|
Del Mar Adds $1.37-Million in
Purses to Record 2011 Meet
Del Mar, CA - Nov. 19, 2011 - A good Del Mar summer meeting got even better for
its horsemen this week as the track sent out checks totaling $1,370,000 that
represented a retroactive payment of 10% on overnight purses by Del Mar
Thoroughbred Club. The sum is a record payment of its kind for the track.
Aided by its highest-ever overnight purses, an increase in field size and a
steady betting agenda throughout its 37-day season, the seaside track finished
up its summer with more than $430-million pushed through the betting wickets for
a daily average of over $11.6-million.
“Given the uncertainty of the horse inventory, we had some concerns coming into
the meet” noted DMTC’s executive vice president for racing and racing secretary,
Tom Robbins. “But we put some things in place to deal with the situation and the
response was excellent. When you can have the kind of meet we had despite the
problems that exist in our business, it is a tribute to all involved – horsemen,
track staff and our racing fans.”
Among the adaptations the track instituted was its unique “Ship and Win”
program, which paid incentives and bonuses to those importing horses from
out-of-state to run at the meet. The program drew more than 100 horses to the
session with many of them racing more than once, helping to boost field size
from 8.2 in 2010 to 8.4.
For the 2011 meet, Del Mar paid out overall purses of $630,000 per day, a record
for the track and nearly 14% higher than the total offered during the 2010
session. Its overnight purses alone in 2011 increased by 22% from the previous
season and were the highest offered by any track in the country.
The track’s 72nd summer season had several other additional high points to it
that included a business-positive resurgence at the claiming box that saw 246
horses haltered for nearly $6-milllion following a summer where those totals
previously read 141 claims for $3.6-million; the introduction of a .50¢ Players
Pick 5 bet that became one of the favorite wagers at the session and a $50,000
carryover “seeding” of the Pick Six pool on Sundays that pumped up the handle on
the popular exotic wager by 15% and led to several husky next-day carryovers;
and the presentation of a campy “Battle of the Exes” match race between formerly
engaged riders Mike Smith and Chantal Sutherland that drew a huge response from
both local and national media and an estimated extra 4,000 fans to the track.
Del Mar also outdid itself once more with its Opening Day crowd and surrounding
extravaganza when a single-day record 46,588 piled through the gates of July 20,
ensuring that first-day attendance at the shore oval rose for the seventh
straight year. Those Opening Day numbers tied into the track’s overall increase
in attendance since the turn of the century. In 2000, Del Mar averaged 14,252
fans per afternoon on track. The 2011 daily average of 17,844 means that number
has increased by approximately 25%.
|
