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Del Mar Closes Summer Racing Season With Ice Cube, Futurity


Take a plane, take a train, take a car because this is the closing weekend for the Del Mar summer horseracing season.

The gates opened at noon Saturday for the Del Mar Debutante and the John C. Mabee Stakes. The Del Mar Debutante is a race for two-year-old fillies with a $300,000 purse. Brill and Bellafina and Bob Baffert’s Mother Mother are favored to win. “She’s doing everything right, and I’m happy with her,” Baffert said of Mother Mother.

Combined, Baffert has 20 victories in the championship races for two-year-olds at the Del Mar summer meeting and swept the Triple Crown with American Pharoh in 2015 and Justify earlier this year.

Cambodia is a favorite for the $200,000 John C. Mabee Stakes.

The first post is 2 p.m. Saturday.

The eclectic Ocean Beach band Slightly Stoopid will play an eclectic set after racing is finished.

On Sunday, the Del Mar Derby and the Del Mar Juvenile Turf will be the highlights. The Del Mar Derby is a $250,000 race for three-year-olds. River Boyne, who has won five of his last six races, is favored to win. Two-year-olds will again take to the track for the $100,000 Del Mar Juvenile Turf.

The gates open at noon and the first post is at 2 p.m.

After racing is finished, rapper Ice Cube will do a free concert Sunday evening.

Sunday will also be the last Daybreak at Del Mar where early risers can eat breakfast while watching the horses do their morning workouts. 

Closing day, Labor Day, will be marked by the Del Mar Futurity, the Del Mar Juvenile Fillies Turf and the C.E.R.F. Stakes. 

After the $1.2 million Instagrand was pulled from the race, Baffert’s Roadster is the likely favorite for the $300,000 Futurity. Baffert has won the Futurity a record 13 times.

The gates open at noon and the first post will be at 2 p.m. on Labor Day. 

Racing will return to Del Mar with the start of the Bing Crosby Season in November.

Photo Credit: Getty Images
Source: NBC San Diego

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