San Diego Features Head-To-Head Wager

The head-to-head matchup, a wager in which bettors need only identify which of two designated horses will finish ahead of the other, will pit Kevlar Kid against Golden Itiz in Saturday’s featured San Diego Handicap.

In last week’s Del Mar debut of the bet, Acclamation not only defeated Caracortado but won the Grade I Eddie Read Stakes. Acclamation paid $8.40 to win outright. The head-to-head bet drew a pool of $31,413 with Acclamation paying $4.80.

“We really didn’t have any expectations about numbers,” said Craig Dado, Senior Vice President, Marketing for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. “It’s kind of an experiment, which is one reason we’re only doing it once a week (on the Saturday feature). We’ll continue to work on it and see what happens.”

“I think for here at Del Mar it makes sense from the standpoint that you get a lot of novice bettors,” said Ron Ellis, trainer of Golden Itiz.