Is there a dress code at the Del Mar fall meet?

Not in the grandstand or the Stretch Run, where jeans and a sweater are what most of the November crowd wears. The Turf Club is the exception, men need a suit or a sport jacket and the track posts the full policy on its site, so read it before you book a Turf Club table. Hats are a summer opening day thing and nobody will look at you twice without one in the fall.

How do you bet at Del Mar if you have never been to a racetrack?

Pick a horse, walk to a window or a machine, and say the race number, the amount, the kind of bet and the horse's program number. Win pays if it finishes first, place if it finishes first or second, show if it finishes in the top 3, and the track's own program walks through a $2 win bet as the example. The how to wager page on dmtc.com covers the rest.

How long does a race day at Del Mar last in the fall?

Plan on about 4 to 5 hours. Gates open at 11, the first race goes at 12:30 on a normal fall day, the races run roughly half an hour apart, and the card is usually done a little before the sun goes down, which in November is before 5. Thanksgiving starts at 11 and finishes mid afternoon so people can get home for dinner.

Is the Del Mar fall meet less crowded than the summer meet?

Yes, by a lot. Summer opening day is the sold out hat party everyone has pictures of, and the fall meet is a quieter, turf heavy season with horses shipping down from Santa Anita and Los Alamitos. You can walk up on a Friday, park without a plan, and get a spot at the rail. Thanksgiving Day and the closing weekend with the 2 Grade 1 races are the busiest days of the meet.

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Del Mar Racetrack Fall Meet 2026: The Race Day Guide

How we do a Del Mar racetrack fall meet day: the Bing Crosby Season dates, what the track lets you bring, the train, the Del Mar shop and where we go after.

Oct 29, 2026

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The Del Mar racetrack fall meet, which the track calls the Bing Crosby Season, runs Friday, November 6 through Sunday, November 29 this year, with racing on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays plus Thanksgiving Day. The first race goes at 12:30 most days and 11 on Thanksgiving, and the track’s own season preview has the day by day.

It is a very different day from the summer meet that everyone has the pictures of, and the crowd is a fraction of July’s. We live up the road and go most Novembers, so here is how we do the day: the house before, the track in the middle, the shop on the way home, and a patio after. The track runs its own bar, and the plan is built around that.

The short version

Dates: November 6 to 29, Fridays through Sundays plus Thanksgiving. First post 12:30, or 11 on Thanksgiving.
The one rule that matters: no outside alcohol or glass anywhere on the property, parking lots included. The drinking happens before and after, at a house or on a patio.
Get there by train from Solana Beach if you are coming from North County. The shuttle from the station is free.
Stock the house at Valley Farm Market Del Mar, a few minutes from the gates. It carries SunGod.
If you only go once, go on Thanksgiving: 11 first post, done by mid afternoon.

What the fall meet is

Del Mar Racetrack opened on July 3, 1937 with Bing Crosby at the gate, so the summer meet has had 89 years to turn into an event.

The fall meet is newer than people assume. Hollywood Park in Inglewood closed after its 2013 season, Del Mar picked up its November dates in 2014 and named the new meet for Crosby, and that first Bing Crosby Season was the first autumn racing at Del Mar since 1967. A lot of the big Hollywood Park races came south with the dates, which is why a track 100 miles from Hollywood runs a Hollywood Derby.

The racing is a ship-in meet, horses coming down from Santa Anita and Los Alamitos for a few weeks, with a lean toward turf and 2-year-olds. This year 9 of the 15 stakes are on the grass, and BloodHorse has the full stakes schedule. The 2 Grade 1s are both Thanksgiving weekend: the Hollywood Derby on Saturday, November 28 and the Matriarch on Sunday, November 29.

The rules at the gate

Read the track’s rules page before you plan anything, because 3 of them decide how the day is built.

No outside alcohol and no glass anywhere on the property, including the parking lots. There is no lot tailgate at Del Mar.
Personal food and non-alcoholic drinks are fine in the general areas, not at the trackside restaurant tables or in the suites. A cooler has to be small enough to carry in one hand and fit under a seat.
No barbecues anywhere, lots included, and every bag is searched at the gate.

So the drinking part of the day happens before and after, at a house or on a patio. The track part is the racing, a hot dog and whatever the track pours.

Getting there

The Don Diego clock tower at the Del Mar Fairgrounds gate, tile mural and flags against a blue sky

Tickets and parking

Admission and parking prices change from season to season, so the fall ticket guide has the current numbers for general admission, reserved seats and the lots. It also covers the free Diamond Club membership, which takes a few dollars off at the gate. The general lot is off Jimmy Durante Boulevard and the Solana Gate is off Via de la Valle. Both roads back up in the 45 minutes before first post.

The train

From North County, take the Coaster or the Surfliner to the Solana Beach station. The track’s free shuttle runs from there on every live racing day, starting at 11 (9 on Thanksgiving), with buses back 15 minutes after each race and a half hour after the last one. The shuttle page has the pickup spot, and the transit district usually sells a train plus admission package for the meet.

