DEL MAR, Calif.— Del Mar has released its stakes schedule for the upcoming Bing Crosby Fall meet. The 15-race schedule includes nine graded stakes and two overnights. The $2,450,000 price tag is a record for the meet which enters its ninth year on November 11.
The stakes lineup is highlighted by the Thanksgiving weekend, with Graded stakes scheduled for every day of the four-day holiday beginning with the 57th running of the G3 Red Carpet on Thanksgiving Day. The race, known for many years as the Beverly Hills Handicap, is for fillies and mares and is run at a 1 3/8 miles on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course.
The day after Thanksgiving is the 41st running of the G2 Hollywood Turf Cup, another marathon (1 ½ miles) on the grass for 3-year-olds and up. Saturday of the holiday weekend features the 46th running of the G2 Seabiscuit Handicap, formerly known as the Citation. It’s run at a mile and a sixteenth on the turf.
Del Mar closes out the Thanksgiving weekend with the 45th running of the G3 Native Diver Stakes on Sunday, November 27.
Closing weekend of the fall meet is also chock full of stakes races with three slated for Saturday including the 82nd running of the G1 Hollywood Derby and a new race, the Stormy Liberal turf sprint, named after the Peter Miller trainee who won back-to-back Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprints in 2017, at Del Mar, and in 2018.
Sunday December 4 is closing day for the fall meet and is highlighted by the 42nd running of the G1 Matriarch Stakes, a one mile test for fillies and mares on the turf.
The 2-year-olds get their chance to shine in several of the stakes races. There’s the Desi Arnaz Stakes for the fillies on November 19 and the G3 Bob Hope the next day. On closing weekend the G3 Jimmy Durante for the fillies will be run on Saturday December 3 and the G3 Cecil B. DeMille on Sunday. Both are contested at a mile on the turf.
The first post daily is 12:30 except on Thanksgiving Day, which has a special 11 a.m. start.
DMTC Press Release
Photo: Horses break from the gate at Del Mar (Benoit Photo)
