Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Breeders Cup horses know what they're doing

“It may look like chaos out there, but it’s well choreographed.”

Morning workouts at Del Mar
Morning workouts at Del Mar

With a worldwide audience larger than America’s Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes), international racehorse breeders show off their finest on November 3 and 4. Over 45,000 fans, owners, and trainers will be in attendance at Del Mar, as it hosts the 2017 world championship of horse racing — the Breeders Cup.

Past Event

Breeders Cup at Del Mar

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, hosting for the first time, waited three years for the cup to come to town, after spending millions of dollars improving and widening the course. A visit to morning workouts on October 31 showed the Thoroughbred Club has turned over the entire operation of the track to the Breeders Cup organization.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Media trucks, race logistic trailers, and two-story party tents fill the parking lot just west of the grandstands. This is not your typical coastal-casual Del Mar track: this was a well-oiled machine, akin to the Super Bowl taking over a local NFL stadium.

Sam Wright, from Anacortes, Washington, was one of many watching the morning workouts on October 31. Although a traveling horse player (he goes to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, next) this has been on his bucket list for years. “It’s the Breeders Cup at Del Mar!” he said excitedly. “I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

The two days of racing will be a “crap shoot,” says Wright, as many of the bettors will be here to scope out the horses that will come into maturity during next year’s racing season. “It’s not about whether a horse wins or loses, it’s how did they compete?” he said.

Sam Wright

Describing the competition among horses and trainers, “You don’t have to have the best horse in the race,” said Wright. “You have to have a horse’s best race.”

When asked if he’s a big bettor, Wright hemmed and hawed a little. He’s obviously not a two-dollars-to-show wagerer. I rephrased my question, asking if he’s ever filled out an IRS W2-G form (required for payouts larger than $10,000). “Several times,” he said.

With horses working out and trotting around the track in each direction, Dan Leary, the director of communications for the Breeders Cup, says, “It may look like chaos out there, but it’s well choreographed.”

“Some will run fast, or slow,” said Leary. “The ones that have been here before will run full speed right along the rail. Other horses may just stand on the track, sniffing the breeze, getting acclimated, spotting their friends. But they all know what they are doing.”

The Thoroughbred Club’s Fall Bing Crosby Season runs for its third year, after the Breeders Cup, through November 26.

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

How to make a hit Christmas song

Feeling is key, but money helps too
Next Article

94th Aero Squadron – French farmhouse still works

Try the antinoise –tomatoes with olive oil dressing plus capers, garlic, toasted coriander seeds, basil, spring onions, salted anchovies
Morning workouts at Del Mar
Morning workouts at Del Mar

With a worldwide audience larger than America’s Triple Crown (the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont Stakes), international racehorse breeders show off their finest on November 3 and 4. Over 45,000 fans, owners, and trainers will be in attendance at Del Mar, as it hosts the 2017 world championship of horse racing — the Breeders Cup.

Past Event

Breeders Cup at Del Mar

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, hosting for the first time, waited three years for the cup to come to town, after spending millions of dollars improving and widening the course. A visit to morning workouts on October 31 showed the Thoroughbred Club has turned over the entire operation of the track to the Breeders Cup organization.

Sponsored
Sponsored

Media trucks, race logistic trailers, and two-story party tents fill the parking lot just west of the grandstands. This is not your typical coastal-casual Del Mar track: this was a well-oiled machine, akin to the Super Bowl taking over a local NFL stadium.

Sam Wright, from Anacortes, Washington, was one of many watching the morning workouts on October 31. Although a traveling horse player (he goes to Dubai, Saudi Arabia, next) this has been on his bucket list for years. “It’s the Breeders Cup at Del Mar!” he said excitedly. “I’ve been waiting for this for years.”

The two days of racing will be a “crap shoot,” says Wright, as many of the bettors will be here to scope out the horses that will come into maturity during next year’s racing season. “It’s not about whether a horse wins or loses, it’s how did they compete?” he said.

Sam Wright

Describing the competition among horses and trainers, “You don’t have to have the best horse in the race,” said Wright. “You have to have a horse’s best race.”

When asked if he’s a big bettor, Wright hemmed and hawed a little. He’s obviously not a two-dollars-to-show wagerer. I rephrased my question, asking if he’s ever filled out an IRS W2-G form (required for payouts larger than $10,000). “Several times,” he said.

With horses working out and trotting around the track in each direction, Dan Leary, the director of communications for the Breeders Cup, says, “It may look like chaos out there, but it’s well choreographed.”

“Some will run fast, or slow,” said Leary. “The ones that have been here before will run full speed right along the rail. Other horses may just stand on the track, sniffing the breeze, getting acclimated, spotting their friends. But they all know what they are doing.”

The Thoroughbred Club’s Fall Bing Crosby Season runs for its third year, after the Breeders Cup, through November 26.

Comments
Sponsored

The latest copy of the Reader

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

A history of the house on the hill at Ivanhoe Ranch

From Apolinaria Lorenzana to Jane Goodall
Next Article

Holiday Market At Petco Park, Will Smith’s Dance in the Darkness Tour, Light Shows, Snowfall, Caroling

Events December 12-December 13, 2024
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

This Week’s Reader This Week’s Reader