expected. They’re looking to hit the refresh button.”
A number of the top trainers have yet to take up their usual stall rows at Del Mar as they finish up the nine-day Los Alamitos thoroughbred meet this weekend. Under overcast skies early on Saturday, the workout schedule was light, and there were more horses walking alongside grooms for exercise than being led onto the track to run.
By Monday, the back side will be bustling in anticipation of Wednesday’s opening of the 80th summer meeting at Del Mar.
The beginning of the meet will be watched closely for safe racing after 30 horses died in racing or training in the most recent meeting at Santa Anita Park. The circumstance brought national attention to the safety and treatment of horses and resulted in a number of reforms for the California racing industry.
Del Mar was the safest major track in America in 2018, according to the Jockey Club Equine Injury Database, and that’s giving some trainers confidence that a repeat of Santa Anita’s difficulties won’t be repeated.
“Del Mar’s been very safe, knock on wood,” said Peter Miller, who doubled up by winning Del Mar’s summer and fall training titles in 2018. “Los Alamitos has been safe. This is not a California problem; it’s a Santa Anita problem. To lump the tracks together is unfair.”
Miller was among several top trainers who shipped their horses east when the troubles grew at Santa Anita, which had to cancel three weeks of racing. Miller said he sent 25 of his 75 horses to Kentucky, where purses have increased at a greater rate than in California.
“I have options, so at least I’m not completely screwed,” he said.
The shipping out of state of about 600 horses has caused some concern for Jerkens, who is charged with building the fields for every race run at Del Mar. Jerkens said that he expects to have the usual 1,850 horses housed at the track, but how many of them will be ready to run is the larger question.
Santa Anita was reduced to three days of racing by the end of its meet, and Los Alamitos had to cancel its scheduled racing on Thursdays due to a lack of available horses. Del Mar plans to stay at five racing days a week, Wednesday through Sunday, though there will fewer races and likely smaller fields.
Jerkens said Del Mar has lost a couple of out-of-state trainers from last season, noting that Tom Proctor and Ian Wilkes have chosen not to participate this summer. Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Holldendorfer isn’t expected to be afforded spaces, though his assistant, Dan Ward Jr. has acquired a trainer’s license and applied for stall space.
Trainer Mike Pender will not be allowed to run at Del Mar after he was suspended in June for 30 days by the California Horse Racing Board after it determined that Pender knowingly worked out a horse who was injured.
Combined, Hollendorfer, Proctor and Pender produced 131 starts at Del Mar last summer, which highlights the challenges faced by Jerkens in assembling quality fields.
“I hate to use a cliche, but I’m taking it one day at a time,” Jerkens said.