Del Mar Addressing Safety, Field Size Concerns

At the corner of Jimmy Durante Boulevard and Via De La Valle in Del Mar, a bright digital sign provides an abrupt reminder.

On July 19, with preceding hours, minutes, and seconds also ticking away, the digital counter showed "106"—the number of days until Del Mar hosts the Breeders' Cup World Championships for the first time.

The presence of the Breeders' Cup in early November in many ways frames the 36-day summer meet, with the iconic seaside racetrack taking on safety issues and field size challenges that the region and overall racing industry also are confronting.

Through the lens of the Breeders' Cup, the most significant issue Del Mar is addressing in 2017 is safety. In 2016, according to the Jockey Club Equine Injury Database, Del Mar's dirt track equine fatality rate was 4.10 per 1,000 starters (10 fatalities from 2,442 starters), which is in stark comparison to the national average for dirt of 1.70 (the overall equine fatality rate at Del Mar was 3.01, compared with 1.54 nationally).

While 2016 was the worst year for on-track equine fatalities at Del Mar in recent years, the issue has not been isolated to a single season. After Del Mar changed its main track back to dirt for 2015, effectively ending the synthetic era in Southern California, the dirt had an above-average fatality rate that year (2.44 compared to the 1.78 national average). The turf course also had abnormally high rates of fatalities in 2014 (3.69 compared to the 1.75 national average) and 2011 (5.30 compared to the 1.54 national average).

Track management—led by new director of track maintenance Dennis Moore, who also serves as the track superintendent at Santa Anita Park—has taken substantial steps to address equine safety. Moore was unavailable for comment before or during the track's opening-day of racing Wednesday, but the changes he's made to the track are easily visible.

There is now a significant downward slant, from the outside rail toward the inside, in the turns on the main track, a move Moore made to mirror the "banking" of Santa Anita and maintain consistency between the two Southern California racetracks that carry the most racing dates.

During the morning and after Wednesday's races jockeys largely described the dirt track as "deep," and they, along with exercise riders, have supplied California Horse Racing Board safety steward Luis Jauregui with positive feedback on the surface.

"The track has a lot of life. That's the feedback I'm getting. And they love the banked turns," said Jauregui, a former jockey who retired in 2006. "To me, for a rider, it helps horses fall into the turn, so it's less stress on them. It shoots you around and it helps you. ... Everybody is trying to work to get that consistency for these horses."

Fatalities during training has also been a point of concern, and Del Mar has altered its workout policy in the mornings since the main track opened July 15. The first 10 minutes of each workout session, right after the scheduled renovation breaks, are reserved entirely for timed workers. A 40-horse stall limit for each trainer is another measure Del Mar has taken to cut down on workout traffic during mornings.

Jauregui said, by limiting the first 10 minutes to timed works only, it allows riders to use more of the track. With horses galloping and jogging in the middle and outside portions of the track, horses going through timed workouts often are restricted to inside lanes that have been worn down by other works, which can lead to injury.

"It gives the rider a chance to choose his footing," Jauregui said. "We're doing everything we can to get horses on a smooth, consistent track. Because there were so many horses here (in previous years), riders were only working on one section of the track. What we're focusing on is to allow a rider to not only go on the rail. They can go out three, four paths to find a good, consistent path at all times."

In the early stages of the meet, albeit a very small sample size, there have been no equine fatalities—through five days of training and 10 races on the Wednesday card.

"It was a good day. Everyone got around safely, which is always No. 1 on our minds," said Del Mar president and chief executive officer Joe Harper.

Harper also divulged another safety measure during his post-racing meeting with a small group of assembled media Wednesday.

"We've put some checks and balances in the system (regarding) who gets on (the track) and hopefully it'll have some good results," Harper said. "We've talked to riders—we've talked to the outriders in the mornings, to look for certain things that are suspicious in a horse."

The criticism that, because Del Mar is such a desirable meet to run and win at, owners and trainers can rush a horse to race too fast, has long been a theory to explain the elevated equine fatalities during the summer.

"You sit on the pony out here in the morning and you see horses that are favoring a leg or something like that," Harper said. "We want to know who that horse is now. ... I think that is hopefully getting through to everyone. You can't just toss them out there and hope for the best."

Track and industry leaders hope to see improvement.

