Del Mar purses hit record levels for 2022 summer meet

Strong handle last year has pushed purses to record levels at the 31-day summer meeting at Del Mar, which runs from July 22 to Sept. 11.

In a statement released Thursday, the track announced that daily purse distribution will surpass $800,000 for the first time, with increases to several stakes, overnight races and bonus programs designed to lure runners to Southern California.

The track’s full stakes schedule will be announced next week. Two Grade 1 races – the Bing Crosby Stakes for sprinters and Clement Hirsch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on dirt – will be run for $400,000, an increase of $100,000 from 2021. Five overnight stakes will be worth $100,000, an increase from $80,000 last year.

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Purses for stakes will total $8.28 million compared to $7.45 million last year, $7.3 million in 2019, and $5.25 million in pandemic-ravaged 2020. The richest race of the upcoming summer meeting will be the $1 million Pacific Classic on Sept. 3.

The eight-week meeting will be run largely on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis, with three-day opening and closing weeks, and a five-day week in early September to include racing on Labor Day.

The track’s ship and win program will offer a $5,000 starter bonus and a 50 percent purse bonus in overnight races on dirt to the owners of horses that have not run in California in the preceding 12 months and are not first-time starters. For turf races, there will be a $4,000 starter bonus and a 40 percent enhancement of purses earned in overnight races.

The bonuses will also be available to horses that make no more than two starts at Santa Anita in May or June.

The 12-year program is designed to increase the number of race-ready runners in California, a longstanding concern.

A 25 percent purse bonus will be paid to the owners of the winners of maiden special weight races and some maiden-claiming races, provided their trainer has fewer than 60 horses in training in Southern California. The program was offered last year in 2-year-old races and has been expanded this year to races for horses of all ages.

Maiden special weight races will be worth $80,000, an increase from $70,000 in 2020. In other divisions, purses for maiden $20,000 claiming races will rise from $25,000 to $30,000, while the purse for $32,000 claiming raises will rise from $45,000 to $51,000.