Del Mar unveils stakes schedule led by 'stacked' Pacific Classic day

Del Mar, the historic oval that will be presenting its 80th summer of racing alongside the blue Pacific starting on Wednesday, July 17, will offer its horsemen a robust stakes schedule consisting of 40 events worth nearly $7.4 million during its 36-day stand.

The shore racing headquarter’s richest and most prestigious day will come on Saturday, August 17 when the Grade 1, $1 million TVG Pacific Classic will be presented for the 29th time as the highlight of a first-of-its-kind program made up of five stakes races which, when combined with the day’s remaining events, will provide a record $2-million-plus in prize money over the course of the afternoon.

The stakes slate consists of 34 “advertised” stakes carrying purses from $100,000 to $1,000,000, along with six “overnight” stakes worth $85,000 each. Twenty-two of the “advertised” stakes are Graded – six at Grade 1, 11 at Grade 2 and five at Grade 3. The purse figure on the “overnight” stakes is a $10,000 boost from last year’s value.

In the only major change to its stakes lineup, Del Mar had one of its previous “overnight” races boosted to Grade 3 status for this year – the Green Flash Handicap, a five-furlong turf dash that will be contested for the 17th time as part of the big TVG Pacific Classic Day card. It will carry a purse of $100,000.

Nineteen of the stakes will be run on the track’s Jimmy Durante Turf Course, which was expanded and totally replaced prior to the 2014 season. The other 21 will be offered on its main track, which was returned to dirt (after an eight-year run with the synthetic Polytrack) in 2015. Del Mar invested more than $10 million in replacing the two surfaces.

“We’re feeling very good about this year’s stakes program,” said Tom Robbins, Del Mar’s executive vice president for racing and industry relations. “We’ve stacked Pacific Classic Day and we think that has the potential to be one of our biggest days ever. Otherwise – outside of a couple of minor tweaks and the enhancements to the ‘overnight’ stakes – we’re basically repeating a tried and true schedule that our horsemen and racing fans have shown that they both support and enjoy.”

As in previous summers, five of the track’s key stakes have been scheduled as Breeders’ Cup “Win and You’re In” races, meaning a victory in any of them will guarantee the winning horse an entry – with all fees paid – in the corresponding Breeders’ Cup divisional race, along with a travel bonus if the horse is based outside of California. One of the “Win and You’re In” races is the TVG Pacific Classic, which guarantees admission to the $6 million Breeders' Cup Classic. Besides the $600,000 winner’s share of the purse, the victorious TVG Pacific Classic horse also has his or her pre-entry fees to the BC Classic covered – a sum of $150,000 – as well as the promise of a possible travel bonus of either $10,000 (national) or $40,000 (international), if applicable. The two-day Breeders’ Cup programs will be presented this year at Santa Anita Park on November 1 and 2.

The other four “Win and You’re In” races are the Grade 1 Bing Crosby Stakes on Saturday, July 27 (guaranteeing admission to the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Sprint); the Grade 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes on Sunday, July 28 ($2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff); the Grade 2 Del Mar Handicap on Saturday, August 17 ($4 million Breeders' Cup Turf), and the Grade 2 Pat O’Brien Stakes on Saturday, August 24 ($1 million Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile).

Del Mar once again will race on a five-days-a-week schedule (Wednesdays through Sundays) for the entire summer, finishing with a six-day week concluding on the Monday, September 2 Labor Day holiday. Post time throughout the session will be the normal 2 p.m. with the exception of Fridays (“Four O’Clock Fridays”) when the first race goes off at 4 p.m. for the first five of those days, then at 3:30 p.m. for the last two (August 24 and 31).

The complete list of stakes follows: