Braced for Thunder of Hoofs, Fans

And away they go!

All over Del Mar, people are putting their ears to the ground to capture the strange rumblings headed their way.

It’s the sound of horses hoofs, thoroughbreds to be exact, the signal that yet another season at the Del Mar Race Track is about to begin.

Starting today, the affluent seaside community will play host to the 50th season of horse racing at the track that bears its name, a tradition that is both embraced and endured by the city’s 5,000 residents.

“From now to September, this place becomes a racing town,” said Dan Smith, director of marketing for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. “In the barber shops, the supermarkets, in the restaurants downtown, people are talking about racing.

“In a few days they’ll be saying things like, ‘Have you been to the track?’ ‘How did you do?’ It’s a topic of conversation that just takes over the town.”

For longtime Del Mar residents like Jan McMillan, however, the start of racing season evokes a different feeling.

“You can just about say bye-bye to the Big Bear market,” said McMillan, a Del Mar City Council member and deputy mayor. During the madness of racing season, even a trip to the supermarket can be a trying experience--especially a store on busy Via de la Valle just east of the freeway.

“You have to plan your days so you don’t hit the heavy traffic of people going to and coming from the track,” she said. “But, if you don’t have the luxury of planning, you have to tolerate the long lines, the crowds, the insane traffic.”

Along with the county fair and Grand Prix car races, the horse season is one of three major events to which Del Mar plays host each year.

Invasion on City

Horse-racing season means trainloads and planeloads of big-city types and small-town boys, the wealthy (and not-so-wealthy) ramblers and gamblers who follow the horse-race circuit like migrant workers chasing rich seasonal crop harvests.

There are Hollywood movie stars and big-time horse owners, notable jockeys and political wanna-bes, many of whom crowd into the prestigious Turf Club on opening day.

The only visitors who won’t be accommodated this year are undocumented aliens who have infiltrated the track in past years.

In 1986, Immigration and Naturalization Service agents raided the track early one morning and rounded up 123 undocumented aliens working illegally as stall attendants, forcing the track to close for a day.

A year later, the Immigration Reform and Control Act instituted stiff penalties for people hiring aliens.

“We don’t expect any more problems this year,” said Emanuel Steenbakker of the U. S. Border Patrol, the agent in charge of the Del Mar area. “Just this morning we met with track officials, and we think they’ve taken care of the problem.”

The agency will conduct cursory inspections throughout the racing season, Steenbakker said.

“If we get a tip that the practice of hiring illegal aliens is continuing, we’ll be back,” he said.

24,000 Fans Expected

On opening day, more than 24,000 race fans are expected to jam the track, vying for their share of the $300,000 daily purse.

“The money is here at Del Mar,” Smith said. “And that attracts the good horses and the heavy rollers.”

And, of course, the out-of-towners.

“Beginning right now, the town starts filling up with a lot of people who come specifically for the racing season,” said Bill Smalley, a broker with Grubb & Ellis brokerage firm in Del Mar.

“They’re the trainers, owners, people who work the tracks, the parking lots, the pari-mutuel windows and in the barns. They fill the restaurants and cruise down the streets. The place becomes a zoo.”

Many visitors stay for the seven-week racing season, spending anywhere from $10,000 to rent a beachside condominium to as much as $50,000 for a luxury home in one of Del Mar’s best neighborhoods.

Some visitors like the place so much, they decide to stay.

“It got so expensive renting an oceanfront condo each season it behooved us to buy a place of our own,” said Gary Jones, a horse trainer who lives in Los Angeles.

But there’s another reason for buying a piece of the Del Mar turf.

Sport vs. Business

“Everybody comes to Del Mar because of the beach atmosphere,” Jones said. “It’s just more of a fun place to be than a lot of other tracks. Down here, horse racing is more of a sport. Up in L.A., it’s a business.”

But the number of Del Mar summer visitors associated with the track is on the decline, realtors say.

“We just don’t get the numbers like we used to; the invasion isn’t so dramatic,” said Jim Newcomb, manager of the rental department at Dave Stubbs Real Estate in Solana Beach.

“With the advent of off-track betting last year here, people don’t have to come down for the whole season, maybe just a day or two.

“Two years ago, we rented between 50 and 60 places to people associated with the track. This year, that number has fallen to less than a dozen.”

That fact suits people like Jan McMillan just fine. She rarely attends opening-day festivities, preferring to leave that to race aficionados.

Give and Take

Actually, the deputy mayor is one of a number of Del Mar residents who don’t always quietly endure the annual invasion of fair-goers, race car fanatics and race track daily-doublers.

“People see Del Mar as a small, low-key place where you can still enjoy the beach without the hassle of a lot of crowds, and it’s the goal of the City Council to keep it that way,” she said.

“I have no objection to visitors enjoying the town, people from the track or otherwise. I just don’t want to see us overbuild.”

According to Margie Doveri, executive director of the Del Mar Chamber of Commerce, the start of horse racing season highlights the philosophical differences between the chamber and many council members.

“It’s not like we don’t speak to each other when we pass on the street, but we’re usually on opposite ends of the growth issue.”

Doveri’s argument is that Del Mar needs its horse races.

“If local businessmen had to solely rely on residents for their welfare, they’d starve,” she said. “They need the people who come down from L.A. on the train or the ones who drive in from El Cajon. This is the time to get the business, because, after the season, things die.

“We want to see Del Mar become the Carmel of Southern California, a place people know about, a jewel. But there’s some people who want it to stay a sleepy little seaside village.”

50TH MEETING

Track is ready to make more history. Sports.