Craig Dado, DMTC’s vice president of marketing, confirmed that Del Mar was asked to complete and submit a “declaration of interest” by Feb. 1 if it wishes to host a future Breeders’ Cup. The event is set for Santa Anita this year in November, but future sites have not been picked. Dado said the earliest Del Mar could host the Breeders’ Cup would be 2015, but that’s providing a number of hurdles are cleared.
Dado said Del Mar officials answered the Breeders’ Cup inquiry with a 52-page document. Dado hand-delivered the package to Craig Fravel, the former president and general manager of DMTC who now heads the Breeders’ Cup. Both were in Boston on Tuesday to attend a meeting.
“The Breeders’ Cup document we received had about 27 different questions on topics ranging from the configuration of our racetrack to our seating capacity to hotels and restaurants in the area,” Dado said. “It included everything they’d want to know about a Breeders’ Cup host site. We answered all their questions and I believe it demonstrated that, A, we’re interested, and, B, we think we’re very capable of hosting a Breeders’ Cup here at Del Mar. That’s the very first step in many steps. At this point we’re a long way from deal points or dates. This was very preliminary.”
Dado said that Del Mar will not be able to host a Breeders’ Cup unless the Jimmy Durante Turf Course is renovated and widened, a project that not only is needed to draw the Breeders’ Cup, but also to increase racing safety and improve daily fields and race cards during the summer meeting. At present, the turf course can start only 10 horses and as few as seven when the rail is moved in to restore the turf. Breeders’ Cup turf races require 14 starters.
