DEL MAR CLEANS UP; TRACK REBUILT TO PREVENT MUD AND INJURIES.

Byline: Kevin Modesti Daily News Staff Writer

It was a dirty job, but after the 1996 Del Mar season, when the track surface was blamed for injuries to some prominent racehorses, there was little doubt that somebody had to do it.

So the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club spent a half million dollars to rebuild its main dirt oval and training track, hoping the improvement would quiet horsemen's behind-the-scenes grumbling and help reduce bettors' complaints about small fields.

Del Mar's 60th-anniversary season begins today at 2 p.m. with a 10-race program that includes two divisions of the Oceanside Stakes for 3-year-old turf horses. Racing is scheduled every Wednesday through Monday until Sept. 10.

The track renovation is the biggest change from last summer.

``Although the afternoon programs were very clean (with relatively few injuries), there were injuries in the morning (training hours), and we're trying to eliminate those,'' Del Mar director of racing Tom Robbins said. ``Ultimately it's the protection of the animals that matters. But fans have a stake in wanting bigger fields. We're just trying to keep more horses sound and fit to race.''

Trainers complained that soil ``balled up'' in the cavity of horses' feet, raising the chances of bad steps and leaving treacherous holes in the running surface.

``If you watched films of the races, you would see balls of dirt flying up in the air, not breaking apart,'' said trainer Richard Mandella, chairman of the track committee of the California Horsemen's Benevolent and Protective Association. ``Of all the problems with track surfaces, we've come to the agreement that balling up is the worst.''

To prevent the silt and clay from binding - particularly on cool, damp mornings by the sea - Del Mar trucked 4,000 tons of high-grade sand from Simi Valley and mixed it into the top six inches of the soil. (The sand on the beach across the street from the track is the wrong kind.)

That reduced the percentage of silt and clay in the one-mile oval from about 20 to about 13.

The most notable horse to sustain a career-ending injury at Del Mar in 1996 was Mandella-trained Soul of the Matter, who was preparing to challenge Cigar in the $1 million Pacific Classic. As it turned out, Mandella-trained Dare and Go ended Cigar's winning streak at 16 in front of 44,181 fans.

Mandella said he likes what he has seen of the new track.

``My first impression is it looks real good,'' Mandella said Tuesday morning. ``Just the way horses are moving on it, how it feels to walk on.''

But tracks can change character between morning and afternoon, and as seasons wear on.

``I don't think anybody knows what it'll be like, really,'' trainer Ron Ellis said. ``The (Del Mar) fair just ended. They have the Ferris wheel on the track, and then two weeks later, they're running million-dollar thoroughbreds on it.''

Training will begin earlier, at 4:30 a.m., and Robbins said Del Mar will have 5 to 10 percent fewer horses in its stables, both steps meant to reduce dangerous crowding in the mornings.

In another move to give fans more horses to bet on in the typical race, Del Mar will cut back to eight races on most weekdays, making up for that a bit by holding 10 on Saturdays and Sundays. A similar plan to spread the equine talent over fewer races helped Hollywood Park raise its average field size by about half a horse during the season that ended Monday.