The Breeders’ Cup is right around the corner and this year’s “World Championships of Horse Racing” will be held at Del Mar in beautiful Southern California. While there are still limited tickets available, attendance will be capped at a shade under 38,000. That’s capacity is far lower than the limit set by most other recent Breeders’ Cup host tracks in recent years.

With that in mind, we figured it a wise idea to come up with a few ideas on creating your own Breeders’ Cup festival… at home! A watch party with friends and family can be a lot of fun, as long as you’ve got the right eats, drinks and entertainment. For our money, here’s the best way to apply your budget to create a bomb Breeders’ Cup watch party.

Food and Drink

Del Margarita (Courtesy of Del Mar)

What you eat at your Breeders’ Cup party should be entirely up to you and the tastes of your guests. If the weather holds up, grilling out could be a fun idea. You could also just simplify things and order in. Again, there aren’t any real rules here.

If you want to do it Del Mar-style, cook up some fish tacos for your guests, add some cabbage, crema, lime, some pico and maybe even guac. But please, leave out the cheese, unless you want to deal with Mr. Los Ponies, #TeamNoCheese Jose Contreras.

It never hurts to load up on chips and dip for guests to munch on between races.

When most people think racing and drinking, they think bourbon. While we’d never discourage drinking bourbon if you’re of age, you don’t necessarily need it for your Breeders’ Cup watch party; bubbles, beer and Del Margaritas (or at least your homemade spin on them) should do the trick.

Champagne is a racing staple, but if you want to be trendy, go for rosé – it seems to be pretty hot right now. In terms of beer, I’d go with something hoppy that you can occasionally swig from, like a sharp IPA. You’ll also want to be able to offer a little selection of fall beers. Some people like the pumpkin beers, but there are lots of other great options for fall beers that won’t be as sweet or one-note.

On the margarita front, Del Mar makes it easy to recreate the experience of enjoying some of its signature cocktails by providing recipes on its website; you can try anything from the signature Del Margarita to the refreshing Cucumber Chili Margarita to variations other traditional favorites like the Del Mojito and Del Mule.

And, if you do decide to make bourbon a part of your watch party, try the Buffalo Trace Cocktail of the Month for October: the Robert Frost.

Fashion

Courtesy of Christine A. Moore

If you think San Diego-area, where Del Mar is located, you’d probably envision beachwear of some sort. That’s fine here, and if you want to turn this into an all-out beach party, that’s cool too. You can even import some sand, as long as you’re willing to deal with the cleanup!

As always, we’d also encourage your guests to dress up. Over-the-top hats and bow ties are totally welcome. As an incentive for your guests to show up, you can offer prizes for best dressed man, woman and couple. For the guys, a bowtie is essential — my current favorite is Brackish but you can land a really nice Cali-style bowtie on sites like Ootie too.

Finally, whatever you wear, you’ve got to top it off with a hat or fascinator. Your one-stop-shop for all racing headwear should be Christine A. Moore, official hat designer of America’s Best Racing. Check out her latest Breeders' Cup creations which, if you order by mid-October, you should receive in plenty of time for your party.

Fun and Games

We’ve suggested these for our Triple Crown parties in the past and they’d be a great feature at any Breeders’ Cup too. If your guests don’t have an online wagering account, you might want to give them some skin in the game – and rooting interest in the outcomes of the Breeders’ Cup races – by offering friendly betting pools.

One option is creating Super Bowl-style boxes where you list the numbers of each horse, both vertically and horizontally, and have people write their names in boxes corresponding with the winner of the race and second place finisher … and voila, you have an exacta pool. You can charge a few bucks per box, and whomever lands on the box with the two numbers connected to the exacta for any given race wins the pool.

You can also randomly draw numbers or do it with a deck of playing cards. You can put cards face down and have guests select them. If they draw a “4,” their horse in the upcoming race is the No. 4 horse. Cards “J,” ”Q” and “K” would correspond with the 11, 12 and 13 horses. It sounds simple but it really is a lot of fun. 

Music

DJ Khaled (Wikimedia Commons)

Once again this year, I got some help with this one from Penelope Miller, ABR’s senior manager of digital media – and resident music expert. She’s got quite the eclectic range of songs covered in her Breeders’ Cup playlist. I’ve added in a few of my own too:  

“All I Do Is Win”

“Pony”

“Pretty Girl from San Diego”

“Never Ending Circles”

“California Love”

“The Best is Yet to Come”

“Giddy On Up”

“The Distance”

“The Road to Escondido”

“Bust A Move”

As your guests are trickling in, it might be a nice touch to play the most iconic song ever written about Del Mar: “Where the Turf Meets the Surf,” by Bing Crosby.