Jon Lees

Jon Lees is an award-winning racing journalist who was senior news reporter for the Racing Post for 20 years, before that he was chief racing correspondent for Britain’s national news agency, the Press Association. He was named Racing Reporter of the Year at the HWPA Derby Awards in 2013. He has travelled extensively covering horse racing, attending his first Breeders’ Cup in 1994. Since 2018 Jon has been a freelance, writing for The Times, the Telegraph, At The Races and Breeders’ Cup, working in PR for Ladbrokes and Newbury racecourse, and regularly contributes to the website horseracingplanet.com.

Del Mar Racecourse – Track Analysis (Breeders' Cup Turf & Breeders' Cup Classic):

Del Mar Racecourse, located on the west coast of Southern California, is about 32km north of San Diego and 160km south of Los Angeles. It was established by a group of Hollywood stars led by Bing Crosby in 1937. In 1978, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club was formed by a group of owners who set out to conduct the annual mid-summer meet from July through to September. In 2017 the track hosted the Breeders’ Cup for the first time in its history and again in 2022. The event returns to Del Mar this year in November and has also been chosen as the host venue in 2025.

G1 Breeders' Cup Turf (2400m)

Del Mar Racecourse is a typical left-handed 1400m oval on turf, starting from the third turn, it features a diagonal infield chute that re-joins the course proper by midway through the homestretch, and caters for races over 1700m and 1800m, with the homestretch itself measuring 249m.

G1 Breeders' Cup Classic (2000m)

Del Mar Racecourse, features a left-handed, 1600m oval on dirt, with chutes for races over around 1400m and 2000m on the upper ends of both straights, and a 280m run from the last turn to the winning post.

The impact of the draw on a Breeders’ Cup meeting is difficult to analyse as few races at the track during other times of the year draw maximum fields. Nevertheless, jockeys and trainers will always prefer to avoid an outside draw. Based on the evidence of two runnings of the Classic and Turf at Del Mar, horses can be competitive from any post position but over such a tight turf course there are bound to be hard luck stories.

In the 2017 Turf, the winner started from stall one, beating a horse drawn eleven, followed by horses which broke from three, twelve, and eight. In the 2021 race, the winner came from eight, followed by six, ten, twelve and fourteen.

In 2017 the winner of the Classic came from stall 5, followed by horses drawn eleven, eight, four and one. In 2021, the winner broke from four, and beat horses drawn seven, three, two and six.

The weather forecast for Del Mar during the week predicts a mix of dry and cloudy conditions. As a result, the going on the main track is expected to be fast and turf course firm.

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