Thanksgiving Day racing returns to Del Mar this fall, part of the seaside oval’s 13th Bing Crosby Season. The 13-day meet begins a week later than last year, on Friday, November 7, and concludes on Sunday, November 29. In between there’s a 15-race stakes schedule offering $2.1 million in purses and highlighted by the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival over Thanksgiving weekend.
Del Mar jumps right into the stakes action with the $100,000 Let It Ride Stakes on opening day. It’s a one-mile grass event for 3-year-olds. Opening weekend continues with a couple of Cal-bred stakes races beginning with the seven furlong, $100,000 The Chosen Vron Stakes for 3-year-olds and up on Saturday, November 8. It’s the ladies turn on Sunday, November 9 when fillies and mares square-off in the seven-furlong, $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes.
Week two of the Bing Crosby season shines the spotlight on the juveniles with the seven furlong $100,000 Desi Arnaz Stakes for the fillies on Saturday, November 15 and the first graded stake of the meet, the G3 Bob Hope, also a seven-furlong sprint, on Sunday, November 16.
The G3 Native Diver Stakes highlights the racing in week three. The 1 1/8 mile test generally features the top handicap horses on the grounds. It was won last year by Nevada Beach. The Native Diver on Saturday, November 21 is the last of the dirt stakes races until closing day.
That’s because the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival is next on the menu. It begins Thanksgiving Day with the $100,000 Red Carpet Stakes, a 1 3/8 mile grass marathon for fillies and mares. It continues Friday, November 27 with an even longer race, the 1 ½ mile G2 Hollywood Turf Cup for 3-year-olds and up.
Del Mar serves up a triple header of graded stakes action on Saturday, November 28 with the G1 Hollywood Derby, the G2 Seabiscuit and the G3 Jimmy Durante.
The Hollywood Derby is a mile and an eighth on the grass for top 3-year-olds. Last year trainer Chad Brown shipped in Salamis to win the $300,000 race. The Seabiscuit features quality 3-year-olds and up going a mile and a sixteenth on the turf. It was won last year by 68-1 longshot Call Sign Seven. The Jimmy Durante is a chance for 2-year-old fillies to shine. It’s a mile on the grass captured by another Chad Brown trainee, Just Aloof, in 2025.
The Bing Crosby season goes out with a bang with four stakes races on closing day, November 29. Highlighting the agenda is the G1 Matriarch for fillies and mares going one mile on the turf.
The undercard consists of the G3 Cecil B. DeMille for top 2-year-olds. There’s also the lone dirt stakes race of the weekend, the G3 Bayakoa for fillies and mares going a mile on the main track. And the $100,000 Stormy Liberal turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up.
Racing will be conducted on Friday, Saturday and Sunday during the Bing Crosby season except for the final week when they also run on Thursday. First post daily is 12:30 p.m except on Thanksgiving Day when the racing begins at 11 a.m. Tickets are on sale now.