Del Mar's opening day sees dip in attendance
DEL MAR, Calif. – Thursday’s opening day of the Del Mar summer season had mixed business results, with attendance and ontrack handle lower than the corresponding day in 2014 but a gain in all-sources handle.
Opening day drew 40,304 spectators, a decline of 4.2 percent from the 2014 audience of 42,021. The opening-day attendance surpassed 40,000 for the 12th consecutive year.
“If you get over 40,000, I’m happy,” track president Joe Harper said after the races. “You’re a lot higher than most tracks. I’m happy with it.”
The audience for opening day, which skews younger than a typical racetrack crowd, focused as much on food, and especially on beverages, as it did on betting. The ontrack handle was $3,936,532, a decline of 7.1 percent compared with 2014.
All-sources handle, including simulcasting and account-wagering sources, was $15,211,558, a gain of 2.6 percent over 2014. The growth occurred in the account-wagering market, Harper said.
“The crowd on opening day is a different crowd,” he said. “They come here for the party and not the races. That’s what we had today.”
Del Mar has a 40-day season this summer through Sept. 7, over eight weekends, one more than the 2014 summer season. At last year’s summer meeting, attendance fell 6.3 percent, ontrack handle dropped 11.3 percent, and all-sources handle was down 7 percent.
Part of the losses was attributed by track officials to a rash of negative publicity because of a series of equine fatalities, several of which occurred on a newly installed turf course. Twice during the meeting, the track stopped racing on turf to allow for course maintenance.
With a longer meeting this year, track officials hope to reverse the declines of 2014. The track overpaid purses by approximately $1 million in 2014 and is hoping to erase most, if not all, of that deficit at this meeting.
“We’ve got an extra weekend, and that will help,” Harper said.
Thursday’s program was the first true test of the track’s new dirt track, which was installed this year, replacing a synthetic track. Harper said the new track was well received by jockeys and trainers whom he spoke with through the afternoon.
The 10-race program was conducted safely, without incident.
“Hopefully, we can continue that,” Harper said. “So far, so good.”