Season With Too Many Fall Guys : Accidents Dominated Otherwise Successful Del Mar Year

From a business standpoint, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s 50th season will go down as the most successful in history.

Del Mar set a yearly attendance record of 1,491,245 (including off track sites), which is second to Saratoga, and ended up with the highest average daily handle of any race track in the country, $7,320,623.

But jockeys and racing experts will probably remember it as an accident waiting to happen.

Racing writer Bill Murray, who has not missed a day at Del Mar since 1974, said he has never seen anything like it.

“It seemed like only one race in three was a normal one,” Murray said. “There were either horses being left in the gate, horses going down or jockeys going down.”

Gary Stevens, Del Mar’s leading rider in 1987 and 1988, can relate. So, too, can Robbie Davis, apprentice Tony Guymon, Amir Cedeno, Robbie Davis, Fernando Valenzuela and Laffit Pincay. Stevens’ injury, though, seemed to be the unkindest of them all.

Just when it appeared Stevens was on his way to a third consecutive Del Mar riding title--he was tied with Eddie Delahoussaye at 41 victories--he was thrown off Bin Of Ice in the third race Friday and suffered a broken hand and broken wrist, ending his season.

Ask the jockeys to explain the mishaps, and you’ll get a hundred different answers. But all agree that this meeting has been the most painful one in a long time.

“I think it’s too much racing (by the horses),” said Davis, who went down four times this season but was never seriously hurt. “There’s a lot of pressure on the horses every day and night.”

“The riders are more competitive here, and the racing is a lot closer,” Delahoussaye said. “I think the combination of those two things makes for a lot of accidents.”

Joe Harper, Del Mar’s general manager, said: “I wish I knew what caused it, because then we could do something about it.”

Delahoussaye said he wished he could have done something about his five-day suspension that almost cost him the riding title, which he captured with 44 winning mounts.

“It was just bad luck,” Delahoussaye said of the incident that led to his suspension. “I had already committed, and there was nothing I could do. I could have appealed it, but I figure you’re going to wind up getting your days off anyway.”

His bad luck and nasty head cold--which stuck around for almost half the meeting--notwithstanding, Delahoussaye said he could not complain too much. He won as many stakes races this year--five--than in the previous two combined.

“Any time you’re in the top ten riders out here, you’re doing pretty good,” he said. “The competition is so tough in California.”

Jockeys weren’t the only ones who had a tough time--favorites were beaten more than usual.

They won only 25.8% (100 out of 387) of the time, which is the second lowest figure in Del Mar history, breaking the previous low of 25.2% in 1955.

“Del Mar has always been a graveyard for odds-on favorites,” said Murray, a writer for Newsweek who has written four novels on racing. “For a bettor, this has been the strangest of years. Horses that can’t win anywhere else seem to be able to win here.”

Lively One and Payant, trained by Charlie Whittingham, seem to be best examples of that.

Lively One, a 4-year-old colt, had gone more than a year without winning a stakes race before he won the San Diego and Cabrillo handicaps this summer. Payant, 5-year-old son of Cipayo, had never won in eight attempts at stakes races before taking the Sept. 5 Del Mar Invitational.

Hawkster, a 3-year-old colt trained by Ron McAnally, could also fit into that category. After winning just two of 13 races on dirt, Hawkster, a fifth-place finisher in the Kentucky Derby, was undefeated in two Del Mar grass appearances, the first on opening day in the second division of the July 26 Oceanside Stakes and the next on Aug. 20 in the Del Mar Derby.

Other horses, trainers and jockeys who enjoyed themselves this summer at Del Mar include:

--On The Line, a 5-year-old colt trained by D. Wayne Lukas, won the Bing Crosby Handicap, the Budweiser/Breeders’ Cup and was named horse of the meeting.

--French Seventyfive, 2-year-old colt trained by Bill Canney was undefeated in two races. The biggest of those victories coming in the Graduation Stakes.

--Drag Race, a 2-year-old gelding trained by Steve Miyadi, won the Del Mar Futurity Wednesday, finished third in the De Anza Stakes and second in the Balboa Stake.

--Whittingham, who added to his lead for Del Mar career stakes victories with six this summer, has 64. Lukas, who won four, is second with 34 stakes.

--McAnally led all trainers with 17 victories, including three stakes.

--Robbie Davis. In his first Del Mar meeting, Davis distinguished himself as one of the better jockeys in California by winning seven stakes races, more than any another rider.

“I always wanted to be out here,” Davis said. “This has been the turning point of my California experience and probably the turning point of my riding career.”

All this for a guy who was supposed to be racing at Saratoga this summer.

“My agent (Jeff Franklin) couldn’t understand that I wanted to ride here,” said Davis, 28. “I’m from New York, and he thought I belonged there. I almost went back there, too, because I wasn’t really sure how it would go here.

“If I’d have won half as many as I did, I’d be content. My agent had tears in his eyes when Payant won the Del Mar Handicap.”

Davis said he almost had tears in his eyes when he rode Whittingham’s Lively One to victory.

“Any time I can win a stakes race for Mr. Whittingham, it’s an honor,” Davis said. “That one was real special.”

What lies ahead for a track, which was built in 1937 by the Works Projects Administration and partially funded by Bing Crosby? A number of improvements.

--A new 15,000-seat grandstand, which will begin construction in 1992 and cost $30 million.

--A new satellite wagering system that is scheduled to be in place within two years.

--A new receiving barn.

--Expansion of the infield area.

--Replacing the remainder of the barns.

--New freeway off-ramps that would reduce the traffic in and out.

“There’s definitely a need for improvement here,” Harper said. “This plant is old. Fresh paints and having the carpet cleaned doesn’t always do it. It’s a healthy problem to have when you don’t have enough room to take care of your patrons. But we’re in excellent shape financially to proceed ahead.”

Murray just hopes they don’t go too far.

“Del Mar has that wonderful charm,” he said. “I think a far more modest renovation would have filled the bill. I hope it doesn’t go the way of Hollywood Park. It seems to moving from tranquility to grandiosity.”