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Ritzy horse racing action in the sunny L.A. area!
Hollywood Park race track is a thoroughbred racing facility and poker card room in Inglewood, California. Hollywood Park race track is located just 11 miles southwest of Los Angeles downtown, and is very accessible to Beverly Hills and the nearby beach areas.
Hollywood Park race track has hosted some of the most prestigious horse racing events in America. It has the distinction of being the host of the first ever Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships in 1984. Hollywood Park race track was also the first track to hold the Breeders Cup for a second time where it set a handle record of $14.3 million in November 1987. The race track also hosted its third Breeders Cup in 1997.
Among the more notable stakes racing events held at Hollywood Park race track are:
- Hollywood Gold Cup
- American Oaks Invitational
- Hollywood Derby
- Matriarch Stakes
- Citation Handicap
- Vanity Handicap
Hollywood Park race track was the site of the Hollywood Gold Cup that enabled Citation to become the first million-dollar-winning horse.
In December 1999, Hollywood Park race track was the site of Laffit Pincay Jr.'s triumph that allowed him to pass Bill Shoemaker's all-time record of race wins by a jockey.
Hollywood Park race track opened to the public on June 10, 1938. The Hollywood Turf Club, under whose direction the track operated, was formed. A who's who of tinseltown's biggest names, from directors to producers and movie stars, formed the group of 600 original shareholders of the Turf Club.
It was in Hollywood Park race track where the so-called "binocular cameras" was introduced in 1941. These were used to record sections of the race track during races.
In 1949, Hollywood Park race track's grandstand and clubhouse were destroyed by a fire but re-opened in 1950. In 1984, the race track was extended by a ¼ mile prior to the first Breeders Cup race. A card club casino was added to the complex in 1994.
With the 2006 installation of its new Cushion Track, Hollywood Park race track became the first track in California to meet the California Horse Racing Boards guideline that all tracks in the state be replaced with the safer artificial surface by end-2007.
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