Del Mar’s highly successful program to lure out-of-state horses to its
summer meet in 2011 will be reprised this season with an additional
boost to the incentives offered to horsemen who bring new runners to the
seaside track.
The arrangement, dubbed the “Ship and Win”
program, was responsible for attracting more than 100 horses from other
racing jurisdictions during the track’s 37-day meeting, helping it to
increase its field size and causing a positive ripple effect for other
Southern California race meets.
Last year the track guaranteed
all horses that raced at the meet who had started outside California in
their previous outing a check for $1,000, plus a further bonus of 20%
added to whatever purse monies they won in that first local start. This
year’s enhanced version of the program still will offer the $1,000
checks to horses who qualify, but additionally will up the purse bonus
to 25%.
Once again the $1,000 payment will apply to any starter
in any race at Del Mar, including its full list of 43 advertised and
overnight stakes. The 25% purse bonus, however, counts only toward
general overnight purses, meaning all stakes races are excluded.
“This
was such a winner for us last year we knew we had to bring it back
again this season,” said Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s executive vice
president for racing Tom Robbins. “We wrote those checks to 107 horses
all told and it helped turn the tide for us on field size. We brought
some new horses and horsemen to the state and gave encouragement to our
local horsemen to pursue runners from other venues, something we’d like
to see a whole lot more of this time around.”
Robbins noted that
Del Mar again partnered with the Thoroughbred Owners of California in
the program and had received encouragement from the horsemen’s group to
boost the bonus percentage by an additional 25% this year to take it to
the current 25% level.
The 25% bonus can add sizeable funds to an
initial start at Del Mar for an owner. In the case of a $70,000 maiden
special weight purse, the winner’s share amounts to $42,000. Adding in
the bonus payment means an additional check for $10,500. The track’s
lowest-level claiming race – for $8,000 – carries a purse of $20,000 and
a winner’s prize of $12,000. The bonus for that horse would be $3,000.
Those
bonus figures would be enhanced further still by the automatic $1,000
payment each out-of-state runner earns in their initial start at Del
Mar.
“We partnered with Del Mar on this last summer and were
pleased with the outcome,” said TOC president Lou Raffetto. “Not only
did it provide additional runners at their meet, but many of the horses
stayed and ran at Santa Anita’s fall meet and at Hollywood Park, too. If
we can get horses out here to race, they’re likely to stay. So bringing
the program back – and making it even better – was the right thing to
do this time around.”
Different studies have shown that larger
field size produces more handle, which in turn produces more purse
monies. Some studies have pointed to field size as the single-most
important factor in driving betting upwards. Proponents of the “Ship and
Win” program feel that even though bonus money is offered to new
runners, they, in fact, pay for themselves by their presence – and often
repeated presence -- in races on the circuit.
In 2011, Del Mar
offered the richest overnight purse schedule in the country -- and in the
history of California -- at more than $400,000 per day. When all figures
were included for the seven-week session, total daily average purses
registered in at $630,000. The track plans on offering higher overall
purses for its 2012 meeting.
“We think ’Ship and Win’ is a smart
way to be competitive in our business right now,” said DMTC’s chief
executive officer and president, Joe Harper. “We’ve got to have horses
to put on a show and this is a proven way to make it happen. We’d
especially encourage our California owners and trainers to take
advantage of these bonuses and bring fresh stock on the scene. We
recognize that they have a financial burden in buying and transporting
horses out here and we think a program like this goes a long way toward
addressing those issues.”
Robbins, who also is Del Mar’s racing
secretary, suggested that any horsemen with questions about any portion
of the program contact him directly at the track’s racing office at
800-874-8443.
Del Mar’s 2012 season -- during which it salutes its
1937 opening and celebrates its 75th year -- opens on Wednesday, July 18
and runs through Wednesday, September 5. Racing will be conducted five
days per week from Wednesdays through Sundays, with one additional
racing program on Labor Day Monday, September 3.
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