DEL MAR, Calif. (KGTV) - Celebrities including Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach, Bo Derek and Anjelica Huston will take part in a benefit fundraiser concert next month for the workers and horses affected by the Lilac Fire at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in North San Diego County.
46 horses died and two caretakers were injured in the Bonsall-area fire earlier this month.
The Del Mar Thoroughbred Club said Wednesday the concert, “An Evening of Music To Support the Victims of the Fire at San Luis Rey Downs Training Center", will be hosted by Bacharach, a horse owner and racing fan.
“Horses and horse racing have given me nothing but pleasure for the last half-century,” Bacharach said. “The horrible circumstances around the San Luis Rey Downs fire cry out for aid in so many ways. This is my way of giving back to the horse community.“
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Bacharach will be joined onstage by Costello, a Grammy award winner who has collaborated with him in the past.
Actress Bo Derek, a former commissioner of the California Horse Racing Board, will be the evening's special MC. Animal activist and Academy Award-winning actress Anjelica Huston will be the auctioneer.
Auction prizes will include a chance to sing “Close to You” onstage with Bacharach that evening and a table for four on Opening Day at Del Mar in 2018.
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The benefit concert be held at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach on January 17.
The Belly Up will be “seating only” for the evening during the show. 400 tickets will be available. General Admission seats will sell for $250; the venue’s reserved loft seating will go for $450, and seats in the first three rows will be $1,000 each, which will include an after-show champagne reception with Bacharach.
A limited number of tickets were available Wednesday in a pre-sale for horsemen and racing fans. The general ticket sales open Friday, December 22, at noon.