Del Mar's November Race Meet Runs on a Local's Calendar
October 22, 2026
October 22, 2026
The summer meet ran 32 days, mostly Thursday through Sunday. First post was 2 p.m. and general admission started at $10. The Bing Crosby Season opens Friday, November 6. It runs 13 race days through Sunday, November 29, and every one of them falls on a Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Thanksgiving.
Every race day in November lands on a day most Del Mar households already have free. The cards start earlier in the day, admission costs less, and the biggest days fall on the same holiday weeks the Village is busiest. That makes the November meet easy to build a weekend around.
Here's how the two 2026 meets compare, using the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's own published schedules and prices.
| Summer 2026 meet | Bing Crosby Season 2026 | |
|---|---|---|
| Dates | July 17 to September 7 | November 6 to 29 |
| Race days | 32 | 13 |
| Days of the week | Mostly Thursday to Sunday | Friday to Sunday, plus Thanksgiving |
| First post | 2 p.m. most days | 12:30 p.m.; 11 a.m. on Thanksgiving |
| General admission | From $10 | $8 |
On a normal fall race day, gates open at 11 a.m. and the first race goes off at 12:30 p.m. Fridays carry eight races and weekend days carry nine. Grandstand and box seats run $9 to $16 a day, and trackside dining tables run $70 to $187 per table.
The summer meet drew 279,120 people across its 2026 season, a little under the 282,104 who came in 2025, according to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club's season-end report. That crowd was spread over 32 days. The fall meet packs its racing into four weekends and one holiday, so on Monday through Thursday, Thanksgiving aside, the fairgrounds goes back to being a neighbor with no race-day traffic.
The fall meet is named for Bing Crosby, and its stakes races carry other old Hollywood names along with him. Read week by week, the November calendar works as a guide to which weekend suits which kind of outing.
Fridays repeat a fixed lineup of Jockey Box Fridays, Wine Down and Seniors' Day. Jockey Box Fridays take 25% off signature drinks and Oggi's pizza. With a 12:30 p.m. first post on a Friday, a long lunch at the track fits into the start of a weekend.
Toys for Tots on November 22 is the easiest date to say yes to. Bring a new, unwrapped toy or make a monetary donation and you get free admission to the racetrack. That Sunday also carries the Free & Fun and Taste of the Turf Club listings, which repeat on the other Sundays of the meet.
The schedule saves its best turf racing for the final four days. The FanDuel Racing Turf Festival runs November 26 through 29, and the track bills it as some of Del Mar's best turf racing of the year. The Hollywood Derby and the Matriarch are the stakes it puts up front.
The four days build like this:
If family is in town for the holiday, a 9:30 a.m. gate on Thanksgiving fits a morning run and brunch before the turkey. Friday's free admission for kids gives visiting family something to do the day after.
The fall meet has been gaining momentum. In fall 2025, the track reported $183.4 million in wagering over 13 days. Fall 2024 brought in $167.6 million over 14 days. Average daily handle reached $14.1 million, up 17.8%, and those totals left out the two Breeders' Cup cards, according to the club's fall 2025 recap. Those are betting figures, not attendance counts. They do show a short meet that's growing on a per-day basis.
Fall general parking costs $15 per vehicle, paid at the gate, and valet is $30. The club's Discounted Parking Book bundles five general parking passes for the Bing Crosby Season for $29, which makes sense for anyone who plans to go more than twice.
Guests coming by rail have a free option. Amtrak and the Coaster stop at Solana Beach station, and the club runs complimentary race-day shuttles from there. Shuttles run continuously from the time gates open, meet arriving trains and return 15 minutes after each race and 30 minutes after the last one. On Thanksgiving, shuttles start at 10 a.m.
The Del Mar Village Association's own events fall in the same weeks as the meet, on days the track is quiet or close to it.
On Friday, November 13, from 8 to 9:30 a.m., the Del Mar Village Association holds its Breast Cancer Cheering Station in downtown Del Mar Village, the morning of the meet's second Friday card. A week after closing day, on Sunday, December 6, Winter Taste & Sip runs downtown from 1 to 4 p.m. The annual tree lighting follows at 5 p.m. at the Jim Watkins Amphitheater at L'Auberge Del Mar.
A few things are new in the Village since last fall:
Put together, the stretch from November 6 to December 6 runs four race weekends, a Thanksgiving card with a morning fun run, a Friday where kids get in free, a Village cheering station, and the tree lighting at L'Auberge to close it out.
Race season also shapes when it makes sense to put a Del Mar home on the market or schedule showings, and November's calendar is shorter and easier to work around than summer's. If you're thinking about selling and want to time it around the fairgrounds schedule, Jorge Alvarez can walk you through it, in English or Spanish. Start with a free home valuation / solicita una tasación gratis.
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