This year's Breeders' Cup at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club has "pushed the host" of last year's event, Santa Anita Park, "into the ticket-sales rearview mirror," according to Bryce Miller of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. Breeders' Cup President & CEO Craig Fravel said that sales are around $13.5M, "easily eclipsing" Santa Anita's $9.6M. Consider the "larger seating capacity at Santa Anita and the half a year Del Mar has to unload the few remaining premium and general-admission tickets and it paints the run-up even more impressively." Organizers "plan to stretch what normally is a long racing weekend into a full-blown festival, with more than 20 events that include a golf tournament at Torrey Pines, art walk in La Jolla and 5K run along the ocean." Del Mar also "limited seating -- capping it around 37,500 -- to value quality over quantity." The move is "intended to shorten lines at concession stands and betting windows." Del Mar Exec VP & CMO Craig Dado said, "We’re actually putting together a media campaign to explain to people that if you don’t have a ticket, don’t come. Because we’ve never, in the history of Del Mar, had a sellout. We’ve trained people over the years, ‘Yeah, come over. There’s no such thing as a sellout.’ But we’ll be sold out." Fravel said, "Del Mar is a little underexposed internationally. We’ve got a lot of long-time Breeders’ Cup patrons who’ve never been there" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 5/4).
