Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association, Inc.
Thoroughbred Racing Fan Association, Inc.
WHAT RACETRACK PREVIOUSLY HOSTED THE BOB HOPE STAKES, ALBEIT UNDER A DIFFERENT NAME?
11/16/2018
The Hollywood crowd including Bob Hope and Bing Crosby were great horse racing fans. Bing Crosby along with some his show biz friends were founding members of the Del Mar Turf Club which opened for racing on July 3, 1937. History supports that Bob Hope was a regular participant in racing at Del Mar and elsewhere. When Hollywood Park closed in December of 2013, Del Mar took over the race, the Hollywood Preview Stakes, and inaugurated it has the Bob Hope Stakes at Del Mar beginning in 2014. In that year the race was won by No Problem, ridden by Victor Espinoza. No Problem raced eight more times finding the Winner’s Circle only one more time in a claiming race at Santa Anita in 2016. But the Bob Hope Stakes still tries to honor its original mission of “previewing young talent in racing”.