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BETWEEN RACES Byoscons HOLLYWOOD PARK, Inglewood, Calif., May 13. Hollywood Park, more beautiful and more luxurious than ever, opens the great summer season of racing in the Far West here tomorrow with a prospect that all previous attendance and wagering records will be broken. Such a prospect represents the opinion of this writer, who bases it on the current spring uptrend of turf interest in California, a trend which saw the nearby quarter horses at Los Alamitos soar into stratospheric heights, the harness races at Santa Anita smash several records, plus a literal storming of the gates at Bay Meadows. One might ask, quite properly, what about Santa . Anita being down? All we can say to that is that Santa Anita was down, but that in all probability there were cer- tain circumstances contributing to that state of affairs which may not be present during the Hollywood Park season. For one thing, Hollywood is blessed with some of the most glorious weather that Southern California af-.. fords, the meeting is run during a time when rainfall is unthinkable, and the track is always fast. While this early in the season, there is a likelihood of early morning high fogs, as a rule, they "burn out" long before noon. Fogs on the West Coast, are almost always a sign of fair weather. An afternoon at the races at Hollywood can be almost a semi-vacation for folks as close to downtown Los Angeles, some 11 miles distant, because, being close to the beach, the average terperature is at least 10 degrees cooler than in the city, and as much as 15 to 18 degrees cooler than prevails at such spots as Pasadena and Arcadia. AAA Unless a reader has been to California, it is hard to "understand that as much as a mile can make a tremendous difference in climate. Get inland only a few Predict Record Meeting for Hollywood Park Morning Fogs Relationship to Track Speed Future Growth Predicated on Ideas, Ideals Ease of Access to Course Salient Feature thousand yards, over a range of hills, say, and the weather is quite different. Hollywood is but five miles from the ocean, with only a flat plain intervening. No matter how hot it may be inland, a cool breeze springs up every afternoon, which, combined with horse racing, makes an almost irresistible appeal for tens of thousands of Southern Califorians The fact that the track is forever fast enables form to be established more quickly, although in this respect, we feel it mandatory to admit that the exact track speed is apt to vary slightly from day to day. While everything human is done to keep it the same, there is one factor which cannot be overcome. This is the morning overcasts. The track is sprinkled every night, and just how much evaporation occurs, which directly affects the speed of the track, depends upon the density and duration of the morning overcasts we mentioned. If the sun breaks through early, the track will tend to be a bit faster than when the overcast hangs on late. The difference isnt enough to quibble about. However, we are mentioning it because a great many turf fans place a lot of faith in time figures and ratings. AAA A great racing plant is based upon ideas and ideals, and is not dependent upon escalators, elevators, flowers in the turf club, or flossy facades. While Hollywood Park is one of the most modern in the nation, and has gone all out for comfort and convenience to its patrons, its trie growth into metropolitan status started, we feel sure, with the adoption of a solid program designed toward at once upgrading its racing and building for the future. This is being accomplished through the carding of an impressive stakes program, a careful grading of the purses in accordance with the now generally accepted principle of "better purses for better horses," and an emphasis upon the development of two-year-olds. The two-year-old program will pay rich dividends this summer, for horses developed into public favorites in juvenile stakes last summer have become the three-year-old heroes of this season, not only at Hollywood, but also at many other tracks. A good example is Correlation, who, though a winner in his first outing at three furlongs at Santa Anita, did not become recognized as a really worthwhile colt until after his victory in the C. S. Howard Stakes. Thus, a Hollywood development became a post-time favorite for the Kentucky Derby. That Correlation did not win the Dferby is beside the point. His victories in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and in the Wood Memorial at Jamaica were quite enough to prove his case. AAA Hollywood Park is idealistic because its leaders are at once imaginative and bold, yet with a solid business background. Hollywood Parks president is Mervyn LeRoy of the motion pictures, a man who is noted for producing wonderful entertainment. You may recall he was decorated by the Italian government last year for "Quo Vadis." LeRoy was an owner and a breeder long before he became the chief executive of Hollywood. Jim Stewart, vice-president and general manager, is back home after flying about 30,000 miles during the past few months absorbing worth-while items and procedures at other tracks, his tours having taken him to such diverse spots as Mexico City, Gulfstream Park, Laurel, Jamaica and Churchill Downs. We cannot speak with authority as to Continued on Page Thirty-Seven BETWEEN RACES I By OSCAR OTIS Continued from Page Forty-Eight what might be in Stewarts mind, but if results mean anything, he is endeavoring to write a skillful blend of the finest of racings traditions with the utmost in modern comfort and conveniece for the patron. Insofar as California is concerned, the propepr mixture of these two things is an unbeatable set-up. A A A From time to time this corner has commented upon the direct and vital relationship between ease, as measured in time, of reaching the track and getting home, and paid gates the basic yardstick of a healthy turf sport. In other words, freeways, parkways, expressways, and just plain fast ordinary highways are playing a larger role each year in the economic picture of racing. Hollywood is almost 100 per cent a motor car and bus track, and its system of traffic control and expedition is, perhaps, the finest we have every seen. The track parking areas are emptied after the last race at the rate of approximately 1,000 people per minute. In other words, when a crowd of 45,000 is present, the place will empty in less than 45 minutes after the last race, assuming that some people leave after the seventh. A traffic expert from the Inglewood Police Department, a lieutenant, has control of all motor cars, a control he exerts from a penthouse atop the grandstand, and from there he is in three-way radio telephone contact with Inglewood headquarters, with patrol cars, and on the ground aides at different exits. The minute a jam occurs in one area, cars are diverted to another. Fans have found that Hollywood Park is an easy track to reach and leave. We daresay that more scientific engineering has gone into the Hollywood Park traffic problem than most anywhere else you could mention. By next summer, .the new Harbor. Freeway will have been finished, bringing the track much closer, time-wise, to down- town Los Angeles. After that, the Sepul-veda Freeway will bring such spots as Long Beach and the San Fernando Valley to within the proverbial hop, skip and a jump of the track gates.
