Del Mar Racetrack is Back this Summer in True San Diego Style

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club projected its most lucrative racing season ever last summer, then backed it up with a record-breaking meet that saw purse levels total above $25 million for the session resulting in an unprecedented average purse payout of more than $800,000 per day. Those numbers, the highest in California racing history, are in the track’s sites once again with the aim, amazingly enough, to go even bigger and better for this year’s 31-day stand, which will be the iconic track’s 84th season.

As it did in 2022, the seaside oval will present 39 major stakes, six of which are designated as Breeders’ Cup Challenges races, offering a total of $8,275,000 during its eight-week summer run. It also will continue its highly successful “Ship & Win” program to attract more horses to come and take part in the summer festivities and continue with its well-received Maiden Dirt Bonus plan, which was fully implemented last summer.

Del Mar’s summer meet set records in 2022 with more than $18.7 million in daily average handle and a robust 9.1 average field size, ranking it high up among the nation’s elite racing programs. Working with its partners at the Thoroughbred Owners of California, the picturesque racetrack just north of San Diego now plans to take it up yet another notch starting when the first fields break from the gates on Friday, July 21.

“We were absolutely thrilled by the huge response last year from our horsemen and horsewomen and our fans,” said Del Mar’s executive vice president and director of racing Tom Robbins. “The racing throughout the summer was extremely safe and first-rate. Obviously, 2022 set a very high bar on all levels; we’re excited for the challenge of continuing these very strong trends.”

The track’s popular and lucrative “Ship & Win” incentive program will be in its 13th year and again provides owners and trainers of qualified runners with $5,000 starter bonuses and 50% purse supplements for dirt runners, as well as $4,000 bonuses and 40% supplements to grass starters.

Further still, Del Mar’s Maiden Dirt Bonus plan, which expanded in 2022 to include allaged maidens at the higher end of the scale, will lure runners to take part in the track’s best non-winners races with sizeable purses of up to $102,500 per event for eligible participants. Additionally, Del Mar will be offering record levels for maiden special weight races (MSW) at the track this year of $82,000 each, the highest MSW purses in California history.

The place “where the turf meets the surf” will open its season with a three-day weekend (Friday, July 21, 22 and 23), then have five four-day weeks (Thursday through Sunday), a five-day week (including Labor Day Monday, September 4), then finish with a Friday-through-Sunday weekend (September 8, 9 and 10).

When Aimee Fuller attended her first “opening day” at Del Mar, she had no idea that she would go from reporting on the event to “hatting” hundreds of attendees every year and performing its traditional “Sing with Bing” during the season.

Fuller, who arrived in San Diego in 2004 after accepting an offer as a morning news anchor for a local TV affiliate, has had an accessories line for 20 years, and her signature now runs deep within Southern California and its well-heeled ladies who flock to her online website, pop-up shops, and private events. She found adding the artistry of millinery to her line was a natural progression, living in the Del Mar area. In addition to the locals, thousands of Kentucky Derby attendees from all over the world have discovered her unique, feminine look and can be spotted on telecasts and nationwide publications as the camera catches the sights and sounds from Churchill Downs. Fuller is always delighted and amused to see which of her pieces make the “most beautiful” and “most outrageous” lists.

“Any milliner will tell you that Kentucky Derby season is like no other. For us, it is really all year long, as we have already posted hats for next year. It’s the 150th anniversary of the derby in 2024, so it should be quite the spectacle. I am looking for at least two extra seamstresses to add to our team, as we had to cut off orders a few weeks before the derby.”

Fuller also is called upon to style ladies for other worldwide races including Royal Ascot, Melbourne Cup, and the Dubai World Cup. “I would say half of our sales are international. I get orders from the UK almost every day, and many are for racing season, weddings, and other special events. It’s a treat and an honor to be a part of these occasions that are so sentimental, and that will be a precious memory for the rest of our clients’ lives.”