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Horse racing notes: Del Mar will host next two Breeders’ Cups

It's the first time the track, which begins its 13-day fall meet Friday, will host the event in consecutive years

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will host the 2024 and 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, the first time the seaside track has done so in consecutive years. (Courtesy of Benoit Photo)
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will host the 2024 and 2025 Breeders’ Cup World Thoroughbred Championships, the first time the seaside track has done so in consecutive years. (Courtesy of Benoit Photo)
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SANTA ANITA LEADERS

(Final standings)

JOCKEYS / WINS

Juan Hernandez / 24

Umberto Rispoli / 20

Antonio Fresu / 19

Ramon Vazquez / 12

Hector Berrios / 10

TRAINERS / WINS

Mark Glatt / 12

Philip D’Amato / 11

Peter Miller / 10

Three tied / 9

WEEKEND STAKES AT DEL MAR

Friday

• $75,000 Let It Ride Stakes, 3-year-olds, 1 mile (turf)

Saturday

• $75,000 Kathryn Crosby Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up, 1 mile (turf)

Sunday

• $100,000 Betty Grable Stakes, fillies and mares, 3-year-olds and up bred in California, 7 furlongs

DOWN THE STRETCH

• It was announced this week that Del Mar will host the Breeders’ Cup in 2025, marking the first time the track Where the Turf Meets the Surf will host the event in consecutive years. Del Mar, which will have hosted the World Thoroughbred Championships four times after the 2025 edition, is hosting next year’s event on Nov. 1-2. Santa Anita and Churchill Downs are the only other tracks to host the Breeders’ Cup in consecutive years. Santa Anita hosted in 2008-09 and 2012-14 and Churchill Downs was the site in 2010-11.

• Del Mar begins its 13-day Bing Crosby fall meet Friday with an eight-race card highlighted by the $75,000 Let It Ride Stakes for 3-year-olds at 1 mile on the turf. The 10th Bing Crosby season will include a pair of $300,000 Grade I grass races on closing weekend (Dec. 2-3) – the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds at 9 furlongs on the turf on Dec. 2 and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 mile on the grass on Dec. 3. Overall, Del Mar will offer 13 major stakes and two overnights that are worth more than $2 million in purses.

• Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens loves the time of year when the track’s four-week fall meet falls. “Where we’re laid out on the calendar is perfect,” he told Jim Charvat of Del Mar publicity. “There is just not that many graded opportunities at this time of the year, so it becomes attractive. Especially to have a 3-year-old race like the Hollywood Derby in December and then the Matriarch, a Grade I for fillies.” The Derby and Matriarch are two of the stakes races that comprise the Turf Festival during the final two weeks of the meet.

— Art Wilson