Betfair Hollywood Park's final stakes schedule mostly unchanged

Betfair Hollywood Park has released the stakes schedule for the track’s final season this fall, with few changes from recent years.

The meeting runs 29 racing days, from Nov. 7 through Dec. 22. The track will be permanently closed after the meeting, with the property scheduled to be developed for commercial and residential uses beginning in 2014.

The fall meeting has 21 stakes worth $4 million, compared to 18 stakes worth $3.8 million in 2012.

Three stakes that were put on sabbatical have been restored – the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for 2-year-old fillies (last run in 2011), the $100,000 Turf Express over six furlongs on grass (2008) and the $100,000 Playa Del Rey Stakes for female sprinters (2010).

Two stakes have higher purses than during the 2012 fall meeting, but one race will be worth less. The On Trust and Cat’s Cradle handicaps for California-breds will be run for $100,000, an increase of $25,000. The purse for the Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap has been halved from $200,000 in 2012 to $100,000 this year.

There are four Grade 1 races during the meet – the $750,000 CashCall Futurity for 2-year-olds; the $500,000 Hollywood Starlet for 2-year-old fillies; and two $250,000 turf stakes on Dec. 1, the Hollywood Derby for 3-year-olds and the Matriarch Stakes for fillies and mares over a mile.

The CashCall Futurity, the track’s richest race, will be run on the Dec. 14 program, which also includes the Native Diver and the $250,000 Hollywood Turf Cup, a Grade 2 race over 1 1/2 miles.

The feature race for the track’s final day is the $200,000 King Glorious Stakes for California-bred 2-year-olds at seven furlongs.