[bc_video_id:357406:]Hollywood Park ceases to exist.
Shortly after dawn on Sunday, the grandstand of the closed racetrack was demolished in a series of implosions, leveling the massive grandstands. The destruction was extensively covered by Los Angeles television stations.
Hollywood Park held its final day of racing on Dec. 22, 2013, the day California Chrome won the track’s final stakes in the King Glorious Stakes. The track’s barn area was closed at the end of January 2014.
Veteran jockey Frank Alvarado was diagnosed with a minor concussion as well as bruising to his neck and back Saturday at Golden Gate Fields when his mount, Ekatitude, tried to hurdle the inside rail during the seventh race.
Ekatitude jumped a shadow on the backstretch, then tried to hurdle the inside rail, unseating Alvarado.
Alvarado was diagnosed at Highland Hospital in Oakland. His mount had “extensive bruising and contusions of the right shoulder,” according to veterinarian Dr. Forrest Franklin.
GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - Bret Calhoun won the 2,500th race of his training career Saturday night at Lone Star Park, when Ship Rock closed with determination to win the second race. It was a maiden special weight for 2-year-olds bred in Texas, and Ship Rock also became the first winner for the young stallion Indygo Mountain, according to statistics from Daily Racing Form.
An attempted work stoppage by valets and gate-crew members who are part of a disaffected union caused only a short delay in the Penn National card on Saturday night.
Members of the International Chapter of Journeymen Horseshoers and Allied Equine Trades, which began representing valets and gate crew members in February, attempted to disrupt the biggest card of the Penn National meeting, one featuring the Penn Mile and four other stakes, by refusing to work shortly before the program began at 6 p.m. Eastern.
OPELOUSAS, La. – Evangeline Downs management canceled the remainder of Saturday’s 12-race Evangeline Turf Sprint program after torrential rains hit the area following the first race. The skies opened just as the horses were arriving to the paddock for the second race, and following almost an hour delay, the decision was made to pull the plug on the meeting’s biggest card.
Ron Anderson, the jockey agent for Joel Rosario, was recovering Saturday afternoon at a hospital in Suffolk County, New York, after undergoing quadruple bypass surgery early Saturday morning, according to two close friends.
Anderson was admitted to the hospital late Friday night after experiencing discomfort in his chest and an arm, said his close friend, Michael Silber. He was first seen by a cardiologist, who performed tests and had Anderson sent straight to the hospital, with surgery scheduled as soon as possible.
Officials with Los Alamitos and Santa Anita held discussions Friday regarding a disputed weekend of racing dates in late September and terms for long-term negotiations for year-round stabling at Los Alamitos.
Keith Brackpool, chairman of Los Alamitos, and Jack Liebau, a consultant for Los Alamitos, met at Santa Anita but did not reach a resolution on either issue, both said late Friday afternoon.
The tracks are seeking to race the weekend of Sept. 26-27. Santa Anita wants the dates for the start of its autumn meeting, which runs through Oct. 25.
Following the second race at Northlands Park on Friday night, the remainder of the card was canceled due to unsafe track conditions.
“We added wood chips to the mix, and it didn’t knit properly,” Northlands general manager Chris Roberts said Saturday. “We worked the track all night, and it was fine this morning, so we’re good to go today.”
The stewards at Parx Racing in Bensalem, Pa., have revoked the license of rider Pierre Hernandez-Ortega for possession of an illegal electrical device, an acknowledgement that personnel from the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Commission initially cast their suspicion on the wrong rider.
