Del Mar decreases bonuses for summer shippers

A popular bonus system designed to lure horses from other states or countries to race at the Del Mar summer meeting will have smaller payoffs for some horses at the track’s forthcoming season from July 20 to Sept. 8.

Horses who have not raced in California in the last 12 months, and did not have their previous starts in California, will be eligible for a 40 percent bonus for purses earned in overnight races through the meeting. Horses that meet that criteria and start no more than twice at Santa Anita in May or June also are eligible.

First-time starters are excluded.

The 40 percent bonus is a decline from a 50 percent bonus for every dirt start at the 2021 through 2023 summer meetings, and equal to a 40 percent bonus paid for starts on turf in those seasons.

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The bonuses are paid to horses that finish first through fifth in overnight races. Stakes are excluded. Through the meeting, the bonuses are paid to the owner or ownership group that started the horse in its first start of the summer season. The clause is designed to award owners who brought a horse to California, even if the runner is claimed.

A guaranteed bonus of $4,000 will be paid to qualified runners in their first starts of the summer meeting, including stakes races. Last year, such a bonus was $5,000 for a first start on dirt, and $4,000 for a first start on turf.

In addition, Del Mar will provide a 20 percent bonus to horses that finish in the first five in unrestricted maiden races on dirt, and a 20 percent bonus to second- through fifth-place finishers in maiden races for California-breds on dirt.

The dirt race maiden bonus is available only to horses who are based with trainers with less than 85 horses based in Southern California.

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