Opening weekend Del Mar figures eclipse Hollywood's

Del Mar's "Bing Crosby Season" got up and running last weekend and the

running was good. The seaside track's new 15-day fall meet completed its first

week of action Sunday and the numbers, the racing and the general demeanor of

all on hand said something special appears to be going on.

Attendance numbers, when placed alongside the gate count from the

now-shuttered Hollywood Park during the same period last year, show a marked

jump on Del Mar's end. The fan total after three days at the shore was 29,076,

as opposed to the L.A. track's digits of 10,344. The daily average of 9,692 was

181 percent above Hollywood's 3,448.

Handle numbers were robust also -- across the board. On-track handle averaged

$1,249,348 per day, as opposed to Hollywood's $834,298, an increase of 49.7

percent. California's off-track wagering patrons (ITW and ADW customers)

averaged $4,040,916 (against $3,088,514), up 30.8 percent. Out-of-state betting

saw the average daily number at $5,002,388 (against $4,376,415), a rise of 14.3

percent.

Overall, Del Mar's daily average handle registered in at $10,766,286, which

stacked up 23.2 percent higher than the Los Angeles track's 2013 number of

$8,739,957.

There were nine races run on each of the first three days and, of the 27

total, 11 of them -- or 40 percent -- were run on the track's expanded turf

course that was installed back in the spring. Trainers and jockeys responded

positively to the grass strip, running an average of 9.73 horses per race on it

during the extended weekend.

The praise for the new course, now fully settled and deep-rooted, was near

universal. Hall of Fame rider Mike Smith went so far as the call it "brilliant;

one of the best courses I've ever ridden on." Smith added that the lush course

all but took the sound out of the horses running over it. "Like riding with

earplugs," he said.

Overall, including 16 races on the track's Polytrack -- which is in its final

meet before being replaced by dirt this coming winter -- the per-race field size

was 8.59 horses, a very solid number in the currently national environment of

short fields and a general lack of horses. Six out-of-state horses took

advantage of the track's ongoing "Ship and Win" program to race at the session

during the first three days.

"A very fine start to this new venture," said track president and CEO Joe

Harper. "Anyone who came these first three days went away feeling like they'd

been part of a special thing; there's just a good vibe about it all. The racing

was safe and first-rate and we really couldn't be more pleased."

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