The Del Mar Summer Meet is one of the special events on the horse racing calendar and summer schedule. The 2023 summer meet begins Friday, July 21 and runs through Sunday, Sept. 10. On this page we will look at horse racing betting odds for the 2023 races at Del Mar and more.
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Del Mar horse racing odds
For live odds on every Del Mar horse race, go to FanDuel Racing. Odds for major races at Del Mar will be posted below.
“And Away They Go”
The catch phrase of popular racing announcer Trevor Denman returns, as does the highly-awaited Del Mar summer meet July 21.
Denman missed half of Del Mar’s Bing Crosby meet last year with an injury. But he’s back, along with a strong stakes lineup for the resort track just outside of San Diego, CA. showcasing its 84th season.
The meet runs July 21-September 10 primarily as a weekend thoroughbred racing carnival. Its events are available to nationwide bettors via FanDuel Racing and many of its weekend headliners will be among the best races in the country on those days.
The track opens its season with a three-day weekend (July 21, 23 and 23), then has five four-day weeks (Thursday through Sunday), a five-day week (including Labor Day Monday, September 4), then finishes with a Friday-through-Sunday weekend (September 8, 9 and 10).
Post time will generally be 2 PM PST.
The signature event, as always, will be the $1 million FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic, which unfolds Sept. 2.
The FanDuel Racing Pacific card will be supported by the $300,000 Del Mar Handicap, $300,000 Caesars Del Mar Derby and the $300,000 Del Mar Mile.
Other Grade I’s joining those three headliners throughout the meet include:
- The $300,000 Del Mar Oaks on Saturday, August 19
- The $300,000 FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante on Saturday, September 9
- The $300,000 Runhappy Del Mar Futurity on Sunday, September 10
More big races are connected as qualifiers to the Breeders Cup, set for Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Nov. 3-4.
Del Mar hosted the 2021 Breeders Cup, an epic multi-million-dollar weekend that crowns the sport’s national champions in several divisions. It is the Super Bowl of horse racing.
This year, six of Del Mar’s stakes races have been designated as “Win and You’re In” for the Breeders Cup. The connections of the winning horse will receive automatic qualifying positions, and fees paid, into a corresponding race in the 2023 Breeders’ Cup World Championships.
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Del Mar racing
- Address: 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd, Del Mar, CA 92014
- Owner: State of California
- Operator: Del Mar Thoroughbred Club
- Dirt Track: 1 mile oval
- Turf Track: 1 mile oval
- Twitter: @DelMarRacing
The Del Mar summer meet will feature Friday-through-Sunday racing the first two weeks followed by a Thursday-through-Sunday schedule. First post daily throughout the stand will be at 2 p.m. PT with the exception of Fridays in which first post will be at 4 p.m. PT.
Del Mar’s slogan is ‘Cool as Ever’, and fans have enjoyed the seaside track “Where the Turf Meets the Surf” for 86 years.
Key races and dates
The Del Mar summer stakes schedule includes over 40 stakes races, of which 23 are graded stakes headlined by the 85th running of the FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic on Saturday, Sept. 2.
Here is the Win and You’re In Lineup:
- July 29: The GI $400,000 Bing Crosby Stakes
- Aug 5: The G I $400,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes
- Aug. 26: The G II, $250,000 Pat O’Brien Stakes
- Sept. 2: The Grade I, $1 million FanDuel Racing Classic
- Sept. 2: The G II, $300,000 Del Mar Handicap
- Sept. 2: The GIII, $150,000 Green Flash Handicap
GI represents a Grade 1 Race. GII is a Grade 2 and G III is a Grade III
The track will offer a stakes tripleheader on Saturday, Sept. 9 (FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante, John C. Mabee Stakes, Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf) and nine other weekend dates where it has scheduled stakes doubleheaders.
Bettors can count on something big every weekend. Here is an even deeper look at the lineup of the meet’s top races.
- July 22: San Clemente Stakes $200,000
- July 23: Cougar II Stakes $125,000
- July 29: Bing Crosby Stakes $400,000
- July 30: Eddie Read Stakes $250,000
- Aug. 5: Clement L. Hirsch Stakes $400,000
- Aug. 6: La Jolla Handicap $150,000
- Aug. 12: Yellow Ribbon Handicap $250,000
- Aug. 13: Best Pal Stakes $200,000
- Aug. 19: Del Mar Oaks $300,000
- Aug. 26: Pat O’Brien Stakes $250,000
- Aug. 27: Rancho Bernardo Handicap $150,000
- Sept. 2: FanDuel Racing Pacific Classic $1 million, Del Mar Mile $300,000, Del Mar Handicap $300,000, Green Flash Handicap $150,000, Torrey Pines Stakes $125,000
- Sept. 3: Caesars Sportsbook Del Mar Derby $300,000
- Sept. 9: FanDuel Racing Del Mar Debutante $300,000, John C. Mabee Stakes $250,000
- Sept. 10: Runhappy Del Mar Futurity $300,000, Del Mar Juvenile Turf $100,000
Mandatory Payout Day added to Rainbow Pick 6
A third mandatory payout date, Aug. 5, has been added to the already-scheduled Sept. 2 and Sept. 10 distribution of the popular, and lucrative, Rainbow Pick 6 Pool. Gamblers have flocked to this new product, because the bet became more affordable in 2021.
Del Mar changed its Pick Six bet from a $2 price to a 20¢ one, going along with a nationally favored format for a bet that requires picking all the winners of the day’s final six races. The 20-cent wager captured a big portion of the betting pool and helped the pot grow.
It works like this: Del Mar’s Pick Six will pay out 70% of the pool each day to those with the most winners with the remaining 30% carried over, provided there are no single-ticket winners. A single-ticket winner on any day takes home the entire prize. That’s extremely rare, but does happen occasionally.
FanDuel Racing bettors can tap into this pool and watch the suspense and jackpots grow.
As mandatory payouts approach, betting pools intensify, especially on a loaded Saturday card.
The 20-cent Pick 6 event brings added interest to race cards with its $3- to $5-million enhanced pools on mandatory payout days.