HOLLYWOOD PARK : Business Is Better in the Opener; Hubbard Bets Trend to Continue

R.D. Hubbard was so enthusiastic in discussing the Hollywood Park season Wednesday that the seventh race was run before the track’s chief operating officer could get his bet down.

“Those were my horses,” Hubbard said when the race was over. “That would have been the only bet I would have cashed all day.”

Hubbard, Hollywood Park’s largest stockholder, is making a bigger bet: that the Inglewood track will be able to reverse local and national trends by having a bullish season.

“I think the economy has bottomed out and per-capita betting will be going back up,” Hubbard said. “We’re offering purse money that is $30,000 a day higher than Santa Anita and $20,000 per day higher than what we offered a year ago.”

Santa Anita’s season, which ended Sunday, was off in betting and attendance, and on-track figures showed double-digit declines.

Hubbard over-estimated the business Hollywood Park would do on opening day. Early in the day, he said on-track betting would be up 20% and the handle, including off-track betting, would show an increase of $1.4 million, but the final figures were far short of that.

The overall handle of $6 million was an improvement of about $325,000 and $2.6 million was bet at the track, a gain of less than $20,000. The on-track attendance was 18,409, about the same as last year, when admission was free.

Hubbard, who replaced Marje Everett after a $10-million proxy fight two years ago, has been battling horsemen ever since, while trying to debunk the conception that Hollywood Park is in a bad neighborhood.

“The Kings play right next door to us, and they sell out every game,” Hubbard said. “Inglewood’s crime figures are far lower for a city its size than a lot of cities that you might think are safer. This whole thing is built on perception, not fact.”

Horsemen have opposed Hubbard’s attempts to run on Friday nights, and they have questioned Hollywood Park’s priorities in opening a card-playing club, probably by next January. “The attitude of certain members of the CHBPA (California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn.) is that they want to improve relations,” Hubbard said. “I think we’ve had more positive meetings than a year ago. The relationship is better than it was a year ago.”

To jazz up 12 Friday nights of racing that begin on May 7, Hubbard said that Hollywood Park has struck an agreement with the Australian Jockey Club to exchange betting on races. Starting May 14, Hollywood Park will pipe three of its races to Australia, and fans at Hollywood will be able to bet on one Australian race. For the first six Friday nights, the race coming into Hollywood will be a major Australian stake.

Hubbard said that Mick Dittman, one of Australia’s top jockeys, will ride at Hollywood Park on May 14. Next year, a $500,000 turf race will be run at Hollywood, with six horses and jockeys from Australia expected to participate. The following year, six American horses and jockeys will go to Australia for a similar race.

Hubbard’s Friday night fervor is grounded in the theory that new fans can be introduced to racing. For this season, which runs through July 26, he said that many promotions will be family oriented.

“There will be more kids than you’ve seen at Hollywood Park in a long, long time,” Hubbard said. “Our giveaways will be tied to family things. We’re trying to appeal to people who will be racing’s fans 20 or 30 years from now.”

On a day when horses running on the outside were winning all the races, trainer Jack Van Berg saddled the winners of the last two, including Cimply A Winner’s 2 1/4-length victory in the $77,325 Harry Henson Stakes, named after the late announcer who called races at Hollywood Park for 24 years.

Cimply A Winner, who broke from the outside in a four-horse field after Western Scout and the injured Yappy were scratched, gave Manny Cimpl, the colt’s owner and breeder, his biggest victory after 10 years of racing. Cimpl is from Columbus, Neb., Van Berg’s hometown.

Cimply A Winner, ridden by Goncalino Almeida, made his first stakes start and won his third consecutive race. “He’s just coming around,” Van Berg said. “We always thought he had some talent, but he’s gotten a lot better.”

Cimply A Winner paid $3.80 as the favorite, running seven furlongs in 1:21 4/5.

I Like To Win, who ran second, was saddled by Ross Fenstermaker, who has resumed training horses for Fred Hooper after Hooper fired him several years ago. Fenstermaker, who trained Hooper’s Precisionist to win the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Aqueduct in 1985, said he has nine horses in his care and is anticipating the arrival of a large group of 2-year-olds soon.

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Six horses are expected to be entered today when entries are drawn for Saturday’s $400,000 Californian, the third race in the nine-race American Championship Racing Series. Sir Beaufort, who will be favored after his victory in the Santa Anita Handicap, will probably be opposed by Missionary Ridge and Have Fun, both trained by Bobby Frankel, plus Memo, Reign Road and Latin American.

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Denmars Dream, winner of the California Derby at Golden Gate Fields, is headed for the Illinois Derby at Sportsman’s Park on May 8.

“I felt pretty good about going to Chicago until I found out that Foxtrail was going to run there, too,” trainer Ian Jory said. “He’s a tough horse, and he’s got the same running style as my horse. They both like to run on the lead.”

Foxtrail set the pace before finishing third, behind the 108-1 Rockamundo and Kissin Kris, in Saturday’s Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

“We’ve got the Ohio Derby in mind after the Illinois Derby,” Jory said, “but after that it will be back to sprinting for Denmars Dream, because that’s where his strength is.”

Of the three horses Jory has trained for Marvin Malmuth, Denmars Dream and Vying Victor have been stakes winners. Jory is most excited about Blushing Victor, a 2-year-old who is a son of Blushing John and a half-brother to Vying Victor.

Horse Racing Notes

Of Wednesday’s nine winners, none broke from a post position inside No. 5. . . . Dinand, son of 1986 Kentucky Derby winner Ferdinand, finished third in a mile turf race in the fourth. The winner of the race was Manny’s Prospect, who had previously been run for a $32,000 claiming price. Manny’s Prospect paid $36, the highest win price of the day. . . . Another possibility for the Californian is Portoferraio, who will either run Saturday or in the $100,000 Shoemaker Handicap on Sunday.