The San Diego Handicap is an American Thoroughbred horse race held annually in late July/early August at the Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, California . This Grade II race is open to horses, age three and up, willing to race one and one-sixteenth miles on the dirt. It is considered the track's key prep race for its foremost attraction, the $ 1-million Pacific Classic Stakes .
5-411: Inaugurated in 1937, it was first run on July 3 as part of the first-ever racecard at Del Mar Racetrack. Since inception it has been contested at various distances: The race was not run in 1939-1940 and from 1942 through 1944. From 2007 to 2014, the race was run on a Polytrack artificial dirt surface. Speed record: (at current distance of 1 + 1 ⁄ 16 miles) Most wins: Most wins by
10-410: A jockey : Most wins by a trainer : Most wins by an owner: Track surface The track surface of a horse racing track refers to the material of which the track is made. There are three types of track surfaces used in modern horse racing. These are: The style of racing differs between surfaces, with dirt races tending to have the fastest pace, while turf racing often comes down to
15-482: A sprint in the stretch. Races on artificial surfaces tend to play out somewhere in between. Anecdotally, American bettors consider dirt racing to be more predictable, which makes it a more popular medium for betting purposes. Weather conditions affect the speed of the different surfaces too, and grading systems have been developed to indicate the track condition (known as the "going" in the UK and Ireland ). Turf surfaces are
20-444: Is also evidence that synthetic surfaces are significantly safer than dirt in terms of equine breakdowns, though there are many variables that come into play. The statistics for North America in 2015 showed 1.18 fatalities per 1,000 starts on synthetic surfaces, 1.22 on grass courses, and 1.78 on dirt tracks. The breakdown rates were down for each of the surfaces compared to 2014. The first synthetic surface used for thoroughbred racing
25-474: The most affected by changes in the weather, and many turf horses will have a strong preference for a specific type of going. Synthetic surfaces allow racing to take place in bad weather conditions, when it may otherwise be cancelled, and for this reason are sometimes referred to as All Weather surfaces. Manufacturers of synthetic racetrack surface materials promote the fact that synthetic tracks have drainage attributes that are better than natural surfaces. There
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