Hollywood Park Closes in 8 days time.

Once upon a time Betfair covered Hollywood Park and ATR used to provide extensive coverage of the meeting. It was a great track for winning favourites with the splendid Viv Stauffer calling the horses home, rememeber that race he called whilst in the midst of an earthquake - hope he won't be out of a job for long.

It would be great if Betfair and ATR could cover the very last meeting next sunday !

USA: Hollywood Park,
host site for the inaugural Breeders' Cup meeting in 1984 and formerly home to Seabiscuit and Zenyatta, will close its doors for the final time on Sunday night after an 11-race card.

One of the most beloved venues in US racing dating back to 1938, the southern California track is to be redeveloped for residential and commercial use as its owners demolish the racecourse to make room for a shopping mall and about 3,000 housing units.

Hollywood Park, which is actually in the Inglewood district of Los Angeles, opened in June 1938 after the Hollywood Turf Club was formed under chairmanship of Warner Brothers' Jack L Warner.
Among 600 original shareholders are a multitude of movie luminaries, including Walt Disney, Bing Crosby, Sam Goldwyn, Darryl Zanuck, Joan Blondell and Ronald Colman.

The legendary Seabiscuit was the first winner of the track's signature event, the Hollywood Gold Cup.
His successors included a pair of Triple Crown winners Citation and Affirmed and such equine stars as Round Table, Cigar and Skip Away amid a slew of Horses of the Year and Classic winners - and that's before we get to Californian favourites like Native Diver and Lava Man, who won three each, and Game On Dude, who has won the last two.

In 2005, Hollywood Park was bought for $260 million by the Bay Meadows Land Company,who claimed longer-term survival depended on the installation of slot machines.
When the state of California failed to enact the necessary legislation in May this year track employees were told this current winter meet would be the last.

Racetrack president Jack Liebau said the 260 acres on which the track sits "now simply has a higher and better use," and that "in the absence of a favourable change in racing's business model, the ultimate development of the Hollywood property was inevitable".

The highlight of Sunday's farewell card is the tenth race, the $200,000 King Glorious Stakes (Mon 1.05am GMT) over 7f on the Cushion Track synthetic surface. A minor $25,000 starter allowance race brings down the final curtain half an hour later.

"I think it's a shame that a facility like this is going to go away," said Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, speaking to the Daily Racing Form. "It's a good facility to train. The barns are good. It cannot be replaced."

Bob Baffert added: "I've had a lot of wins here; it's a shame that it's going to be gone. There is a lot of history here. I first came here for the [1986] quarterhorse meeting and I was in awe of the place."

Racing dates are being transferred to Santa Anita, set to race for six months from late-December to June, while Del Mar will add a short second winter meeting to its popular summer stint. Los Alamitos, a quarterhorse venue in Orange County, is also being reconfigured to host thoroughbred racing for six or seven weeks.
Stabling for the 1,200 horses housed at Hollywood will be offered at Los Alamitos and nearby fair venues San Luis Rey Downs and Fairplex Park.

They are currently singing Billy Joel's "Say Goodbye to Hollywood" (:

Hello all,
I just spent 3 months in America, working with some stables,
Been to some lovely tracks,met some really nice people,
but I got to tell you,
The attendance figures and lack of punters generally is going close a few more tracks down this year,
$2500 can get you a sound, genuine racehorse and great fun.