In a move that has shocked beach goers and horse players alike, the greedy corporate managers of the Del Mar Motel down on Coast Blvd have bumped the Friday night room rate to an astounding $999, plus tax, sucker.

It goes to show just how bad inflation really is and that there are too many people out there with an obscene amount of free cash.

As a matter of comparison, I looked up what the "NSAA junket weekend" cost in 1974 when a dozen of us went down for our first stay at the DMM. We paid $20 a night. Our weekend was a week later in those years because Hollywood Park was still around, but I tabbed July 23-26 to be comparable now. Here it is straight from the DMM website: Thursday is $709/night, Friday $999, Saturday $899 and Sunday $389. That's $4 short of THREE GRAND for the 4 nights. Wow! That is some healthy inflation and I'd say we were lucky to be born when we were.