Satellite Betting Gives Del Mar Fans Relief in Space Race

A day at the Del Mar races traditionally has begun with Bing Crosby’s soothing voice and ended with Bing Crosby’s soothing voice, and virtually everything about the experience was, in a word . . .

. . . soothing.

Del Mar was not a race track so much as a vacation destination. It was a place where the turf met the surf . . . OK, play it again, Bing . . . and horses just happened to run. A national park could not have asked for a more pastoral setting.

Del Mar, the track, was like Brigadoon, appearing from the mists for a few weeks of racing and then disappearing.

Ultimately, progress had to have an impact on this sleepy little meeting.

Freeways would ultimately come and bring people with them. These people came to more than just the race track. They came to the county, because the county was a little like the race track.

Soothing . . . and inviting.

The offshoot of all this was that crowds began to get larger and larger. This was good for business. The betting handle increased, purses increased, and the quality of horses increased.

But what happened was that it was not such a soothing and inviting experience anymore. The race track became one more place to battle traffic, one more place to hunt for parking places, one more place to stand in line, one more place for elbow-to-elbow jostling.

In short, Del Mar was getting to be a lot like so many places folks were trying to escape.

For the last couple of years, in fact, I have avoided the race track. Crowds were getting progressively larger. Traffic was becoming an exercise in restraint. I was even irked by the length of time I had to stand in line to make my $2 investments in futility.

It had gotten so that it was not much fun . . . and not very soothing.

And then along came progress of a different nature.

Off-track betting.

I fully understand that this gimmick was introduced because it would be a money-making convenience to California bettors, who undoubtedly have been spoiled by having to walk all the way to their corner stores to buy an opportunity to win millions of dollars.

But it occurred to me that off-track betting also might restore Del Mar to at least a measure of its traditionally soothing state.

After all, bettors can play the Del Mar races at Santa Anita and Hollywood Park as well as in Pomona, San Bernardino, Ventura, Bakersfield, Santa Barbara, Santa Maria, Lancaster and Indio. If all they care about is getting a bet down, let ‘em stay up north, and let us enjoy a better day at the races.

Of course, this would have a negative influence in terms of direct income from the Del Mar meet.

Through the first 11 days, attendance was down 20% and parimutuel handle was down 27%. This was predictable, but overall attendance--on-track plus off-track--was up 56% and handle was up 64%. Del Mar gets a part of that off-track handle, plus whatever income it derives from being an off-track site when other tracks are running.

Handle was not of much interest to me personally, but attendance was. It translated to less traffic and shorter lines, at least in theory.

And so it was time for an exploratory pilgrimage to the horse races.

Traffic was almost nonexistent, though I arrived a comfortable 25 minutes before the first race. I suppose I should confess that local knowledge long ago steered me away from taking the Via de la Valle exit from Interstate 5.

Once inside the grounds, I was pleased to find that the human gridlock of years past had abated. The paddock area was more the stroll in the park it used to be than the bump-and-stumble it had become. Lines were not nonexistent, nor were they interminable. In quest of a beverage, I was discouraged by a 10-deep line . . . but walked around a corner and purchased the same brand at the same price without standing in any line at all.

One of the nicest discoveries had to do with actually watching the races. You know, getting out in the fresh air and watching them on the track rather than on one of the ubiquitous television monitors.

The last few times I went to the track, back before off-track betting, the best way to see the horses was on one of those monitors. To see horses in the flesh, you needed to stand in a lengthy line for grandstand seats or stand on your tiptoes in a crowd of people that had to be heaven for pickpockets.

This time, buying seats in the clubhouse grandstand was a piece of cake, and there was no struggle through aisles and concourses to get from those seats to make a bet or buy a hot dog.

I hope this is not sounding like a consumer report, but it was nice to find that a unique twist of progress had actually caused a nice little throwback to the better days of the past.

It was soothing.