Del Mar Opens With Record Crowd

There were over 43,000 people at Del Mar yesterday on opening day, a new record. I was watching to see how the track was playing and after the first race, I thought that it was going to be like last year. In the 1 mile event on the Polytrack, two horses sped away from the field and burned each other up, allowing the closers to come like a giant wave from the Pacific through the stretch as the two frontrunners tired badly.

I think that it was just too fast an early pace because in the ninth and final race of the day, a maiden claiming race, the winner went straight to the front and led all the way. Closers bias? Not sure yet as one day of racing is not enough to really come to any conclusion. The final times for the races on the Poly were slow, but the early fractions were not too bad. We are going to have to see some more races to acertain whether there is any type of bias present. Of course, we will attempt to take advantage of anything we do notice as far as surface is concerned.

We had a total of five plays yesterday winning with two. Our 4th race selection Carona Time would up dead-heating for the win after a very wide trip into the stretch. Carona Time paid $5.40 to win. The other winner was a good one, Dixie Chatter in the eighth race, the second division of the Oceanside Stakes. Dixie Chatter paid $15.00.

We look to have at least three solid plays a day over at Del Mar. Sign up for a membership package at www.vegasturfandsports.com.