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Information
| Sport |
Horse Racing |
| Name |
Racetracks: Hollywood Park |
| Subtitle |
Record Figures |
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| Info |
Racing is big business in southern California and nowhere is that more obvious than at massive Hollywood Park. The 350-acre track annually leads the nation in average attendance and average mutuel handle with robust figures that are the envy of executives throughout the industry. In 1977, for instance, over 28,000 fans a day took in the sport during Hollywood's 76-day meeting and they wagered better than $4 million on each day of racing. No track in the world can match those amounts. Typical of its stature of riches, this year Hollywood Park offered 11 races worth over $100,000 in purses, including the $350,000 Hollywood Gold Cup, the richest thoroughbred race in North America. Located in Inglewood, just eight miles from the country's film capital and its namesake Hollywood, the big plant provides first-class racing in a lovely setting of lakes and flowers during its annual March to July season. It was first opened in 1938, amidst dire predictions that summer racing in California would never catch. Too many people going to the beaches, the critics said. But how wrong the critics were. The track itself is a one-mile oval with a turf course nine-tenths of a mile inside it. The grass course has a diagonal straightaway jutting into it from the infield, allowing for races of up to a mile and one-eighth to be run on a single navigation of the course. The combined seating capacity of the track's grandstand, clubhouse and exclusive turf club is just over 31,000, though a record 72,186 managed to squeeze into the plant back on May 31, 1948. Also on the grounds are a four-furlong training oval and the California Thoroughbred Breeders' Association's sales pavilion where the state's top horse auctions are held each year. Hollywood's main racing surface is among the most glib in the world, giving fast horses every chance to show all their speed. The famous horse Swaps, perhaps the best thoroughbred ever to come out of California, set three track records over it, including a world's record 1 min 39 sec for a mile and one-sixteenth in 1956, a mark that still stands today. |
| Photo Info |
Down the homestretch at Hollywood Park |
On average the cards are in good/very good condition
Some have marks on front or rear |
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