Del Mar will offer its racing fans a threesome of free handicapping seminars each week during its summer season. The first two of them will be up and running for Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23.

The seminars run between 30 and 45 minutes and are staged under a shaded canopy area near the large fountain in the Plaza de Mexico. The weekend seminars feature special guests who provide analysis and racing selections for the day’s cards.

A third seminar – titled the Newcomers Seminar – is meant to educate new fans to the sport with an emphasis on the betting side of things. Those seminars are held each Thursday and the first one will be conducted on July 27.

All the seminars will begin at 1 p.m. during July and August. In September they will switch to a 12:30 p.m. start.

Leading a pair of the seminars – the Thursday and Saturday ones – will be author and racing analyst Frank Scatoni. The man in charge of the Sunday sessions is Dan Smith, a veteran Media presence and a Del Mar regular going back to 1964.

Del Mar’s eight-week session runs from July 21 to September 10. First post for most days is at 2 p.m.