DEL MAR, Calif. _ To California Horse Racing Board commissioner Fred Maas, the scrutiny and public-relations shrapnel the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club faced as its annual summer meet loomed equated to a baseball game spiraling out of control.
It's as if Santa Anita, which during the winter and spring hosted a disastrous meet where 30 horses died _ causing animal-rights groups and politicians stretching from the governor's office to U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) to sharpen criticism _ had given up a grand slam.
Del Mar became a relief pitcher trotting in from the bullpen, asked to stem bleeding not of its own making to regain the industry's footing.
"If you're in that situation facing a new batter, it's a difficult predicament," said Maas, a San Diegan. "The challenges we face in horse racing are difficult, in a perfect world. When you face what comes after a travesty like the one at Santa Anita, that has huge implications. Actions (Del Mar) took related to safety had an impact on the operation of the track. Attendance was down. (Betting) was down.
"To the extent they were in the spotlight, Del Mar felt the brunt of it _ and I thought they faced it brilliantly. We all know one fatality is too many, but you have to be impressed by how Del Mar handled it."
As the racing industry wobbles in California, Del Mar became the rock it needed at the exact time it needed it. Heading into Monday's final day of a 36-day meeting, the track has suffered no in-race fatalities, something track officials say could be unprecedented _ though figures on horse deaths only go back three decades or so.
That in no way indicates the historic seaside track escaped unbruised. Del Mar officials said four horses died during morning training this summer, including two killed in a head-to-head collision that those in the industry equate to a rarest-of-rare accident.
After a horrible 2016, when 23 horses died in racing or training at Del Mar, totals dropped to eight in 2017 (five in summer, three in fall) and seven in '18 (six in summer, one in fall). A 2018 report from the Jockey Club Equine Injury Database, which includes in-race fatalities only, ranked Del Mar best in safety among the nearly two dozen self-reporting tracks _ with a rate less than half the national average.
Meanwhile, the track will run 21 fewer races this summer than a year ago; track officials blame horses fleeing the state in the wake of Santa Anita's troubles and fiercely debated regulatory changes. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club CEO Joe Harper said numbers for the first 30 days of the meet showed betting handle dipping 12.3% and attendance 10.6.
Racing Secretary David Jerkens said field size, the life blood of a track, fell from 8.8 a year ago to about 8 _ still considered robust within the industry, but yet another indicator of waves rocking the sport in the state.
Expectations for the meet were framed differently than any other year, however. Like the mandate for Boy Scouts at a campsite, the industry hoped Del Mar would leave horse racing better than it found it.
And with a day remaining, Del Mar did.
"It was nerve-wracking for sure, coming in here," said trainer Peter Miller of Encinitas, who estimated he moved a third of his 75 horses to Kentucky after Santa Anita to diversify while mitigating risk in an uncertain Southern California climate. "Del Mar went about it the right way.
"The industry has changed and some of it is for the better. I think we needed to improve. We needed to look at ourselves with a critical eye. Unfortunately, it took a catastrophic Santa Anita meet to do that. It shouldn't have, but it did."
So if the final day of the meet closes without incident, Del Mar will exhale.
