Del Mar to start 31-day meet on July 18

Del Mar will launch its 31-day summer meeting on Friday, July 18, returning to a three-day opening weekend after starting the 2024 summer meeting on a Saturday.

The track announced its racing calendar on Thursday, but it has yet to publish other details of the popular meeting, such as a stakes schedule, which is typically released in early spring.

The upcoming meeting will run through Sept. 7 largely on a Thursday-through-Sunday basis, with racing on Labor Day (Monday, Sept. 5), according to the track’s website. The closing weekend will have three days of racing from Sept. 5-7, with no racing on Thursday that week.

Last September, racing was held on Thursday of the closing week. The 2025 summer meeting is identical to that of 2023.

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Del Mar opened on a Saturday in 2024 to allow additional time between the closure of the San Diego County Fair on July 7 and the start of the race meeting on the same property on July 20. The time between the end of the fair and start of racing allows for many facets of renovation, including providing time for track maintenance crews to better prepare the racing surface.

At the time, track officials acknowledged that by not opening on a Friday, Del Mar forfeited a day with exceptional handle. The opening day of the 2023 summer meeting on a Friday had an all-sources handle of $21.7 million.

The county fair runs from June 11 to July 6 this year. There were 13 days between the end of the fair and the start of racing last summer. This year, there will be 12.

Del Mar’s autumn meeting will run from Oct. 30 to Nov. 30 and will include the Breeders’ Cup races on Oct. 31 and Nov. 1.

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