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UNERRING The Voolforcl Farms fiveyearold is entered in the Aurora Purse Purseat at Lincoln Fields today REFLECTIONS By CHALLENGER Hollywood Park Opens This Friday Purse Distribution of 800000 75000 Gold Cup Renewed July 19 Challedon IVlioland Due to Meet One of the most important summer meetings staged anywhere in the world will get under way this Friday when they throw open the doors at Hollywood Park which is just ten miles or twenty minutes from the center of Los Angeles and the heart of Holly ¬ wood The opening days feature race is the 10000 added Premiere Handicap for three yearolds and older horses at six furlongs During the fifty days this meeting is in progress a total of 800000 is offered the program including thirteen stakes none of which are valued at less than 10000 In many ways the Hollywood Park meeting is to California what the Saratoga meeting is to the East for though its stake events lack the historic interest of the Travers Special and Saratoga Cup they are of such value that they draw the best horses in the West In turn good racing draws fine crowds and at Hollywood the daily throngs include many people famous in the worlds of finance sport and the motion picture industries Like Santa Anita Holly ¬ wood Park is famous for its beauty and also for its equipment At this track the photochart camera was used for the first time and it is the only track in the world that has an all enclosed saddling paddock The unsaddling paddock is in front of the grandstand and it is here that the presentations to the winning owners are made At Hollywood Park they have what is often said is the finest track hospital to be found anywhere That is but one item of the many by which the manage ¬ ment caters to the public the horsemen the jockeys and the horses also Employes in the stable area are taken to and from the track in free buses and the jockeys clubhouse is the last word being equipped with billiard and pool tables besides pingpong checkers and chess tables wrestling and boxing equip ¬ ment and a soft drink bar Looking froih the grandstand out on the lake spectators are surprised to see a GooseGirl in attendance Annually they hold a contest to select the Goose Girl and instead of it being but a novelty she is actually a symbol of the oldest racing in California Besides their own quarters the jockeys have a conditioning room with Bill Fox physical culture expert in charge In this room are the regulation turkish baths the very newest in diathermic baths a bicycle rowing machine and mechanical horse In addition Fox advises and oversees the diet of the jockey contingent The parking area like that of Santa Anita is so vast that those who arrive late are taken from the parking space direct to the gates in free buses When the Hollywood meeting opens it will be seen that many of the more important purses have been increased The minimum purse for any race will be 1200 with frequent overnight races from 1500 to 4000 in value The average daily awards will be 16000 Following the Premiere Handicap on Friday the 10000 added Haggin Stakes for twoyearold Califprniabreds will be run on May 24 while on May 30 the 10000 added Argonaut Handicap will be run and will be followed on the 31st by the 10000 added Will Rogers Handicap for threeyearolds at seven furlongs On the four weekends during June therewill be a 10000 added race while from July 4 to July 26 many richer events will be staged The 20000 added American Handicap is scheduled for July 4 and on the following day they will run the 10000 added Starlet Stakes for twoyearolds at six furlongs The 25000 added Hollywood Derby for threeyearolds at one and onequarter miles is scheduled for July 12 and the meeting will reach its peak on the weekend of July 19 with the running of the 75000 added Hollywood Gold Cup for threeyearolds and older horses at one and onequarter miles The meeting will close on July 26 with the staging of the Sunset Handicap at one mile and five furlongs for threeyearolds and older horses California racing has grown with leaps and bounds in the past five years This fact is reflected in the four important events to be run in July and especially the last three The first of these is the Hollywood Derby The inaugural running was won by Specify which while not the most famous California horse certainly has compiled a remarkable record for not only did he win the Hollywood Derby but ran second to Seabiscuifc in the Hollywood Gold Cup of 1938 was third to Kayak II and Cravat in the renewal of 1939 and also second to Challedon in last years running In the only running of the Sunset Handicap he was second to Kayak II Three of the finest horses of recent years won the Hollywood Gold Cup namely Seabisctiit Kayak II and Challedon Last year Challedon created the track record of 202 when he won from Specify and Cant Wait The Brann champion now is in training at Hollywood Park and two almost certain to oppose him are Charles S Howards Mioland and the Peru champion Meissen a winner of fifteen of his nineteen starts in South American countries This will make the big Hollywood race an East vs West affair with the South American champion adding an international touch The Hollywood Gold Cup is now the richest cup race staged throughout the world and with 75000 in added money among the richest races contested in this country There are but six top cup races staged the world over The oldest of these of course is the Ascot Gold Cup dating back to 1807 and now considered the number one race of the world Its greatest value was in 1937 when Precipitation earned 38500 Prior to the Hollywood Gold Cup being raised to 75000 added the richest of all cup events was the Melbourne Cup an event which passed the 50000 mark in 1922 when King Ingoda won 52740 Three cup races of major importance are the Saratoga Cup the Hawthorne Gold Cup and though not of great value The Jockey Club Gold Cup which was won last year by the threeyearold Fenelon Following the Hollywood Gold Cup the Sunset Handicap will bring the meeting to a close on July 26 and in all probability the event will draw the entry of Farragut which recently won the two and onehalf miles Thornton Stakes at Bay Meadows There is a possibility we understand that Shot Put will be sent to the coast for this race and if so a meeting with Farragut would just about pack Hollywood Park to the rafters
