The California Horse Racing Board approved Del Mar's fall meet application on Wednesday, Sept. 9. The Bing Crosby Season opens Nov. 6 with a purse increase fueled by a strong summer at the track.

The 13-day meet runs through Nov. 29 and is highlighted by the $300,000 Hollywood Derby. Del Mar will race on Thanksgiving and hold its annual Turf Festival. For the first time since 2023, the fall meet will not include the Breeders' Cup, which moves to Keeneland in Kentucky on Oct. 30–31.

The approval came two days after Del Mar wrapped its 87th summer season on Monday, Sept. 7, with handle numbers climbing for a second straight year. Wagering on Del Mar races rose 3.1% to $366.8 million over the 32-day meet, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune. All-sources wagering reached $546.8 million, up 2.3%, though the summer meet ran one more racing day than a year ago.

Fields averaged 8.6 starters per race, a figure Del Mar called industry-leading. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president Josh Rubinstein credited full fields with driving bettor interest.

"Bettors like full fields, they like value, and our racing office really delivered that," Rubinstein said Monday, Sept. 7.

Rubinstein, who is set to succeed Joe Harper as Del Mar's CEO in January, pointed to the racing office's ability to maintain field size despite a slight drop in the track's horse population.

Pacific Classic Day on Saturday, Aug. 22, generated $29.14 million in handle across 11 races. That trailed only Breeders' Cup cards in Del Mar's single-day history, according to Del Mar's stable notes.

Racing secretary David Jerkens described the fall schedule as "only four weeks" with 13 days of racing. He said the Bing Crosby Season opens a week later than last year and called the purse bump "slight," without specifying dollar amounts.

The California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) also noted that overall handle rose at Del Mar even as computer-assisted wagering declined, according to Patch, which cited a BloodHorse report on the Sept. 9 meeting.

Bill Nader, president and CEO of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, attributed two consecutive years of handle growth to the consolidation of California racing at Del Mar, Santa Anita and Los Alamitos.

Thoroughbred racing shifts to Santa Anita from Sept. 25 through Nov. 1 before returning to Del Mar. Tickets are on sale.