"This is a 'locals meeting,'" Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Josh Rubinstein told the San Diego Union-Tribune last fall, describing the Bing Crosby Season as "an ideal time to enjoy Del Mar in a comfortable setting."
The 2026 fall meet opens Friday, November 6, and closes Sunday, November 29. For three weekends it runs at a slower pace than any other stretch of the racing year at the track. Then, starting Thanksgiving morning, it holds nine of its 15 stakes races in four days. That stretch brings in horses from the East Coast and carries about $1.5 million of the meet's $2.1 million stakes schedule.
A Smaller Track, by the Track's Own Count
The difference from summer is measurable. The Union-Tribune reported that Del Mar's barns hold more than 1,900 horses in summer and about 400 in the fall. Many fall entries are vanned in from Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and San Luis Rey Downs for the three-day race weekends. The same report described smaller crowds with a higher share of dedicated horseplayers, smaller fields, and shorter race days because the sun sets earlier.
The 2026 schedule follows that pattern. Racing runs Friday through Sunday each week, with Thanksgiving Thursday added in the final week, for 13 racing dates in all. First post is 12:30 p.m. on regular days.
Trainers also say the fall track runs differently. Former meet champion trainer Peter Miller told the Union-Tribune that "the track holds the water better with the cooler temperatures and cooler days. And we have more of a marine layer and fog." Racing secretary David Jerkens told the paper that some horsemen "like having a racetrack essentially to themselves."
What an Ordinary Fall Afternoon Costs
Because the meet is small, an ordinary race day is inexpensive by Del Mar standards. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club lists these fall prices:
- Racetrack admission: $8, with children 17 and under admitted free
- Grandstand or box seats: $9 to $16
- Trackside dining tables: $70 to $187 per table
- General parking: $15 per vehicle or $30 for valet, or $29 for a book of five general-parking passes
Members of the track's free Diamond Club get in free on Opening Day. On every Sunday, the club's Free & Fun benefit adds free admission, a program and a seat, plus 25% off specified concessions. At that rate, the five-pass parking book costs less than two single-day valet passes and covers most of the meet's Sundays.
Sundays also bring Taste of the Turf Club at 12:30 p.m. It's a three-course brunch from Chef Bryn McArthur with a reserved Turf Club table seat and bottomless mimosas served until Race 6. The track's ticket pages did not list a price for it when this was written.
The Middle Weekends Fill With Local Events
The November calendar puts most of its promotions in the first three weeks. These include College Day and a "Data On Us" promotion on Saturday, November 7, recurring Friday Jockey Box, Wine Down and Seniors' Day events, and a Toys for Tots day on Sunday, November 22.
The biggest of these is Uncorked: Derby Days Wine Festival on Saturday, November 14, from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Seaside Cabana. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club describes more than 100 wines and bubblies, live racing, music and a fashion contest. Early-admission tickets are $100 and general admission is $84. Both include unlimited tasting and racetrack access, and food is sold separately.
Track officials had not announced a 2026 concert or opening-day giveaway in the official November listings as of mid-October. Those weekends are built around the racing itself.
Why the East Coast Ships West for Thanksgiving
The meet speeds up on Thanksgiving because of the grass. The Union-Tribune explained that the closing Turf Festival "draws leading horses from the east because the turf has gone dormant at most other tracks in the nation." It also reported that Del Mar is the only Southern California track offering turf training at that time of year.
This year it's called the FanDuel Racing Turf Festival. It runs November 26 through 29 on the Jimmy Durante Turf Course, and Del Mar Thoroughbred Club calls it a late-season showcase where East Coast shippers meet West Coast rivals. The track's August 13 stakes announcement lists these festival purses:
| Stakes | Grade | Purse |
|---|---|---|
| Hollywood Derby | G1 | $300,000 |
| Matriarch | G1 | $300,000 |
| Hollywood Turf Cup | Graded | $200,000 |
| Seabiscuit Handicap | G2 | $200,000 |
| Jimmy Durante | Graded | $100,000 |
| Cecil B. DeMille | Graded | $100,000 |
| Red Carpet | Ungraded | $100,000 |
| Stormy Liberal | Ungraded | $100,000 |
Those eight races add up to $1.4 million, two-thirds of the meet's $2.1 million stakes schedule. Closing day also includes the $100,000 Bayakoa Stakes, the weekend's lone dirt stakes, which the festival page leaves out of its turf lineup. The other ten racing days share the rest.
Thanksgiving Day, Hour by Hour
Thanksgiving packs the meet's shift from quiet to busy into one morning. It's also the only racing day that ends early enough to get home for dinner. The schedule:
- 7 a.m. Registration and pre-race activities open for the Family Mile Fun Run.
- 8 a.m. The Fun Run starts on the main track. Tickets are $24 for ages 16 and up, $16 for ages 4 to 15, and free for children 3 and under. Each ticket includes racetrack admission, and part of the proceeds goes to Helen Woodward Animal Center's equestrian therapy program for children and adults with special needs.
- 9:30 a.m. Gates open for Thanksgiving Brunch in the Turf Club, which includes a three-course meal, a reserved table seat and bottomless mimosas until Race 6.
- 11 a.m. First post, ninety minutes earlier than any other day of the meet.
- Around 2 p.m. The eight-race card is expected to finish.
Family Fun Day follows on Friday, November 27, the second day of the Turf Festival.
A Meet Revived in 2014
Del Mar has not always had fall racing. The meet was revived in 2014 after several decades away, using dates that had belonged to Hollywood Park, and was named for Bing Crosby, the singer and actor who founded Del Mar.
Early attendance figures showed how much smaller the fall meet was. The Union-Tribune reported that the first fall meet in 2014 averaged 9,055 people per afternoon, compared with 16,553 per afternoon over that summer's 37-day meet. In 2015 the fall meet ran 20 days and averaged 6,180 per day, according to the track's season wrap-up. This year's meet is down to 13 days, with the stakes races grouped at the end.
For a meal in the Village after an afternoon at the track, Queenstown Del Mar opened in May at 1435 Camino Del Mar in the former WestBrew space. The Union-Tribune reported that it serves New Zealand-influenced comfort food and has a full bar and a dog menu.
The racetrack's November schedule is part of what makes Del Mar its own place, and it's a calendar we have followed for years. If you're thinking about a home where Thanksgiving morning can start at the Fun Run and end back at your own table, we'd be glad to talk it through. Appleby Family Group invites you to Request a Private Consultation.
