Fresh Bing Crosby Season Off to Good Start
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The 15-day inaugural fall "Bing Crosby Season" at Del Mar enjoyed a strong opening weekend Nov. 7-9 when compared with last year's figures at Hollywood Park.
Attendance numbers in its opening three days, when placed alongside the gate count from the now-shuttered Hollywood Park during the same period last year, show a marked jump. The on-track total after three days at the shore was 29,076, as opposed to the L.A. track's count of 10,344. The daily average of 9,692 was 181% above Hollywood's 3,448.
Handle numbers were robust across the board. On-track wagering averaged $1,249,348 per day, as opposed to Hollywood's $834,298, an increase of 49.7%. California's off-track wagering patrons (inter-track and advance-deposit customers) averaged $4,040,916 (against $3,088,514), up 30.8%. Out-of-state betting saw the average daily number at $5,002,388 (against $4,376,415), a rise of 14.3%.
Overall, Del Mar's daily average handle registered at $10,766,286, which stacked up 23.2% higher than Hollywood's 2013 number of $8,739,957.
There were nine races run on each of the first three days and, of the 27 total, 11 of them (40%) were run on the track's expanded turf course that was installed in the spring. Trainers responded positively to the grass strip, running an average of 9.73 horses per race over it during the extended weekend.
Including 16 races on the track's Polytrack, the per-race field size was 8.59 horses, a solid number in the current national environment of short fields and a general lack of horses. Six out-of-state horses took advantage of the track's ongoing "Ship and Win" program to race at the session during the first three days.
One of the concerns coming into the short meet was how field size would be affected with most horses shipping in to race from other Southern California locations.
"A very fine start to this new venture," said Joe Harper, track president and CEO. "Anyone who came these first three days went away feeling like they'd been part of a special thing; there's just a good vibe about it all. The racing was safe and first-rate and we really couldn't be more pleased."
Racing resumes at Del Mar Thursday, Nov. 13, for the first of three four-day weeks (Thursdays through Sundays) until the meet closes Nov. 30.