Few changes to Del Mar's summer stakes schedule

Del Mar has made only minor revisions to its 39-race stakes schedule for the 31-day summer meeting, which runs from July 21 to Sept. 10, the track announced on Thursday.

The stakes program will be worth $8,275,000, the same as 2022 and well above the $7.45 million offered in stakes in 2021.

“We didn’t feel the need to shift anything, given the success of last year,” racing secretary David Jerkens said earlier this week.

All-sources handle rose 1.5 percent last summer compared to the 2021 summer meeting. Earlier this month, Del Mar announced that purses for maiden races and some allowance races will be higher this summer than last year.

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The richest race of the forthcoming season remains the Grade 1 Pacific Classic, a $1 million race that will be run on Sept. 2, the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. Four other graded stakes are scheduled for that program.

The track will run five other Grade 1 races through the eight-week season. Six stakes are part of the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program, offering free berths to Breeders’ Cup races at Santa Anita on Nov. 3-4.

The winner of the Pacific Classic receives a berth to the BC Classic. Flightline won both races in 2022 as part of an unbeaten Horse of the Year campaign.

The Rancho Bernardo Stakes for fillies and mares on Aug. 27 will be worth $100,000, $25,000 less than last year. The Torrey Pines Stakes for 3-year-old fillies on Sept. 2 will be worth $150,000, an increase of $25,000.

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