Check the morning of

November rain cancelled 2 racing days in 2025, and the track moved a post time earlier once to beat a storm, so check the news page on dmtc.com before you leave. Bring a real layer. The clocks change on November 1, it is dark before 5 for the whole meet, and the last 2 races run in low light.

The morning: a late start and the shop

A 12:30 first post means the day starts slow. If you are staying up the coast, the Encinitas beach morning fits in front of it, and if the track is one day of a bigger weekend, the bachelor party itineraries have the rest of it. Gates open at 11, the paddock before the first race is worth seeing, so we aim to walk in around 11:30.

The shop stop is Valley Farm Market Del Mar, which opened this January in Del Mar Plaza at 15th Street and Camino del Mar, a few minutes down Jimmy Durante Boulevard from the track gates. It is the same family as the La Jolla stores, a real grocery with produce and a wall of wine and beer, and it carries SunGod. This is where the house gets stocked for after. Their site posts the hours, and the locator has every other shop in the county.

Cans of Solar Drift and Minted Sol on a shop shelf, sunglasses on the shelf above them

At the track

Horses in the stretch at Del Mar with the grandstand full behind them Photo: Dirk Hansen, CC BY-SA 3.0.

We go general admission and stand at the rail at the top of the stretch for the first couple of races. A field of 2-year-olds coming off the turn is louder than it looks on TV. What to bring:

Cash for small bets.
The program. The paddock notes alone are worth it.
Sunscreen. The November sun comes in low and sits on your face for the last 3 races.
A layer for the last hour. See above.

By the last race the sun is going down behind the track, and the green flash piece explains what to look for if the horizon is clear.

After: where to go when the lots are jammed

Everyone leaves at once, so do not get in the car right away.

Viewpoint Brewing sits on San Dieguito Drive directly across the lagoon from the track, every seat looks back at the fairgrounds, and you can walk there from the Jimmy Durante side while the lots clear. Their own lot is tiny; the city pay lot at Jimmy Durante and San Dieguito is the backup. This is where we end up most race days.
Brigantine Del Mar is up on the hill on Camino Del Mar, with a glassed-in deck that looks down at the track and out at the ocean. They post the happy hour days on their site, and the days have changed before.
Jimmy O’s on 15th Street in the village is the race season sports bar. It gets loud after the last race.
Saddle Bar on Plaza Street in Solana Beach is the stop if you took the train: a block from Fletcher Cove, a short walk from the station, a dive that has been the post-race bar for decades.
Monarch Ocean Pub on the upper deck at Del Mar Plaza looks straight down at Powerhouse Park and the beach for the sunset, and the market is in the same plaza for the cans on the way out.

The racetrack and the San Dieguito Lagoon seen from the James Scripps Bluff Preserve, the beach and the lots in the foreground

The house

Then it is back to wherever you are staying, which is where the day we actually planned happens. Tailgate down in the driveway, fire pit on by 6, the people who bet the favorite arguing with the people who bet the longshot.

The can we bring is Solar Drift, which is a Hardwater: Palomar Mountain spring water, a neutral grain spirit and real pineapple, coconut and ginger, still, 5%. After 4 hours at the rail in the sun it is the right thing. Valley Farm Market Del Mar has it a few minutes from the track, the locator has the rest of the county, and we ship it to the house if you would rather have it waiting.

A couple talking by a fire pit at night, an orange Minted Sol can in hand, warm light on their faces

The Thanksgiving version

Same plan, 90 minutes earlier: 11 first post, out of the lots by 3, home while the turkey is still in the oven. We have done it 3 times now and it is our favorite Thanksgiving plan in San Diego.

Hero photo: Capvideo, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Questions people ask

Is there a dress code at the Del Mar fall meet?: Not in the grandstand or the Stretch Run, where jeans and a sweater are what most of the November crowd wears. The Turf Club is the exception, men need a suit or a sport jacket and the track posts the full policy on its site, so read it before you book a Turf Club table. Hats are a summer opening day thing and nobody will look at you twice without one in the fall.
How do you bet at Del Mar if you have never been to a racetrack?: Pick a horse, walk to a window or a machine, and say the race number, the amount, the kind of bet and the horse's program number. Win pays if it finishes first, place if it finishes first or second, show if it finishes in the top 3, and the track's own program walks through a $2 win bet as the example. The how to wager page on dmtc.com covers the rest.
How long does a race day at Del Mar last in the fall?: Plan on about 4 to 5 hours. Gates open at 11, the first race goes at 12:30 on a normal fall day, the races run roughly half an hour apart, and the card is usually done a little before the sun goes down, which in November is before 5. Thanksgiving starts at 11 and finishes mid afternoon so people can get home for dinner.
Is the Del Mar fall meet less crowded than the summer meet?: Yes, by a lot. Summer opening day is the sold out hat party everyone has pictures of, and the fall meet is a quieter, turf heavy season with horses shipping down from Santa Anita and Los Alamitos. You can walk up on a Friday, park without a plan, and get a spot at the rail. Thanksgiving Day and the closing weekend with the 2 Grade 1 races are the busiest days of the meet.