Del Mar to offer financial incentives for former Northern California horses
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Del Mar will offer financial incentives to the owners of horses formerly based in Northern California during its summer meeting from July 18 to Sept. 7.
According to terms issued by Del Mar officials, horses based in Northern California as of Dec. 1, 2024, who are still trained by people that were based in that part of the state, will receive $500 for their first starts at the summer meeting, and will earn a 15 percent bonus of prize money earned for first through fifth-place finishes in overnight purses throughout the summer meeting.
Bonuses will not be paid to such runners who earn prize money in stakes.
There has been no racing in Northern California since mid-December in Pleasanton and no race meetings are scheduled in that part of the state. A proposal for a three-weekend meeting at the Humboldt county fair in Ferndale in late summer was rejected by the California Horse Racing Board on Thursday. No other fairs have requested racing dates.
Del Mar has a longstanding policy of paying bonuses to horses that have been brought to the state to race from other states or countries to boost field sizes. That program will continue this summer.
The incentive program for runners formerly based in Northern California is designed to lure horses and stables to Del Mar from that part of the state. Since racing ceased at Pleasanton last December, some stables from that part of the state have moved to Southern California, while others have moved to states such as Washington.
Del Mar received regulatory approval for its 31-day summer meeting at the racing board’s meeting on Thursday.
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