This is easy:

Del Mar is the Taj Mahal, but nobody is home...catch my drift?...absolutely beautiful facility and setting and is truly at the top of the game in luxury, but the fields are short and the horse flesh is not even close to that of Saratoga.

Saratoga, on the other hand, is full of history and tradition (which others on this board are way more qualified to speak to) and it supposedly horse racing heaven. I have never been there but would LOVE to go soon...it is the single most place I want to go in the world. The racing at Saratoga is the best in the world...period...there is not close to a tougher meet. Even the cheap horses are the best cheap horses in the world....they ALL can run. Maidens that finish 5th at Saratoga could win at just about any other meet in the country..it is that intense from a competition standpoint.

The Spa is a handicappers and a racing traditionalists dream....Del Mar is more for the ritzy high societors....