DEL MAR – At noon yesterday, retiree Eloise de la Garza plopped down in her striped beach chair, lounged blissfully beneath the sun and waited for the next wave of action to splash her way.
CHARLIE NEUMAN / Union-Tribune
Jockey Michael Baze (left) and other jockeys walked to the paddock to prepare for the fourth race yesterday.
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But the 55-year-old wasn't on the oceanfront. De la Garza and a handful of eager horse-racing fans were sprinkled along the edge of the Del Mar Race Track for the last meet of the 67th summer thoroughbred season.
Opening day brought record crowds. Closing day brought relaxed ones.
The first day of the races “is just a zoo,” said de la Garza, who has visited the Del Mar track with her husband for the past two decades.
A crowd of 17,000 was expected at yesterday's races, said Dan Smith, the Thoroughbred Club's director of media.
That figure could be seen as a quaint-sized group compared with the July 19 opening attendance of 42,005. This year's opening-day crowd was the second-largest in the race's history, after the 44,181 who packed in to see Cigar race in the Pacific Classic a decade ago.
“I couldn't be happier with the attendance,” said Joe Harper, the Thoroughbred Club's president, CEO and general manager. He said attendance shot up after the July heat wave ended.
De la Garza, a recently retired Walt Disney World executive, has attended five other closing days at Del Mar. This year, the San Fernando Valley resident drove at least 90 minutes to the Del Mar races, once or twice a week.
She said she prefers to get a seat in the stands on opening day to avoid the congested sections alongside the track. But on closing day, she knew she'd find enough room to set up her folding chair near the track, where she could snap pictures of the horses running by.
Closing day has a different flavor from the season's kick-off, she said.
“It's very special because it's sad to see the meet end,” de la Garza said. “But to see the horses of the future is exciting.”
The last day featured the Grade II Del Mar Futurity race for 2-year-old colts. The race can offer an early look at up-and-comers for the Kentucky Derby, de la Garza said.
Hours before the first race at 2 p.m., other early birds found pockets of shade around the track, where they scoured tip sheets and picked their favorites.
James Spence, 76, found some shadowed respite near vendors selling Kettle Corn and Hawaiian ice cones. Spence pensively looked through the afternoon racing menu, as passers-by moseyed toward the stands.
“I always like the last day,” said Spence, who attended 10 of the 43 racing days this year. “Opening day is so large.”
The San Diego retiree said there's no hurry or complicated strategy to placing his bets. He arrives a few hours early, checks the board for the favorites, then decides his wager.
“I feel lucky,” Spence said. “But sometimes, it doesn't work out my way.”
Spence was one of 700,192 who attended this year's races. That figure is down 2 percent from last year's on-track attendance, Smith said. The on-track handle – the total amount of money bet during the season – hit $100,685,984, with an average daily handle of $2,397,285.
The handle for the season from all sources, on-track and off-track, was $537,870,107.
But it wasn't just a charmed feeling that pulled Spence to the races on closing day.
“I had to beat the crowd,” he said. “And get a good parking space.”
