Del Mar set to begin autumn meet

Del Mar begins a 13-day autumn meeting on Friday with a three-day weekend that includes three stakes. The season runs through Dec. 3.

Friday’s program is led by the $75,000 Let It Ride Stakes, a restricted race for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf. The $75,000 Kathryn Crosby Stakes, a restricted race for fillies and mares at a mile on turf, is the main race on Saturday. Sunday’s feature is the $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes for statebred fillies and mares at seven furlongs.

There are two Grade 1 turf races worth $300,000 on the closing weekend – the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at 1 1/8 miles on Dec. 2, and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on Dec. 3.

Golden Gate schedule change

Golden Gate Fields has changed its racing schedule beginning next weekend, eliminating Monday racing and returning to a Friday-through-Sunday schedule, the track announced earlier this week.

The track operated on a Saturday-through-Monday basis for its brief late summer meeting earlier this year, and had that schedule for the start of its current autumn meeting that began on Oct. 21.

Golden Gate Fields is running on a Friday-through-Sunday schedule this week to align with simulcasts of Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Friday and Saturday.

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