The 36-day Del Mar summer meeting that starts Wednesday may be among the most important in the track’s history.

Amidst an opening day noted for its large and festive crowds and general revelry, Del Mar opens less than a month after the conclusion of a six-month Santa Anita meeting plagued by a series of equine fatalities that led to the cancellation of three weeks of racing in March, drew national news, and led to widespread concern over horse safety.

CYPRESS, Calif. – Handle for the nine-day Los Alamitos summer meeting compared favorably to a similar nine-day stretch from last year’s longer meeting, track vice-president Jack Liebau said Sunday.

Los Alamitos held nine days of racing from June 29 through Sunday, and Liebau said handle on those days improved by approximately 2 percent compared to similar days at the 2018 summer meeting. There were 11 complete days of racing at the 2018 meeting and one day with two races when the remainder of the program was canceled because of excessive heat.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Despite a slow opening day – due to a combination of an early opening and inclement weather – all-sources handle for the first four days of the 2019 Saratoga meet is up 2.5 percent compared to the first four days of the 2018 meeting. However, ontrack handle is down 17.9 percent compared to the first four days last year.

CYPRESS, Calif. – From the confusion and anguish of the Kentucky Derby aftermath on May 4, there was one emotion evident on the faces of owners Gary and Mary West after Game Winner’s win in the Grade 3 Los Alamitos Derby on Saturday.

Satisfaction.

Game Winner, the champion 2-year-old male of 2018, won the $150,000 Los Alamitos Derby in a performance that served as a trial for the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24.

“He seems to be back to his old self again,” Gary West said in the winner’s circle. “I think this will be a great prep race for him.”

For the second straight morning in Saratoga, more than 300 horses put in timed workouts over the three different tracks in Saratoga.

Among the bigger names to breeze were Mitole and Midnight Bisou, a duo that has combined to win their last 11 starts for trainer Steve Asmussen.

Mitole, the Grade 1 Metropolitan Handicap winner, worked five furlongs in 1:01.09 over the Oklahoma training track in preparation for a start in the Grade 1, $350,000 Alfred G. Vanderbilt on July 27.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. –  On to Chicago.

After winning his fourth straight Grade 1 Diana Stakes on Saturday with Sistercharlie, trainer Chad Brown will now set his sights on winning a fifth straight Beverly D. with the likes of Sistercharlie and Homerique headed to the Grade 1, $600,000 race at Arlington Park on Aug. 10.

Sistercharlie came off a 252-day layoff to win Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Diana for a second consecutive year. Sistercharlie beat Rushing Fall by 1 3/4 lengths, ran 1 1/8-miles in 1:47.34, and earned a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 105.

Cesar DeAlba, the retired Quarter Horse jockey turned Thoroughbred trainer, saddled his first winner with his fifth starter when Seven Oxen ($5.80) prevailed by two lengths in a $20,000 claimer for maidens at six furlongs at Los Alamitos on Saturday.

DeAlba retired from riding last December at Los Alamitos and had his first runner at Santa Anita in February. 

“It seems like it’s been a long six months,” De Alba said, reflecting on his career change.

United, a promising 4-year-old gelding trained by Richard Mandella, will have his first start of the Del Mar summer meeting in an allowance race with a $62,500 claiming option at 1 1/8 miles on turf in Wednesday’s second race.

United’s intended second start of the Del Mar summer meeting will be significantly more important. The optional claimer is designed as a prep race for the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap at 1 3/8 miles on turf on Aug. 17, a $250,000 race Mandella described on Sunday as “very possible.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Point of Honor completed final preparations for next week’s Grade 1 Coaching Club American Oaks by breezing an easy half-mile in 49.03 seconds over the Oklahoma training track on Saturday.

Point of Honor has not run since rallying to a half-length victory in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 17 at Pimlico. She has had five works, all over the training track, since her last start.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Mark Casse wants to run Preakness winner War of Will in the Jim Dandy. But he only wants to run him if War of Will concurs.

Early Saturday morning, War of Will gave his stamp of approval on Casse’s plan with a strong five-furlong workout in 1:00.43 under jockey Tyler Gaffalione over Saratoga main’s track. Afterward, Casse said War of Will’s next start will be the Grade 2, $600,000 Jim Dandy Stakes here on July 27, the local steppingstone to the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers on Aug. 24.