Del Mar opener attracts more than 42,000

DEL MAR, Calif. – Thursday’s opening day at Del Mar drew an ontrack crowd of 42,021, a decline of 2.3 percent over the 43,030 that attended the 2013 opening day.

It was the second consecutive year of decline, the first time that has occurred since 1995 and 1996, but the 10th consecutive year of an opening-day crowd of greater than 40,000. The 2012 opening day attracted an all-time record of 47,339.

Thursday’s all-sources handle of $14,858,277, including simulcasting and internet wagering, increased 1.1 percent over the $14,682,671 wagered in 2013. The ontrack handle of $4,237,043 was down 3.6 percent from the 2013 figure of $4,395,594.

The 2013 opening day and Thursday’s card had 10-race programs. Last year, opening day was on a Wednesday. This year, the track pushed opening day back to Thursday to give maintenance crews and employees an additional day to prepare for the meet following the conclusion of the San Diego County Fair on July 6.

Track president Joe Harper said that a decline in attendance was not a surprise, with the track limiting access to some areas to avoid overcrowding. Shifting opening day from Wednesday to Thursday was not a factor, he said.

“Opening day is opening day,” he said. “People took off Thursday instead of Wednesday.”

Harper also said that security had been increased throughout the facility.

“The security has been doubled,” he said. “If you don’t have a ticket, you weren’t getting in.”

Getting around the racetrack was not easy on Thursday. There were considerable lines at betting windows, bars, food stands and bathrooms throughout the track.

For the entire 2013 meeting, the ontrack audience averaged 17,656 for 37 days, virtually equal to the average crowd of 17,623 at the 2012 season.

Thursday’s program was not without incident.

After the start of the eighth race, the Oceanside Stakes on turf, a steel support bar that connects the gate to the tractor snapped, Harper said. The gate crew and ground staff pushed the gate off the turf course and onto the main track before the runners returned to the start point near the eighth pole.

When the Oceanside field hit the stretch, the grounds crew was still working on the outside of the turf course, picking up the last of the plywood sheets that protects the turf course from the wheels of the starting gate.

“There are some powerful guys there,” Harper said of the gate crew. “Usually you have a back-up tractor or a back-up chain, but a big steel tongue snapping is not what you would expect. It could have been a lot worse, but it wasn’t.”