Del Mar planning to allow fans for 2021 meet

Del Mar is planning on allowing fans, at a capacity still to be determined, when its summer meeting opens on July 16, the track said in a release on Tuesday.

Citing encouraging trends in public-health data, including vaccination rates, and a statewide edict that on April 1 will allow for outdoor sports venues to have fans in some capacity – coinciding with the opening of baseball season – the expectation is that fans will be allowed at Del Mar after being barred from the facility last summer and fall owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We will continue to follow the guidance of local health officials and our medical advisors, but based on what’s been announced for other local attractions such as the San Diego Padres and SeaWorld, we are optimistic we will have fans in the stands this summer at some level,” Josh Rubinstein, the track’s president and chief operating officer, said in the release. “We have the advantages of a 350-acre site and a facility that can host people quite comfortably with appropriate social distancing as needed.”

A 31-day season is planned for this summer, with racing Friday through Sunday the the first two weeks and then a four-day schedule – Thursdays through Sundays – the balance of the summer, plus the traditional closing day on Labor Day, which this year falls on Sept. 6.

Further improvement through the summer and into the fall will be paramount regarding potential capacity for this year’s Breeders’ Cup, to be held for the second time at Del Mar after a much-praised 2017 edition. This year’s Breeders’ Cup is scheduled for Nov. 5-6.

Del Mar is located in San Diego County, and thus is subject to health advisories from that county.

Santa Anita, which is in Los Angeles County, has yet to announce the resumption of having fans in the stands, but it is anticipated that there will be some update regarding that situation in time for the Santa Anita Derby, to be held on April 3. Fans have been barred from Santa Anita since last May.