San Luis Rey Downs considers Del Mar meet successful

The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club meet has been considered successful in general for San Luis Rey Downs Thoroughbred Training Center trainers and horses.

“I think we did fine,” said San Luis Rey Downs general manager Leigh Ann Howard. “I think it went pretty well.”

During the 43-day Del Mar meet which began July 19 and ran through September 6, San Luis Rey Downs horses made a total of 123 starts. They earned ten wins, 13 second-place finishes, and nine third-place results. The total earnings of San Luis Rey Downs horses was $537,250.

“I just thing it was successful for our trainers,” Howard said.

Trainer Peter Miller had six of those wins while trainer Paula Capestro won twice. Dan Dunham and Laura Wohlers each had one win. The Del Mar meet was followed by the Fairplex Park meet in Pomona, and four San Luis Rey Downs trainers — Wohlers, D. Wayne Baker, Neil French, and Mick Ruiz — had winners during the first week of Fairplex.

Pending California Coastal Commission approval, Del Mar will switch to a synthetic dirt surface for 2007, but Howard notes that San Luis Rey Downs’ natural dirt surface doesn’t match any current tracks. “Our track surface is kept kind of in between Santa Anita surface and Del Mar surface,” she said. “I think that probably helps them at both Santa Anita and Del Mar.”

San Luis Rey Downs is owned by Magna Entertainment Corporation, which has not notified Howard of any plans to switch the training facility’s surface to a synthetic one. “I don’t know what MEC’s going to do yet,” Howard said.