Del Mar Raises Overnight Purses 10% for Fall Meet

Del Mar has announced a 10% blended increase in its overnight purses compared with last fall and the highest bonuses ever tied to the popular "Ship & Win" program for its seventh fall race meeting that begins Oct. 31.

The purse increase is across the board for overnight races, according to the track. As announced previously, individual race purses for stakes remain at 2019 levels. The track will run 16 stakes, two more than last year, worth $2.25 million.

BloodHorse Staff: Del Mar Maintains Fall Stakes Levels, Adds Two Stakes

The approximate 10% overnight-purse raise elevates first-level allowance races from $53,000 to $59,000 and maiden special weight races from $52,000 to $57,000, compared to the fall of 2019. These levels are also higher than during the track's recently completed summer meet when first-level allowances were worth $57,000 and maiden races were run for $55,000.

The track's bottom-level purses have also been increased to $20,000 after being $17,000 last fall, the track stated.

Del Mar's "Ship & Win" program—now in its 10th year—will provide its richest incentive ever with a guaranteed $3,000 starter fee for all runners. Additionally, the program participants are eligible for a 30% purse bonus on top of whatever they earn for finishing first through fifth in that initial start at Del Mar.

"We worked with our partners at the Thoroughbred Owners of California on this and I think we've got a solid foundation that should encourage our horsemen—as well as those from other racing venues—to want to be part of what we do here in the fall," Del Mar executive vice president for racing Tom Robbins said in a release. "Our fall meet has grown year by year and is now as good a run of racing as you're going to find anywhere in the country this year."

The Ship & Win program, an incentive program designed to draw new horses to the California circuit, has attracted more than 1,400 runners to Del Mar since its inception, according to Robbins. He has tallied them making more than 2,000 starts at the track and in excess of 4,200 starts at other state tracks, such as Santa Anita Park, Los Alamitos Race Course, and Golden Gate Fields.

To be eligible for the Ship & Win program, horses must have made their last start outside of California and not raced in California for the past 12 months. First-time starters are not eligible and stakes runners do not race for the 30% bonus.

The fall meet will have a daily first post time of 12:30 p.m. PT with the exception of its Thanksgiving Day (Nov. 26) card that begins at 11 a.m. The season runs through Nov. 29.