GOLDEN GLIMPSES

Del Mar Edition

New faces, an improved racing surface and ACT III of the Richard Mandella Show will be featured when the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club begins its 60th anniversary meeting on Wednesday, July 23.

"Bill Mott will be a regular here for the first time, even though he'll only have six horses, all for Allen Paulson," said Del Mar racing secretary Tom Knust. "And George Straight, the country-western singer, will have horses here trained by Michelle Mullins."

Other new shooters include Ray Lawrence from Kentucky, who usually heads to Saratoga, and perennial Northern California leader Jerry Hollendorfer. "He usually has only five or six horses here, but this year he'll have about 26," Knust said. "Overall, our program looks a lot stronger than last year. I would suspect we should have better racing this season."

Del Mar has been experimenting with stabilizers and sports grids on its training track, in an effort to find a more horse-friendly surface that does not ball up so readily and clod horses' hooves, increasing chances of injury.

"The main track had about 19 to 20 percent silt and clay last year, but this year it's been reduced to around 14 percent," said Knust. "That should help eliminate the balling up factor, without compromising the sheer strength." Approximately $500,000 of a $1-million improvement program was spent to restore and rejuvenate track surfaces.

Del Mar crews dug down 18 inches in many areas of the main track to stabilize the sub-base of the racing strip. Following that, 4,000 tons of high-grade Gillibrand sand was imported from Simi Valley and worked into the top six-inch profile all around its one-mile circumference, as well as throughout its two chutes. Track superintendent Steve Wood says the effort produced "the best sandy loam that money can buy."

Improvements throughout the 350-acre Del Mar Fairgrounds include those in barns, offices, shops, entranceways, lounges, plumbing, tote boards and fences. The Aug. 9 Pacific Classic highlights the 43-day meet, which ends on Sept. 10.

The Classic, third leg of the MGM Grand Classic Crown, carries a $500,000 participation bonus for horses which have run in at least two of these three races: the Santa Anita Handicap, the Hollywood Gold Cup the and Pacific Classic. The Classic should attract at least two familiar faces in Siphon, who defeated third-place Gentlemen in the Santa Anita Handicap, and Gentlemen, who turned the tables on runner-up Siphon in the Gold Cup. But don't expect Skip Away. He wasn't nominated.

The Classic, to be televised by ESPN, will determine whether Mandella can continue his monopoly on California's $1-million races. He was 1-2-3 in the Santa Anita Handicap with Siphon, Sandpit and Gentlemen, and altered the finish in the Gold Cup when Gentlemen, Siphon and Sandpit were 1-2-3.

"You're not going to get the excitement we had last year with Cigar, (before a record Del Mar crowd of 44,181), but it could be the rubber match between Siphon and Gentlemen," Knust said.

Interest among horsemen is always high when Del Mar opens. "Everybody always looks forward to moving on to the next meet, whether it's Santa Anita, Hollywood or Del Mar," said Knust, in his 14th season and sixth as racing secretary and handicapper at the seaside oval.

"But I think there's more interest in Del Mar because of the atmosphere, especially from the owners. They like to see their horses run here. The owners seem more relaxed because it's like a vacation. It's also a short meet, and the purses are good. It wasn't always that way, and remember, it's the purse money that drives the business."

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The Running Horse (https://www.isd1.com/)