Del Mar’s summer meet brings six Breeders’ Cup Challenge races into a 37-stakes schedule, giving the seaside oval immediate national stakes relevance when it opens Friday, July 17. The 87th summer racing season runs through Monday, Sept. 7, and it is built less like a local party than a direct route to the fall championships.
Opening Day begins with gates opening at 11:30 a.m., and Del Mar has added a new VIP party in the Seabiscuit Skyroom while bringing back the Opening Day Hats Contest. Tickets for Opening Day and the meet went on sale May 8 at 10 a.m. PST, and Fridays now carry a 2 p.m. first post time, a notable shift from the old 4 p.m. start that should tighten the day’s rhythm for horseplayers and trackgoers alike.
The six Win and You’re In races define the meet’s stakes map. The July 24 Bing Crosby Stakes, the Aug. 1 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes, the Aug. 22 Pacific Classic, the Del Mar Mile, the Del Mar Handicap and the Pat O’Brien all carry automatic entry into Breeders’ Cup divisions. Winners of Breeders’ Cup Challenge races receive a free berth into the corresponding race at the World Championships, which are scheduled for Oct. 30-31 at Keeneland Race Course in Lexington, Kentucky.
That makes the Pacific Classic the centerpiece, not just of Del Mar’s meet but of the West Coast older-horse division. Del Mar lists the Aug. 22 race as a $1 million Grade I and a Win and You’re In for the Breeders’ Cup Classic, and the same card also includes the Del Mar Oaks, Del Mar Mile and Green Flash Handicap. It is the kind of Saturday that can reshape the rest of the summer in one afternoon.
Breeders’ Cup says the Challenge Series is in its 20th year in 2026 and features a record number of qualifying races across the year, which only raises the value of every Del Mar berth. The Bing Crosby and Pat O’Brien remain the key sprint paths, the Clement L. Hirsch anchors the fillies and mares route, and the Del Mar Mile and Del Mar Handicap give turf runners clear championship targets. Del Mar’s beach-town setting and 1937 pedigree still sell the atmosphere, but the real story is the stakes ladder: every major division has a reason to show up early.
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