Hollywood: Three stakes get boost for fall meeting

Enhanced purses for three major stakes and two new stakes for California-bred juveniles are among the notable changes to the stakes schedule for the Betfair Hollywood Park fall meeting, which runs from Nov. 8 through Dec. 16.

The track will run 18 stakes, including four Grade 1 races – the Matriarch Stakes and Hollywood Derby on turf and the Hollywood Starlet and CashCall Futurity for 2-year-olds. The $750,000 CashCall Futurity on Dec. 15 is the richest race of the meeting.

The Hollywood Starlet for 2-year-old fillies will be worth $500,000-guaranteed. Last year, the race had a purse of $402,000, having been worth $200,000-added.

The Grade 3 Native Diver Handicap for older horses has received a boost of $150,000 this year. Worth $100,000 last year, the $250,000 race will be sponsored by the Oak Tree Racing Association, which operated autumn race meetings from 1969 to 2009 at Santa Anita.

Oak Tree, which ran its meeting at Hollywood Park in 2010, has also added $50,000 to the purse of the Bayakoa Handicap for fillies and mares. Worth $150,000 last year, the Grade 2 Bayakoa will be worth $200,000 on Dec. 8.

Two $200,000 stakes for California-bred juveniles over seven furlongs have been added – the King Glorious Stakes and the Soviet Problem Stakes, which is for fillies.

Two races for older California-breds over 7 1/2 furlongs will be worth $5,000 less than in 2011. The On Trust Handicap and Cat’s Cradle Handicap for fillies and mares will be run on Nov. 17 and 18 for $75,000.

One race for 2-year-olds has been discontinued – the $100,000 Moccasin Stakes for fillies over seven furlongs, which was run in November.