Hollywood Park Begins Night-Racing Experiment

Hollywood Park, hoping to expand its fan base, begins a four-week trial of Friday night racing tonight with a nine-race program, starting at 7.

Other Friday night cards are scheduled for June 29, July 6 and July 13. The night programs will replace the normal Friday afternoon racing.

Some trainers are opposed to night racing, saying that it lengthens a day that already starts very early in the morning.

In conjunction with its Friday night racing schedule, Hollywood Park has offered an overnight purse increase of $500,000, to be distributed over the course of the season. The track has also promised that it will not seek to race at night except on Fridays for at least five years.

Hollywood Park raced on one Friday night each in 1988 and 1989 and drew large crowds, but these were heavily promoted special events. In 1988, a night observing the track’s 50th anniversary drew a crowd of 40,700. And last year, in a night salute to jockey Bill Shoemaker, the turnout was 42,612.

A consideration in the current experiment is how the Friday night crowds will affect attendance the rest of the weekend.

Although trainer Ron McAnally is in Minnesota, where he will saddle Silver Ending, the favorite Saturday in the $300,000 St. Paul Derby at Canterbury Downs, three of the seven starters in tonight’s $75,000 Star Dust will be from his barn. The McAnally representatives in the 1 1/16-mile turf race for 3- year-olds will be Single Dawn, Tight Spot and Balla Cove.