Apr 11, 2019
Del Mar’s highly effective “Ship and Win” program, which for the past eight years has provided substantial incentives to owners and trainers to import out-of-state horses to race locally, will be back for a ninth summer at the shore with yet another enhanced bonus package attached in hopes of luring more runners to the seaside oval.
At its inception in 2011, “Ship and Win” offered horsemen an automatic check for $1,000 and a further 20% first-race, purse-enhancement bonus for their new starters. In 2017 those monies were raised to $1,500 and 30%. Then last year the automatic check was elevated again to $2,000.
For the 2019 season, which opens on Wednesday, July 17, that initial ready check for all imports has climbed once more to $2,500. Additionally, the first-race purse bonus has been boosted anew to 40%.
And, noted Del Mar racing secretary David Jerkens: “That 40% applies to purse payouts across the board, not just the winner’s share.”
The “Ship and Win” program has been a winner for all individuals involved, as well as for the sport at Del Mar and throughout the state of California.
“This has been a very positive program for our horsemen and for racing in general in the west,” noted Jerkens. “We’ve brought in more than a thousand horses under ‘Ship and Win’ and they’ve made thousands of starts at all of the state’s racetracks. When these horses come west, they almost all stay here. With our new and even more lucrative incentives, we hope to add more stock for our summer session and beyond.”
Specifically, the first year that Del Mar put “Ship and Win” in play it drew 107 horses. Heading into 2019, the track now can count more than 1,100 runners having been brought on board via the program, with those horses having made over 1,750 starts locally and more than 3,700 subsequent starts at other state tracks, such as Santa Anita Park, Los Alamitos and...
