All-sources handle expected to be slightly less than last year

Del Mar is likely to finish its summer meeting on Sept. 8 with a decline in all-sources handle for the 31-day season compared to the summer of 2023, with a changed racing schedule and a new format in the pick six contributing to lower figures.

Track chief financial officer Mike Ernst said on Thursday that Del Mar is unlikely to match the all-sources handle of $529.1 million from last summer.

“We’re likely going to be down just slightly,” Ernst said.

The track opened its current meeting on Saturday, July 20 instead of on a Friday as was the case from 2020 to 2023. The opening day of the 2023 season had an all-sources handle of more than $21.7 million.

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To replace the day this year, Del Mar will race on Thursday, Sept. 5, which has a considerably lower projected handle. Del Mar and Kentucky Downs are the primary tracks operating in the nation that day, giving Del Mar a chance for a higher-than-normal weekday handle, though.

The track delayed its opening by one day this year to give the facility an additional day to transition from the San Diego county fair, which was held on racetrack property and ended on July 7.

“It was the right thing to do, but it kind of hurt the wagering numbers,” Ernst said of the missed Friday. “We just needed the track in condition.”

This summer, Del Mar reverted to a $1 pick six with a payout to tickets with six winners, or a carryover if there are not six winners, as well as a daily consolation payout. The track offered a $1 pick six under the same format at its fall meeting in 2023.

From the fall of 2016 through last summer, the track offered a 20-cent jackpot pick six. The jackpot format produced programs with massive handle on days with mandatory payouts, but was unpopular with some bettors because of a structure that devoted a portion of the net pool to a single ticket winner, or into a carryover until a single ticket winner occurred.

Last summer, Del Mar had mandatory payouts in the 20-cent jackpot pick six on four days of its 30-day meeting. Pools on those days ranged from $2.31 million on closing day to $3.9 million on the day of the Pacific Classic, the track’s leading annual race.

At the current meeting, pools for the pick six have ranged from $91,311 on Aug. 1 to $1.21 million on Thursday July 25, a day with a carryover of $144,919 from the preceding Sunday.

The only day with a mandatory payout in the pick six at the current meeting will be on closing day.

“With the move from the bonus jackpot to the traditional pick six, we expected a decline in handle,” Ernst said. “What we found moving back to the traditional pick six is the more experienced bettors like it.”

Ernst said two 50-cent bets – the late pick four and late pick five – have produced strong pools this year compared to 2023. Those bets overlap with pick six races, giving bettors who are eliminated from the pick six chances to use their selections in more affordable bets later in the program.

The track is running one more day this year than last year. In 2023, a Sunday program in August was lost to rain because of the remnants of a hurricane from the Pacific Ocean.

Through Thursday, fields have averaged 8.41 runners per race compared to 8.92 runners per race through the corresponding day last year. Average field sizes on turf are down from 9.56 runners in 2023 to 8.78 runners this year. On dirt, fields have averaged 8.08 runners this year compared to 8.41 last year.

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