by Larry Stewart

The second item on the agenda for Wednesday’s meeting of the California Horse Racing Board in Arcadia, California, stuck out because it called for action by the board, if necessary, to extend the current racing days of the Oak Tree meeting at Santa Anita Park from October 29 to December 21.

Since those are the dates for the Hollywood Park fall meet, did this mean the Hollywood meet was in jeopardy? The answer, as things turned out, was no.

There had been an impasse involving advance deposit wagering and stakes scheduling between the track and horsemen’s organizations, but the issue, with help from CHRB chairman Richard Shapiro, recently was resolved.

So the board, acting on the agenda’s first item, unconditionally approved Hollywood Park’s license to conduct its fall meet as scheduled, so there was no discussion of item number two.

However, there was certainly a lot of discussion later in the meeting about Hollywood Park’s future.

There is still doubt that racing will continue at the Inglewood, California, facility beyond its 2009 spring-summer meet. The Bay Meadows Land Co., which owns Hollywood Park, announced three years ago it planned to develop the site with restaurants, shops, apartments, and condominiums.

The real estate developers have committed to holding next year's spring-summer meet but will not announce anything definitive about the 2009 fall meet until mid May, six months before the scheduled November 11 opening.

Jack Liebau, the president of Hollywood Park who was at the CHRB meeting, said that remains the plan.

Shapiro and other board members expressed frustration that since the initial announcement three years ago, other Southern California tracks have not been able to come up with a concrete contingency plan of what to do if Hollywood Park closes.

“We’re playing with a loaded gun here,” Shapiro said. “The bottom line is you people have not come up with anything.”

Sherwood Chillingworth, the head of the Oak Tree Racing Association, which operates at Santa Anita, said his group would gladly pick up the dates for Hollywood Park’s fall meet. Fairplex Park in Pomona and Los Alamitos Race Course near Long Beach also are possible sites for additional race dates.

But the board mainly was concerned about the loss of stables for approximately 1,900 horses if Hollywood Park is demolished. Board members were told that Del Mar and San Luis Rey Downs in northern San Diego County would be options to house some of those horses.

However, Liebau said Hollywood Park might not close in 2009.

“I’m not into making predictions,” Liebau said, “but something tells me I will be standing in front of this board at this time next year talking about race dates.”
 
There also was much discussion, but no action taken, about race dates at Northern California tracks. One point of contention was the possibility of moving the race dates in Sacramento that now take place during the California Exposition and State Fair from August to September.

Shapiro, in particular, expressed dismay over moving those dates away from the fair.

Drew Couto, the president of the Thoroughbred Owners of California, made a lengthy slide presentation on advance deposit wagering to strengthen the TOC’s claim that horsemen are not getting their fair share from ADW providers.

The presentation preceded a discussion on the proposed addition of a rule that would not allow ADW provides to enter into exclusive agreements with racetracks.

Others at the meeting argued that such a rule is unnecessary and that the marketplace would take care of this issue on its own.

No action was taken here either, but Shapiro appointed David Israel, an outspoken new member of the board, to head a small committee to look into this issue.

Larry Stewart is a California-based Thoroughbred Times correspondent