3 Firms Back in Race for Del Mar Lease

In an unexpected decision, the state Race Track Leasing Commission on Friday reopened the process of selecting a firm to receive the lucrative lease to operate the Del Mar Race Track.

The commission postponed the much-awaited decision until late January to further study proposals from the Ogden-Nederlander group, operators of several East and Midwest race tracks; John Brunetti, owner of Florida’s Hialeah Park; and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, the track’s current operators.

In October, a commission subcommittee chose two finalists--the Ogden-Nederlander group and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club--from a field of six bidders and submitted their proposals to the entire commission.

More than 100 people packed the fairground directors’ room Friday to see the commission, a six-member board made up equally of Del Mar Fair Board directors and state officials, choose between the two suitors.

But when Rodney Blonien, Brunetti’s attorney, successfully argued before the commission that his client’s proposal was unfairly dismissed by the subcommittee, the commissioners voted to re-evaluate Brunetti’s offer along with those of the other two finalists.

Blonien, who, like the other finalists, expressed confidence that his client’s offer was the best, said, “It’s a horse race again.”