16 stakes highlight Del Mar fall meet; See the schedule

Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will present its seventh fall race meeting — officially titled the Bing Crosby Season in a salute to the seaside track’s founder — with 16 stakes worth $2,250,000 scheduled during a 15-day session starting on Saturday, Oct. 31.

Despite the concerns and obvious issues around the ongoing pandemic, the track was able to maintain the same purse amounts for its stakes as presented in 2019, including $300,000 incentives for its pair of Grade 1s and $200,000 for its two Grade 2s.

Additionally, because Del Mar serves as California host for the Breeders’ Cup races this year, it also will run two California-bred sprint stakes for juveniles that were not on its agenda the past two seasons.

Nine of the 16 fall stakes are graded; nine of the 16 stakes will be run on turf; seven of the stakes — all of them on grass — will be presented over the track’s extended closing weekend which begins on Thanksgiving Day, Thursday, Nov. 26, and goes until closing day on Sunday, Nov. 29.

“Given the current climate of things, we are very pleased to keep our fall stakes purse levels intact,” said David Jerkens, Del Mar’s racing secretary. “The response to our summer racing program was exceptional. We are expecting similar results this fall. I am especially excited about our Thanksgiving stakes weekend, which has taken on national prominence.”

The track’s two premier stakes will be presented on its closing weekend — the Grade 1, $300,000 Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at nine furlongs on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the$300,000 Matriarch Stakes (G1) for fillies and mares at a mile on Sunday, Nov. 29. Both are run on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.

Additionally, closing weekend also will offer the $200,000 Hollywood Turf Cup (G2) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/2 miles on Thanksgiving Friday, Nov. 27, and the $200,000 Seabiscuit Handicap (G2) for 3-year-olds and up at 1 1/16 miles on Nov. 28.

Racing will be conducted Saturday and Sunday for opening weekend, then Friday, Saturday and Sunday for the next three weeks, finishing finally with a four-day week around Thanksgiving.

First post daily will be :30 p.m. ET on all racing days with the exception of the track’s special holiday card on Thanksgiving Thursday when racing begins at 2 p.m. ET

There will be six stakes offered for juveniles, led off by the two Cal-bred dashes — the $150,000 Golden State Juvenile Fillies on Friday, Nov. 6, and the $150,000 Golden State Juvenile on Saturday, Nov. 7, both at seven furlongs.

Three of the juvenile tests are Grade 3s — the $100,000 Bob Hope Stakes at seven furlongs on Sunday, Nov, 15; the $100,000 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies at a mile on the grass on Saturday, Nov. 28, and the $100,000 Cecil B. DeMille Stakes on Sunday, Nov. 29, also at a mile on the lawn.

The Bing Crosby Season once again will kick off with a pair of $75,000 overnight stakes — the Kathryn Crosby Stakes for fillies and mares at a mile on turf Oct. 31 and the Let It Ride Stakes for 3-year-olds at the same distance and surface on Nov. 1.

As in past years, Del Mar’s racing office plans to card eight races during its weekday cards and nine for the weekend programs.

Here is the complete list of stakes:

* Indicates overnight stakes