Del Mar all-sources handle up 7 percent, could threaten record

DEL MAR, Calif. - All-sources handle at the current Del Mar summer meeting has shown an increase compared to the 2021 meeting and could threaten the all-time record set in 2005.

Through Saturday, the 14th day of the 31-day season, all-sources handle, including ontrack, simulcast and account wagering sources, was 7 percent higher than the corresponding day of the 2021 season, according to track chief financial officer Mike Ernst.

All-sources handle was more than $570.7 million at the 2021 summer meeting, the sixth-highest in history. The all-time record of more than $608.9 million was set in 2005.

“There’s a chance the total could start with a 6,” Ernest said of this year’s final figure.

The current meeting ends on Sept. 11 and has a slightly different format than in recent years, when the meeting ended on Labor Day. This year, there will be three days of racing after Labor Day weekend, from Sept. 9-11. This will be the first time racing has been held on the weekend after Labor Day since 2003.

Track officials expect massive handle on the Sept. 3 program, which includes five stakes. The leading race on Sept. 3 is the Pacific Classic, a $1 million race for older horses. Last year, the Pacific Classic program was held in August and had an all-sources handle of more than $36 million, the highest handle on a non-Breeders’ Cup day in track history.

Ernst said ontrack handle this summer has increased 12 percent, while account wagering is up 8 percent. Handle from out-of-state simulcast locations has increased 8 percent.

A significant rise in ontrack handle is not a surprise since Del Mar began its 2021 summer meeting with some crowd restrictions because of the pandemic.

Growth in field size has played a leading role in higher handle this summer. Through Saturday, field sizes have averaged 9.3 runners per race, compared to 8.64 runners through the 14th day of the 2021 meeting. Fields averaged 8.45 runners for the entire 2021 summer meeting. The 2020 summer meeting averaged 8.36 runners.

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Field sizes are typically strong in the final weeks of the meeting when owners and trainers seek additional starts for their horses, particularly on turf. After the summer meeting, racing shifts to Los Alamitos for a two-week meeting of dirt racing only. Turf racing will resume when Santa Anita begins its autumn meeting on Sept. 30.

Tom Robbins, the director of racing at Del Mar, said additional races may be carded in the final days of the meeting, if there is sufficient demand.

“The horsemen’s participation has been phenomenal,” he said.

Del Mar announced a purse increase for overnight races for the current meeting in the spring, and offers a longstanding prize money bonus for some horses that last raced outside of California. The bonuses have drawn some out-of-state stables, and in many cases has drawn scores of horses that ran in other states or countries.

Robbins hopes the increase in average field sizes will carry forward to the autumn meetings at Santa Anita and Del Mar.

“Some (stables) are staying and some of the horses are staying,” Robbins said. “We’re encouraged with the 2-year-old population. We think it’s a good thing. I think it will be good for Santa Anita.”

Ernst said racing for a weekend after Labor Day may not result in a decline in business at a time when summer vacation has ended for adults and children have returned to school.

Ernst said the development of account wagering in the last 20 years has evolved to the point that approximately 91 percent of handle is derived from offtrack sources.

“If this were the 1990s, we would be worried,” he said.