Approximately 230 horses from the San Luis Rey Downs training center in northern San Diego County were temporarily relocated to Del Mar early Tuesday after evacuation orders were issued due to a wildfire in Bonsall, Calif. The evacuation orders were lifted later on Tuesday, and horses were beginning to leave Del Mar to return to San Luis Rey Downs on Wednesday, according to Tom Robbins, Del Mar's executive vice president of racing. The fire burned 85 acres near the training center, according to media reports. San Luis Rey Downs is owned by 1/ST Racing, which also owns Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Officials were fast to react to the northern San Diego County fire this week. A larger and more devastating fire struck the same area in December 2017, killing 46 horses and causing extensive damage to San Luis Rey Downs. The training center was closed for several months while undergoing construction, leaving horses based that winter at Del Mar. :: Playing Santa Anita? Get the most trusted data and information in horse racing! DRF Past Performances, Picks, and Clocker Reports available now. Peter Miller, one of several trainers with a year-round base at San Luis Rey Downs, said 50 of his horses were briefly relocated. “It was just a one-night situation, and I think it was out of an abundance of caution,” Miller said. “It was very understandable. Santa Anita was excellent in their quickness to act on this situation. They were on top of it. They were quick to line up the vans.” Robbins was swift to praise several vanning companies for their efforts in rapidly moving horses away from San Luis Rey Downs. “It was very well organized,” he said. Del Mar had contingency plans to open its tracks, which are typically not in operation during winter, for training if the San Luis Rey Downs-based horses needed exercise. Del Mar will not resume racing until July and will open for training in the days before that race meeting. Trainer Richard Baltas said late Wednesday morning that his runners based at San Luis Rey Downs “were on their way back” to the training center. “Everybody agreed it was better to be safer than sorry,” Baltas said. “It was precautionary and I think it all worked fine.” Santa Anita did not race on the weekend of Jan. 10-12 and canceled training for several days because of the massive wildfires that struck Los Angeles County, causing widespread damage to thousands of homes and businesses. One of the fires, in the Altadena-Pasadena area, was visible from the track. Santa Anita added makeup days on Jan. 16 and Thursday of this week. The track will conduct racing from Thursday through Sunday this weekend. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.