Del Mar meet opens with small fields, lower handle and attendance

DEL MAR, Calif. – California’s most popular racetrack is struggling to attract horses.

Del Mar, which has the highest all-sources handle in the state at its summer meeting, has carded eight races for Sunday, the final day of the first week of the autumn meeting.

The track scheduled nine races for Sunday but will have a shorter program after lower-than-expected support when entries were taken on Thursday. Sunday’s program will have a maximum of 57 runners, with two fields of six and three fields of seven. No race has more than eight entrants.

Track officials are hopeful that entries for the second week of the five-week meeting, beginning Thursday, will have stronger support, particularly from trainers who spent this weekend at the Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland in Kentucky.

“I think we need to wait until the Breeders’ Cup is over and everyone is back in the fold,” track president Joe Harper said. “I don’t know whether that hurts. There could be some downside with all the jockeys and trainers in Kentucky.”

Last year, the autumn meeting began the week after the Breeders’ Cup races were held at Santa Anita. This year’s autumn meeting has 20 days of racing, five more than the inaugural autumn meeting in 2014.

Del Mar ran eight races on Thursday’s opening-day program and had nine races booked on Friday and Saturday. Thursday’s program had 63 runners in eight races, including two five-horse fields. Entries for Sunday were scheduled to be drawn on Wednesday but were postponed one day.

“It’s kind of an odd week, and the entries were a little disappointing,” said racing secretary David Jerkens. “We think we’ll pick up as we get into Week 2.”

The 2014 autumn meeting had an average of 8.35 runners per race. The summer meeting this year had 8.79 runners per race.

Thursday’s eight-race program had attendance and handle figures lower than opening day of the 2014 autumn meeting, which was held on a Friday. Thursday’s ontrack crowd was 6,144, down 47 percent from 11,513 last year. The all-sources handle, including simulcast and account-wagering services, was $5,564,963, down 35 percent from $8,560,127 in 2014.

“It’s the attendance we figured,” Harper said. “I thought we’d do less than 7,000. It’s a Thursday and not a Friday.”

Track officials were expecting strong business on Friday and Saturday for the Breeders’ Cup simulcasts from Keeneland to help recover those losses.

Thursday’s program was the first racing card in California after the AmTote betting machines were installed earlier this year, replacing the long-standing Sportech system. There were hiccups with the new system, notably wrong payoffs listed on the tote board briefly after the fifth race, and minor delays in cashing winning tickets.

All racetracks and satellite betting locations in California have the new machines.

“Technically, it went very smoothly,” Harper said. “When you open with a new system, you’ll have problems. People need time to get used to the new machines. I was happy. It worked.”