Joe Harper has decided to spend more mornings on horseback during the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club’s annual racing season and less time dealing with paperwork.

Harper, who turns 67 on Saturday, relinquished the titles of president and general manager to Craig Fravel on Tuesday. Harper will maintain the title of chief executive officer. Fravel, 53, previously held the title of executive vice president.

“This has been in the works for a while,” said Harper, who is known to travel the Del Mar backstretch on his horse in the mornings to talk to horsemen. “I’m not getting any younger. Craig is a smart guy, and he deserves the title.

“I’m going to stick around as CEO just to bug him.”

Harper said he has no plans to retire from Del Mar, but he decided to cut back on his day-to-day duties.

“Craig has been handling the nitty-gritty stuff lately,” Harper said. “He will be able to get more done now with the title. Everyone is happy.”

Fravel has been groomed for Harper’s job since being hired by Del Mar in 1990. Fravel is a graduate of the University of Virginia law school and practiced law in Washington and San Diego before coming to Del Mar.

“I don’t expect things to change,” Fravel said. “I see it as part of a seamless process. We both work well together. I think it will just be a subtle shift.

“When you have a small company, everyone is involved with everything already. This gives some younger people a chance to move up.”

Fravel was instrumental in Del Mar changing its main track from dirt to the controversial Polytrack synthetic surface, which was installed in 2007.

The change in job titles was approved Monday at a board of directors meeting. Fravel and Harper will both report to the 11-person board, of which Harper is a member.

Two other promotions were announced. Mike Ernst now carries the title of executive vice president for finance and chief financial officer, while Tom Robbins is executive vice president for racing and industry relations/racing secretary.

On the racing front, Harper said Del Mar will ask for the same 37-day meet it requested last year despite the fact that Hollywood Park announced last week that it’s going to a four-day race week for part of its meet, dropping six Thursdays.

“We are not contemplating (dropping days),” Harper said, “but we’ll see what the horse population is in July.”

California racing has been fighting smaller fields and a lack of horses due to multiple factors.

Del Mar could be further hurt this summer by the fact that Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J., will offer an average of $1 million a day in purses during its meet. Monmouth Park will race on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, along with certain holiday Mondays.

Jockey Garrett Gomez, one of Del Mar’s leading riders, has already announced that he will ride this summer in New Jersey. Some Southern California horsemen are expected to consider sending horses to compete for the large purse structure.

“Obviously, that’s a concern for us,” Harper said of Monmouth Park’s announcement.

jnahill@nctimes.com

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After the announcement Jan. 18 that Santa Anita would replace its existing synthetic Pro-Ride track at the end of the current meet, trainers were anxious to express their feelings and hear what Stronach had in store for the Great Race Place.

A self-described anti-synthetic horseman, would Stronach be installing a new traditional dirt surface?

Would he opt for the untested sandy track he spoke about last week? Or would he shock the racing world and announce he was leaning toward another synthetic?

Would you believe none of the above?

Stronach told a roomful of mostly befuddled horsemen, which included California Thoroughbred Trainers president John Sadler, John Shirreffs, Darrell Vienna, Bruce Headley, Mark Glatt, Eoin Harty, Vladimir Cerin, A.C. Avila, Rafael Becerra, James Cassidy and Barry Abrams, what they perhaps didn’t expect to hear.

Santa Anita will stick with Pro-Ride for the time being until Stronach gets what he wants – the ability to run the track with less state regulations.

He told the trainers in a two-hour meeting that he won’t dole out the estimated $8 million to $10 million needed for a new surface without assurances he can race at Santa Anita whenever he wants, calling it “free enterprise,” and he also wants a partnership between the tracks and horsemen.

“We kept telling him we’re here to talk about the track and you can’t shut him up about free enterprise,” said Headley, a longtime critic of synthetics. “He thinks he’ll be able to change everything so he can race any time he wants, against Del Mar, Hollywood Park or Pomona.

“We told him we weren’t there to discuss free enterprise, that’s not our decision because we’re the track committee, but he still kept going on and on about it.”

Zenyatta’s owner Jerry Moss, another anti-synthetic horseman, met with Stronach on Sunday at Santa Anita and reportedly got the same message the trainers received about 24 hours later.

“Free enterprise, free enterprise, free enterprise,” Headley said. “And he’s never going to get it. Of course, there won’t be a horse left (in California) by that time.

“He also said if he wanted to change it (track), he has the resources to do it, but he’s not going to do it.”

Stronach was flying home later Monday and did not return two messages seeking comment.

A drainage problem with both of Santa Anita’s synthetic tracks has forced the cancellation of 16 racing days dating to 2008, including five this year. Stronach has said he’s spent an estimated $24 million on Cushion Track and Pro-Ride and refuses to spend another dime on a sport that’s in decline until it’s fixed.

“You know, the (current) model in horse racing doesn’t work,” Stronach said last week before his arrival over the weekend. “It’s broken.”

Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau said he’s heard the same message before.

“What I understand Stronach to be saying is vintage Stronach,” Liebau said. “His mantra has always been free enterprise, which I understand to be some form of deregulation. I differ with Stronach in that I believe racing in California needs to be subject to additional oversight with respect to financial responsibility.

“The bankruptcies of Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields (another Stronach-owned track) have rained financial havoc upon California racing.”

Stronach, who’s owned many top horses over the years, currently has none stabled at Santa Anita because he doesn’t like the track.

He told the horsemen he’ll be back in April to talk more.

“Hopefully, he will discuss the track then because we all told him, which most of us hadn’t discussed with him before, how many injuries we’re having,” Headley said.

art.wilson@sgvn.com