"Del Mar was always our shining star. We always knew we could come to Del Mar and it would be great. We had—I want to say three years in a row—where the luster (wore) off the star," said owner, breeder, and CHRB commissioner Madeline Auerbach. "So we've made the adjustments that we, as humans, can make. But now it's up to the racing gods, and they can be really cruel.

"Del Mar is always under a microscope, but now it's to the 10th power."

Breeders' Cup president and CEO Craig Fravel, who formerly served as Del Mar's president, credits the concerted effort to make Del Mar safer, but added the responsibility to reinforce safety extends beyond the racetrack operator.

"Throughout my career here, Del Mar was always a meet that had the spotlight on it, just like Saratoga," Fravel said. "You get accustomed to that, but that can be a double-edged sword. The attention is great, but when something bad happens, it's magnified. When you work here, you have to be adaptable and take some of the good and the bad, and be prepared to address things when they come up.

"If you operate a racetrack, your job is to create a safe environment and I believe very firmly that they've done that. Then other people have responsibilities to do their jobs, which means trainers, veterinarians, and regulatory bodies."

On the business side Del Mar also takes over—after a two-week meeting at Los Alamitos Race Course—during a season that was not without turmoil through the first half of the year. Santa Anita, which ran from Dec. 26 to July 4, simply could not fill enough races at times during its meet and cancelled multiple Thursday racing cards.

Although Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens said comparing the six-month Santa Anita meet with the 36-date Del Mar meet was like comparing "apples to oranges" he acknowledged similar challenges are present at the track in north San Diego County.

Although there are definite positives in the entry box early in the meet, like quality turf fields and overbooked maiden special weight races (Jerkens got so many entries for a California-bred maiden race for 2-year-old fillies that he split the race and had heats run on both July 19 and July 20), the difficulties of filling in the gaps with races in certain divisions will be a true test.

"I know it sounds cliché, but we're taking a cautiously optimistic approach," Jerkens said. "It's day by day. We're trying to be as resourceful as possible with the inventory we have to try to give our horseplayers the best product we can every day.

"It's those 3-year-old claimers, those ($16,000), mile (claiming races), those ($20,000 claiming) sprints on the dirt, where it's going to be a challenge."

There are aspects working in Del Mar's favor, like the enhanced Ship & Win program, which along with the Breeders' Cup has attracted claiming trainers as well as interest from the barns of Tom Proctor, Christophe Clement, Brendan Walsh, Graham Motion, Brad Cox, and Wesley Ward.

"We're going to be aggressive," Jerkens said. "Although our purses do not match Saratoga at certain levels, because they are subsidized by slot machines, we do have the Breeders' Cup at Del Mar, so even though we may not match the money, we have that advantage that trainers are looking to get a race over this track."

Del Mar has cut back its racing dates from 39 days to 36, which means less races to fill, but the field sizes early in the card on opening day (seven in the first, six in the second, and eight in both the third and fourth) did not inspire confidence for what Jerkens calls the "little lull" of the meet.

"When I wrote the book, I thought some of the dirt races would fill a little bit better (on opening day), but overall I think it's a solid card," Jerkens said. "But there's small fields everywhere. Let's be honest. At Keeneland they were running ($20,000) claimers with six horses and at Belmont, they were under (eight in average field size).

"Let's consider the reality—Santa Anita cancelled days, had three-day weeks, and we're running five days-a-week. It's a nationwide issue and an epidemic that's hit everywhere. Nobody is immune to it.

"Am I worried about a Wednesday in early August, filling a 3-year-old $20,000 claimer going six furlongs? Yes. Typically everybody hits (the first condition book) hard, then there's that little lull in (the second book), then it's Pacific Classic week and it starts to build up again, and everyone realizes the meet is almost over. The period I worry about is that lull in the middle."

As Auerbach noted, Del Mar has long been Southern California's "shining star," but in 2017—arguably the most important year of its history—even the racetrack by the sea, once thought to be immune to trials others faced, can't escape the modern challenges of the industry.

"We have a lot going for us, but every day is going to be a challenge," Jerkens said.

But those involved at Del Mar and those who surround the game are encouraged by the willingness to change for the better.  

"What's encouraging to me is they're putting old biases aside to address things like field size and safety," Fravel said. "Nobody is saying, 'No. You shouldn't do that.'"