Handle off 10 percent at Hollywood

Handle off 10 percent at

Hollywood

Hollywood Park closed its 57-day spring-summer meet Sunday with drops in

attendance and handle, unable to overcome a trend at most tracks throughout the

United States in economic times that continue to be difficult.

Southern California attendance averaged 12,676, down 10.4 percent from the

average of 14,149 during a 55-day meet in 2009.

The average Southern California handle of $4,794,545 was off 10.6 percent

from the average of $5,365,2931 from the corresponding meet a year ago.

The all sources average handle declined 10.3 percent from $10,561,323 in 2009

to $9,474,780 in 2010.

"Although we are disappointed with the numbers, we thought the meet was

exciting from a racing standpoint,'' Hollywood Park president Jack Liebau said.

"The Vanity H. (G1), where Zenyatta (Street Cry [Ire]) was able to win her 17th

in a row, was memorable and there were some other outstanding performances on

the track.

"We thought the changing of the purse schedule to benefit the lower level

horses was a good idea.

"The experiment with a Thursday night card (July 1) was successful and the

plan is to continue experimenting, looking for ways to get more people on track.

The fall meet is going to open on a Thursday night (November 4), giving us some

momentum heading into the two days of the Breeders' Cup (November 5-6 at

Churchill Downs).''