As Northern California’s horse racing collapses, SoCal’s Del Mar appears to be thriving

DEL MAR — All signs point to a banner season as the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club prepares to open its 31-day season Friday afternoon at the seaside oval.

Clearly, however, the game has changed. Horse racing in Northern California has collapsed, leaving Southern California’s Del Mar, Santa Anita and Los Alamitos tracks as the only venues in the state.

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“There is a totally different dynamic here this summer with only one circuit in the state,” said Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens. “We have 12 to 15 more trainers bringing horses to Del Mar, with 300 to 400 horses moving down south from Pleasanton and the Northern California fair circuit. Our barn space will be full. We’ve had more interest than we have stalls. And San Luis Downs and Los Alamitos will be hosting more horses running here.”

The added horses should lead to bigger fields and higher wagering handles, Jerkens and Del Mar chief operating officer Josh Rubinstein said.

The field size for Santa Anita’s spring meeting was up 13% over 2024 to an average of 7.7 horses per race. The handle — or the amount of money wagered — was up 7.5%, Rubinstein said.

Even before the collapse of the Northern California circuit, Del Mar has been an industry leader in field size for much of the past decade. Last year’s average field size for the summer meeting was 8.7 horses per race. That was slightly lower than the 8.8 mark of 2024 and 2023’s 9.0.

“On paper, we’re in a very healthy situation, which makes us excited about this meet,” said Jerkens. “But we’ve set the bar high. The biggest key will be how some of the barns coming here from Northern California compete. There are a lot of unknowns.”

Jerkens has been meeting with trainers and owners to contour a 2025 schedule of races that maintains Del Mar’s high level of competition while creating more opportunities for horses and trainers moving south. Del Mar has “altered our menu of races,” Jerkens said.

“There are races with different claiming levels, more opportunities for California-bred horses,” he said. “We want to do our best to offer opportunities for the entire population here.”

“The single California circuit has been very positive,” said Rubinstein. “We’re seeing 13% gains in some areas. We have a purse increase of 8% based on projections from Santa Anita. And we want to give the Northern California population the best possible opportunity. The purses we’re offering here are double what they had been in Northern California.

“Not only do we have the horses from the north, our ship-and-win program attracts top horses from outside the state. We’re encouraged both by what we’ve seen and what we expect.”

While Friday is opening day, Sunday is almost as important to Jerkens. That’s when entries are taken for rgw opener.

“This will be the first example of where we are,” he said. “Opening day has so much pent-up anticipation. We feel we’ll have capacity fields. It’s imperative to get off to a good start. Our average field on opening day last year was a shade under 10 horses. We’re expecting a big increase in numbers and demand for sure.”

The first day feature is the 80th Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 mile on the turf. Twenty-one horses were nominated. Saturday’s $200,000 Grade II San Clemente Handicap has attracted 29 nominations. The $100,000 Wickerr Stakes the same day has 21 nominations. And Sunday’s $100,000 Osunitas Stakes has 30 nominations.

There is one new jockey of note. Mirco Demuro, a 46-year-old Italian who has been riding in Japan with 1,300 career wins (including the Dubai World Cup), debuts at Del Mar on Friday.

As for the elephant in the room, Del Mar officials have drawn up plans in case U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stages an immigration raid during the summer season. The Santa Anita and recent Los Alamitos meetings encountered no ICE interference.

“We have a plan,” said Rubinstein, without divulging details. “We’ve spent a significant amount of time internally addressing the issue and communicating with stakeholders and the backstretch community.”

The Immigration and Nationalization Service staged a raid at Del Mar early during the 1985 summer season. Trainers protested by withholding their horses and a day of racing was lost.