Del Mar

Horseplayers old enough to recall when horse racing was the equal of baseball and worthy of the sobriquet “America’s Pastime,” they need to note two events: Yankee Stadium, the Cathedral of Baseball, became known in 1923 as “The House That Ruth Built.”

But when the subject shifts to Thoroughbred racing, in a setting where the turf meets the surf, a place that has remained “As Cool as Ever,” they will conjure Del Mar Racetrack, “The House That Bing Built.”

New York horseplayers get relief from sweltering city heat of summer at storied Saratoga Race Course high in the Adirondack Mountains. But summers in Hollywood can be just as punishing and Los Angelinos, especially Hollywood types, also need relief.

Thirteen years after Ruth built his house, America’s crooner, Bing Crosby, along with actor pal Pat O’Brien, built his on a 370-acre tract of land, the Del Mar Fairgrounds. On opening day in 1937, Crosby welcomed racing fans personally.

To keep the momentum flowing the next year, the newly formed Del Mar Thoroughbred Club created a winner-take-all match race between Charles S. Howard’s legendary Seabiscuit and Crosby’s Ligaroti, which garnered all the attendant hype one would expect.

In a storybook finish worthy of a Hillenbrand novel, Seabiscuit, with equally legendary George Woolf in the boot, beat Ligaroti by a nose. Del Mar became the site of the first race nationally broadcast horse race on the NBC radio network and could now give Saratoga a run for its status.

The entertainment community loved its horse racing and supported the sport fervently, especially during summers at Del Mar, 54 miles south of Tijuana, whose racetrack lured horseplayers at a time when gambling was prohibited in America.

One only need consult a track program or condition book to note the kind of support Del Mar received from Hollywood’s biggest stars. For years, the Grade 1 Bing Crosby and G2 Pat O’Brien routinely has given hope to Breeders’ Cup Sprint contenders.

There are other graded stakes with familiar names such as the Bob Hope or Jimmy Durante. Also honored with stakes in their names are Betty Grable, Desi Arnaz, and Cary Grant--indeed, the entire complex stands at 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd.

By the 1940's Del Mar was a featured stop on the California circuit except during the war years from 1942-44 when the grounds were used as a training base for the U.S Marine Corps and manufacturing site for parts to fit the famed B-17 bombers of WW II.

Many stars have graced the only track in America overlooking an ocean. Fittingly, Del Mar’s signature event is its million-dollar Pacific Classic, the inaugural won by the legendary California-bred Best Pal. The race often has proven a portent for season-ending honors.

Del Mar is a legend maker in the Thoroughbred world: Whittingham and Lukas and Farrell Jones, and the current face of the sport, Bob Baffert have dominated here.

Storied jockeys have loaned their stature to Del Mar as well: Riders named Shoemaker and Hartack, Pincay and McCarron, and Gary Stevens, who played Woolf in Seabiscuit the movie.

In the modern era, social media has helped raise Del Mar’s profile as a place to see and be seen by a younger, party crowd from the Opening Day party and fashions to the fast horses that compete over a one-mile dirt oval surrounding a seven-furlong turf course.

Del Mar is now a destination track for horseplayers the world over. Legendary race caller Trevor Denman helped make it so by bringing his unique talents as the Voice of Del Mar in 1984, the same year Hollywood Park hosted the inaugural Breeders’ Cup.

Del Mar grew further in stature when a Fall meet was created after Hollywood Park was shuttered in 2014, continuing California traditional treasures such as the Hollywood Turf Cup, Hollywood Derby, the Matriarch.

In 2017, Del Mar hosted the Breeders’ Cup World Championships first the first time and will do so this year on the weekend of November 5^th.

But first there’s a Pacific Classic to be won on August 21^st. And it’s never too early to think about those opening day fashions. Saturday, July 17^th will be here before you know it.