Del Mar autumn stakes schedule keeps purses at 2019 levels

Del Mar will run 16 stakes during its autumn meeting, which runs from Oct. 31 to Nov. 29, and will offer two Grade 1 races on turf with purses higher than similar races at the track’s summer meeting, which ended on Monday.

Overall the stakes schedule and purses for the autumn meeting are virtually identical to the calendar from the 2019 season.

This year, the Hollywood Derby at 1 1/8 miles on Nov. 28 and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on Nov. 29 will be worth $300,000 each, the same value as in 2019. At this year’s summer meeting, the track reduced the purses of five of its six Grade 1 races from $300,000 to $250,000 because of budget concerns caused by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Grade 1 Pacific Classic, the track’s leading annual race, had its purse halved from $1 million to $500,000.

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In May, the American Graded Stakes Committee allowed tracks to reduce purses for Grade 1 races from a minimum of $300,000 to $250,000 because of the pandemic.

The Hollywood Derby and Matriarch Stakes are the richest races of the autumn meeting. The season will largely operate on a Friday-through-Sunday basis, compared to a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule on most weeks in 2019.

The highlight of the upcoming meeting will be a four-day racing week from Nov. 26-29 in conjunction with Thanksgiving week. There are seven stakes scheduled in those four days.

Two $150,000 races at seven furlongs for California-bred 2-year-olds have been added to the calendar – the Golden State Juvenile Fillies and Golden State Juvenile. They will be run on Nov. 6-7, days that Del Mar will offer simulcasting of the Breeders’ Cup races at Keeneland.

The Golden State races were run at Santa Anita last year, and have switched venues several times between the tracks in recent years.