Del Mar will offer the richest and most expansive stakes schedule in its
66-year history when racing returns to the popular seashore oval on July 20.
The stakes program, which consists of 29 major events worth a record
$6,775,000, will highlight the 43-day summer meet “where the turf meets the
surf.” The schedule features an additional $450,000 in stakes purses and two new
races.
The roster is topped by the track’s premier event, the $1 million Pacific
Classic (G1) on August 21. The Pacific Classic, for three-year-olds and up, will be
presented for the 15th time at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles.
The Del Mar Breeders’ Cup H. (G2), which previously carried a purse of
$250,000, will now be worth $350,000 and is set for September 4. The one-mile
event, which was previously contested on the main track, will be run on Del
Mar’s newly sodded Jimmy Durante Turf Course for the first time in its 19-year
history.
Another change on the seven-stakes Labor Day weekend concern the Torrey Pines
S. for three-year-old fillies on September 2 and the El Cajon S. for all
second-year runners on September 3. Both one-mile races on the main track will
have all their restrictions removed and their purses increased to $100,000.
The final notable adjustments are purse increases for Del Mar’s two marquee
sprint stakes. The Bing Crosby H. (G1) on July 31 will increase from $250,000 to
$300,000 while the Pat O’Brien Breeders’ Cup H. (G2) on August 21 will rise from
$200,000 to $300,000. The Bing Crosby, which for the last nine years has been
designated a Breeders’ Cup race, will have that title removed for the 2005
renewal.
“This is probably the most exciting stakes schedule we’ve ever presented at
Del Mar,” Del Mar Thoroughbred Club President and General Manager Joe Harper
said. “We’ve made it richer, bigger and better — and you can’t do much more
than that.”
All told, 19 of the track’s 29 major stakes are graded — six Grade 1s, 11
Grade 2s and two Grade 3s.
Besides the Pacific Classic and Bing Crosby, the other Grade 1 tests are the
$400,000 John C. Mabee H. on July 23; the $400,000 Eddie Read H. on July 24; the
$300,000 Del Mar Oaks on August 20; and the $250,000 Del Mar Debutante on August
27.
As usual, the $100,000 Oceanside S. for three-year-olds at one-mile on the
grass, which has been split into two divisions for the last 16 editions, will
open the meet.
The traditional finale, the $250,000 Del Mar Futurity (G2) for two-year-olds at
seven furlongs, closes the season on September 7.