Handle off 10 percent at
Hollywood
Hollywood Park closed its 57-day spring-summer meet Sunday with drops in
attendance and handle, unable to overcome a trend at most tracks throughout the
United States in economic times that continue to be difficult.
Southern California attendance averaged 12,676, down 10.4 percent from the
average of 14,149 during a 55-day meet in 2009.
The average Southern California handle of $4,794,545 was off 10.6 percent
from the average of $5,365,2931 from the corresponding meet a year ago.
The all sources average handle declined 10.3 percent from $10,561,323 in 2009
to $9,474,780 in 2010.
“Although we are disappointed with the numbers, we thought the meet was
exciting from a racing standpoint,” Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau said.
“The Vanity H. (G1), where Zenyatta (Street Cry [Ire]) was able to win her 17th
in a row, was memorable and there were some other outstanding performances on
the track.
“We thought the changing of the purse schedule to benefit the lower level
horses was a good idea.
“The experiment with a Thursday night card (July 1) was successful and the
plan is to continue experimenting, looking for ways to get more people on track.
The fall meet is going to open on a Thursday night (November 4), giving us some
momentum heading into the two days of the Breeders’ Cup (November 5-6 at
Churchill Downs).”