Quarter-Horse Race at Hollypark?

Thoroughbred horsemen at Hollywood Park ran a full-page advertisement in today’s Daily Racing Form, accusing the track of a “breach of faith” if it runs a quarter-horse race before the current thoroughbred season ends Monday.

Hollywood Park received permission last month from the California Horse Racing Board to run a quarter-horse race this season, for a probable purse of $100,000, but thoroughbred horsemen have opposed the idea. The horsemen say that running a race for another breed is a violation of the contract that their bargaining unit, the Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn., has with the track.

Although a Hollywood Park spokesman said Tuesday that a quarter-horse race has not been scheduled, trainer Bobby Frankel said that it is his understanding that such a race may be held. Frankel is president of the local division of the HBPA.

There were reports Tuesday that some horsemen may not enter horses in Sunday’s nine-race program if a quarter-horse race is scheduled. Such action would jeopardize a card that includes the expected return of John Henry, two-time horse of the year, in the $100,000 Vernon O. Underwood Handicap and the running of the $150,000 Swaps stakes.

“It (the quarter-horse race) is up in the air,” a Hollywood Park spokesman said Tuesday. “To my knowledge, it has not been scheduled. Originally it was going to be run on July 14, then July 21 (Sunday), but now I don’t know.”

Hollywood Park also owns Los Alamitos, the Orange County track where a quarter-horse meeting is in progress. Thoroughbred horsemen are concerned about rumors that Hollywood may eventually want to transfer the Los Alamitos quarter-horse dates to the Inglewood track.

The horsemen and Hollywood Park seem to be playing a cat-and-mouse game regarding the running of a quarter-horse race Sunday.

Entries for Sunday’s races, which usually would be taken on Friday, will be taken on Thursday this week.

Meanwhile, Frankel reportedly has submitted a letter to the track stewards on behalf of the horsemen that says entries would be made on a conditional basis--that is, providing a quarter-horse race is not run.

Frankel was reluctant to discuss the issue and would not confirm the sending of such a letter to the stewards. “I think we’ve made our position clear about a quarter-horse race,” Frankel said. “Let’s just wait and see what happens.”

In their ad in the Racing Form today, the horsemen ask: “Why should rival quarter-horse interests be allowed to benefit, at no cost, from these (financial) sacrifices by the thoroughbred owners? And does this mean that thoroughbred trainers will soon be competing with quarter-horse trainers for Hollywood Park’s stabling?”