With a balmy 75° day, we could not picture a more perfect spot to be than by the sea for the Fall Racing Festival at Del Mar Racetrack.

"With a growing reputation that puts it at the forefront of the nation’s year-end race meets, Del Mar will present the fifth edition of its fall racing season starting this Friday for a four-week, 16-day run that will bring classy Thoroughbreds back to the seaside oval through Sunday, December 2."
We started our visit with a very interesting Newcomers' Seminar where we could "Learn valuable horse racing information including understanding the odds, easy handicapping methods, money management and insider racing tips. Pick up helpful materials and receive free expert selections from host Frank Scatoni and Today's Racing Digest."
Frank was surprisingly interesting and really did explain a great deal to us. We took what we learned and headed to the paddock to check out the horses.









While we are not gambling sorts, we did enjoy mental betting and did pretty well. Here's a video clip so you can experience the thrill of it all as well.



After getting our fill of racing, we ventured indoors to get our fill on the Track's history. When Del Mar opened in 1937, Bing Crosby (builder along with partners, actors Pat O'Brien, Gary Cooper, Joe E. Brown, Charles S. Howard and Oliver Hardy) was at the gate to personally greet the fans. On August 12, 1938, the Thoroughbred Club hosted a $25,000 winner-take-all match race between Seabiscuit and the colt, Ligaroti. In an era when horse racing ranked second in popularity with Americans to Major League Baseball, the match race was much written and talked about and was the first nationwide broadcast of a Thoroughbred race by NBC radio. In front of a record crowd that helped make the fledgling Del Mar race track a success, Seabiscuit won by a nose.
From its opening until 1980, the horses would be walked right to the beach where they would swim for physical exercise. This would have been an amazing sight to see.

The track begins each racing day with Bing Crosby's rendition of its iconic theme. “There’s a smile on every face, and a winner in each race,” he sings, “where the turf meets the surf at Del Mar.” We may not have been winners but we were definitely smiling.