Experimental Twilight Racing at Del Mar Today

While not quite following the lead of the Chicago Cubs out of the daylight and into the night, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club will approach the edge of darkness today.

First post for an experimental twilight program, the track’s first, will be 4 p.m. The card will be shortened to eight races, the seventh being the featured Honey Fox Handicap, because of the flirtation with dusk. The last race is expected to be run at 7:25.

“If we’re successful, I think we might be interested in a lighted program,” said Dan Smith, Del Mar’s director of marketing and media. “But I don’t think we’d do it like Hollywood Park and go 7 to 11 (p.m.). I think we’d be more likely to start at 4 and not worry about running out of light with a nine-race program.”

At present, Del Mar has no lights for racing.