Del Mar — it’s the land that tough times forgot

By Nick Canepa, UNION-TRIBUNE

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 at 8:10 p.m.

DEL MAR — How the years roll by like Whirlaway.

Deep inside the Depression, Bing cuts the ribbon on a new seaside racing joint and lures the Hollywood swells. Pearl Harbor and WWII hit the horsy set. Then come the happy days and the ’60s and unwanted wars and equine drug experts and inbreeding and off-track wagering and artificial dirt and recessions and racetracks closing, and an industry reels, taking a standing 8.
But then there’s Del Mar, the Teflon Track. Not impervious to pain, but there is no Kryptonite. Del Mar is England. Seems there always will be one.
In an imperfect world, in what cynics see as a dying industry, Del Mar breathes, its heart still pumps and people come to a perfect place in a great spot at the ideal time of year. Del Mar is a destination.
Like San Diego itself, it’s not a destination without problems: the controversial Polytrack, questionable stewards calls (see Del Mar Derby). But compared with some of its rivals, it once again proved Bill Gates-flush as the 37-day meet ended Wednesday. Fields may be smaller, but the handle and attendance remain steady.
So much so that Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper, a track fixture since 1977, now is convinced the Breeders’ Cup will come here soon. The turf course must be widened to accommodate a large field, and Harper says that’s going to happen.
“We’re going to start growing the grass now, somewhere east of here, where it’s warm, and we’re shooting to get it in place by 2012,” Harper was saying. “I’m confident we’re going to get the Breeders’ Cup. It wants to come here. The Breeders’ Cup could be here by 2013.
“We don’t have a long way to go to be where they want us to be. The facility’s perfect for a Breeders’ Cup. There are more hotel rooms around Del Mar than any track out there. We have the VIP areas, the suites. The weather’s ideal. It sets itself up for a Breeders’ Cup.”
Absolutely. This isn’t the NFL demanding a new stadium before San Diego can host another Super Bowl. The interesting thing will be how horsepeople feel about the Polytrack by then. Some like it; some hate it.
But in the few weeks since ace trainer/Polytrack disapprover Bob Baffert said he “probably” would bail on Del Mar next summer and ship his considerable stable back East, diligent work has been done on the fake surface, and things have gone smoothly. There has not been a horse fatality during a race on Polytrack since Aug. 14 (four during the entire meet).
“Bob’s a good friend, has been for years, and he doesn’t have any unexpressed thoughts,” Harper said. “I hope he comes back. He can’t argue with the success he’s had this year.”
The difference?
“It ain’t dirt,” Harper went on. “That’s it. They just have to know what’s going on with it. Kind of like the stock market, good news, bad news, knowing how to work with it. No matter how good or how bad the track is, we want it to be consistent, and for the last two-thirds of this meet, it’s been consistent.
“We haven’t had a fatality in awhile. I think we’ve found a way to make the track as forgiving as possible. There are consistency problems with dirt; over the years I’ve had more complaints about dirt. One day it’s too fast, one day it’s too slow, one day it’s sandy, one day it’s cuppy. These things upset the horsemen. We will have a greater consistency than dirt.”
As for the future, Harper’s crystal ball is cloudy. The problem with racing isn’t Del Mar, but elsewhere. Santa Anita’s ownership is coming out of bankruptcy. Hollywood Park might not be around after 2011. The colony, once thriving, is dwindling.
“You have to look at racing in California,” Harper said. “It’s imperative we come up with a racing calendar that’s actually realistic in the not-to-distant future, when there will be three tracks in California — Golden Gate, Santa Anita and Del Mar. Horsemen have to come up with something good for racing overall.
“There are fewer horses. Once we had 2,200 in here; now we have 1,800. The foal population is dropping every year. Four-days-a-week racing probably is in the future everywhere, and I think we can do that and still put on a competitive card that maximizes the handle.”
For now, Harper’s satisfied. If he’s had to bring in rock groups and have family days to make racing more palatable to the masses, he’s had no problem with it. The good at this meet has outweighed the bad by plenty.
“I wish Zenyatta could race here every week,” he sighed. “But we’re up in attendance, and not many tracks can say that. Fewer races hurt our handle, but the average per race is right there where we were last year.
“We’ve been fortunate. I’d like to tell you our team has come up with all the right answers, but we’re in the perfect spot with a short meet in a vacation area. There’s a lot of turmoil in this industry. Not at Del Mar.”
Of course not.