On August 30th, 2008, I visited Del Mar Racetrack in Del Mar, Calfornia, about 25 minutes north of down town San Diego for a day at the races, Microbrew festival, and Devo concert.  I arrived at the racetrack around 2 pm and made our way to the Clubhouse main entrance.  Upon entering I have to say we were overwhelmed by the sheer number of people inside of the gates.  We also felt a bit uncomfortable because we appeared to have under-dressed for the event.  My husband was in a button up shirt and I was in a skirt, but we were instantly trumped by the Prada bag toting women adorned in Vera Wang dresses and men in their finest polos.  There were well-dressed people toting drinks as far as the eye could see, and we first made our way to the lawn area where the horses getting ready to race were being shown.  Having no knowledge of horse racing or betting, saying I was confused regarding what was going on is an understatement; I had absolutely no clue.  I spent about 10 minutes admiring some overly ripped equine specimens and their midget handlers, and set off to explore other parts of the track.

 

The atmosphere at the racetrack was cyclical.  Everyone would be very calm and talkative before the race began, but as soon as the race started, the quiet set in, all the way up until the horses made their turn around the final stretch.  Once the horses were in this final stretch the excitement within the crowd became palpable, voices raised, and everyone ( I mean everyone) in the crowd began voicing their choice for the horse they wanted to win.  Watching the horses complete their circuit around the track was impressive, but I have to say that I was most interested in watching the ambulance chase the racers around the track - seeing the ambulance haul around corners at 40-50 mph was absolutely priceless.

I really wish I had been with someone at the track that knew about betting on horses, because I think it would have really enhanced my experience.  My husband and I would each pick a horse we wanted to win prior to the race beginning, but of course they never won, and we never worked up the courage to go and place any money on the horses; we just could not justify waiting in line to place a bet on a horse based on their name alone.

The microbrew festival was mediocre at best.  The ‘festival’ consisted of two sections offering different, local beers, each housed under a series of about 5 small tents.  Under the tents, the beer servers pumped beers from small kegs housed in coolers on ice, which were not labeled or described other than the small sticker on the beer pump.  None of the associates I spoke to seemed to know much about the beers that were being offered, and if you wanted to have a taste of the beer to make sure you would like it, you were required to purchase a $3 sampler cup.  I opted to go with a Wind-n-Sea wheat from Karl Strauss, which was tasty, but for $8 I would have chosen a colder, domestic beer any day.

I watched a few more races, spun the wheel of prizes offered by the radio station 91X, and wandered around the infield area aimlessly for awhile - which was when I found the other, abandoned, microbrew festival tent, along with some die-hard Devo fans camped out in front of the stage.  I did try to make it until the Devo concert, but without a seat to watch the races from, and food/drink prices being in the moderate to high-priced range for the offerings, the novelty of the races wore off rather quickly and I was on the road home at about 5:30 pm.

I would recommend the races as a day trip for visitors to San Diego, but do not plan on spending a whole day here unless you are with someone who knows about horse betting. If you want to have a few beers and a meal while you are at the races, expect to spend $30-40 per person in addition to admission.  Also make sure to bring a hat and wear lots of suncreen, it gets really hot next to the track!