Del Mar shifts to 2 p.m. start time

Racing will begin at 2 p.m. Pacific on most days of the Del Mar summer meeting later this year, the track announced on Wednesday.

The decision ends a decades-long tradition of starting Friday programs at 3:30 p.m. or 4 p.m. The late afternoon Friday programs accommodated post-race concerts, which were discontinued several years ago, and allowed people to attend races into the early evening.

This year’s summer meeting runs from July 17 to Sept. 7. The final three days of the season, Sept. 5-7, will begin at 1:30 p.m. Pacific to allow sufficient time to complete the programs before sunset.

Del Mar had 2 p.m. first-post times on most racing days during the pandemic in 2020, when the general pubic was excluded from attending. The track returned to starting programs at 4 p.m. on Fridays in the summer of 2021.

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