Del Mar Thoroughbred Club looking at five racing days a week starting July 2...
The vice president/racing for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club is looking for more than a few good horses for this summer's annual race meet. His job: Fill seven, five-day race weeks beginning July 20.
It might not sound like a big deal, but considering the Southern California racing circuit has raced five days in a week only four times in the first five months of 2011, it becomes a very tall order.
"We're working hard at recruiting horses," track president Craig Fravel said Friday. "We're going to give it our best effort.
"There always has been a surge in the (horse) inventory in the summer months. We do have some stables that ship in here that don't stay all year round. We hope those kinds of trends continue."
Robbins spent part of last week in Northern California trying to convince trainers and owners to come to Del Mar.
"We hope to match last year in the number of races," Robbins said
Fravel said Del Mar projects its overnight purse distribution to be $545,541 this season, the highest the track has seen since distributing $580,063 in 2005, when the track raced six days per week. The 2011 projection is $50,000 more than last season's $495,084 figure.
That's "a good reason for horses to come to Del Mar," Fravel said.
Robbins said he will examine the condition book, looking for different races to write so owners and trainers will want to run their horses.
He said Del Mar will keep lower maiden claiming races ($20,000) and $8,000 claiming races for winners in the book, just like the rest of the circuit has adopted. He also said Del Mar will consider running more races on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, including maiden claiming races, something Santa Anita did near the end of its meet.
