(Edited Del Mar release)

Del Mar officials announced that figures for the Southern California track’s first week of its summer meet was up in both on-track attendance and on-track handle.

For the first five days (July 22 through July 26), the average daily attendance was 22,674, up 14.9% and the handle was $2,732,147, an increase from a year ago of 12.3%. Del Mar raced six days per week in 2008, but has switched to a five-day-per-week schedule this year.

"We’re pleased and we’re encouraged," Del Mar Thoroughbred Club president and general manager Joe Harper said in a release. "You can certainly say we’re off to a good start and there aren’t a whole lot of businesses around right now that can claim that."

Del Mar’s daily average attendance during the 2008 season was 16,002 per day. Its daily average on-track handle was $2,167,028 per day.