Del Mar Opens!

From Del Mar site

Del Mar will present its full range of betting options again this season when the seaside track kicks off its 75th summer of racing this Thursday (July 17).

The 36-day meeting will see 14 different types of wagers offered, starting with the traditional win, place and show and going all the way down to several five- and six-horse combination bets. As it has recently, the menu will include pool “guarantees,” as well as Sunday “bonuses.” Additionally, it also will offer “reductions” in the track’s Daily Double pool takeout.

One of the most popular selections at the track – the Pick Six – will be presented once more with guaranteed pools on all racing days. The bet, which requires that fans pick the winners of the last six races on the day’s card and often results in large payoffs, will have a guaranteed pool of $100,000 on weekdays and $200,000 on weekends. Last season, Del Mar’s Pick Six pools averaged $101,000 per payout.

Additionally, there will be guaranteed pools on the Pick Four, requiring the selection of winners in the day’s final four events. The guaranteed pool for this 50¢-minimum wager is $250,000 on weekdays and $500,000 on weekends. Pick Four payouts averaged $1,300 during Del Mar’s 2013 meet.

Further, the popular “Sunday winner’s bonus” again will be in force for the third straight season. In this arrangement, the track provides a $50,000 “winner’s bonus” for each Sunday’s Pick Six. The bonus is for winning tickets only, so in the case of five fans hitting the bet, each would have an additional $10,000 added to their prize. If there are no winning Pick Six tickets on a Sunday program, that $50,000 bonus will be added to the “carryover” for the next racing day. The lone exception to the Sunday “bonus” is when there is already a “carryover” coming into a Sunday program, in which case no additional bonus monies will be provided.

In a new arrangement for this meeting, Del Mar will drop its takeout rate on its “rolling” Daily Doubles to 20% after previously offering them at 22.68%. The track will provide a Daily Double on every race on all its cards with the exception of the day’s final contest.

Del Mar’s standard summer session will continue through Wednesday, September 3. After the opening week, racing will be held on a Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule for the balance of the season with one additional day of sport – Labor Day Monday, September 1 – thrown into the mix. Additionally this year the track will conduct a 15-day fall racing session November 7 through November 30.

The summer betting menu also will present the popular 50¢ Player’s Pick Five for the fourth year in a row. The wager requires picking the winners of the day’s first five races and will be available at a reduced takeout rate of only 14%.

The full array of Del Mar bets is as follows: $2 win, place and show; $1 Exacta; $2 Quinella; $1 Trifecta; $2 rolling Doubles; $1 rolling Pick Threes; $1 Superfecta (10¢ minimum); $1 Place Pick All; 50¢ Super High Five; $2 Pick Six; 50¢ Player’s Pick Five, and 50¢ Pick Four.

Del Mar’s betting pools are among the biggest in the country and last year they helped the track average more than $13-million daily in handle, putting it among the cream of the nation’s wagering crop. Part of the reason the track was so popular with bettors on-track, online and at satellites was its average field size of a solid 8.8 horses per race.

First post throughout the meet is normally 2 p.m. Fridays are an exception when the track presents its “Four O’Clock Friday” programs featuring popular rock bands following the day’s last race. First post on all Fridays is 4 p.m.