Early Birds : At Hollywood Park, They Can Check Out the Horses, Then Bet

The early bird catches the worm, the saying goes.

At Hollywood Park, the Early Bird also gets a chance to:

* Place a wager one might otherwise not be able to make.

* Enjoy the pleasant, cool, unhurried atmosphere of the track during the early morning hours.

* Socialize while having the time to make a well-thought-out, unpressured bet.

* Avoid entrance and parking fees and long lines at the mutuel windows.

* Learn the ropes of thoroughbred racing without post time looming just moments away.

* Perhaps, in keeping with “catch a worm,” spot something, as the thoroughbreds work out, that might help in picking a winner.

On a brisk, overcast morning recently, 85-year-old George Minser of Los Angeles stood at the rail along Hollywood Park’s homestretch, eyeing a handful of horses going past at various gaits. The unmistakable snorting sounds of equestrian exertion and pounding hoofs echoed in the air.

Across the way, a flock of small birds, agitated by the action on the track, swooped in and out of the long bank of eucalyptus trees skirting the corner of the course. In the infield, ducks nestled along the edges of a pond, waiting for the sun to break through, and tall, stately palms pointed up at jetliners as they buzzed unseen through the fog toward Los Angeles International Airport, to the west.

To the left, in the direction of the Forum just across 90th Street, the gold-and-royal blue Hollywood Park starting gate stood waiting to be pushed into place. But that wouldn’t happen until 1:30 p.m., post time for the first race.

For now, everything was peaceful, quiet, laid-back. The urgent excitement of the afternoon, the sometimes frantic efforts to place a wager in time, the thundering, gut-gripping spectacle of a dozen horses trying to outrun one another were all hours away.

Minser, a regular at Hollywood Park’s Early Bird sessions, looked at his watch. It was only 8 a.m.

“I come in the mornings,” he said, “because I just love to watch the horses. It’s a pleasure to be out here at this time of day. The weather’s cool, the air hasn’t had a chance to heat up. You’ve got the time to get together with a few friends.”

“And,” he added with a wink, “watching the workouts sometimes gives you ideas about which horses to bet on.”

For many of the same reasons, anywhere from several hundred to a thousand thoroughbred racing devotees show up on one or all of five mornings each week. The track introduced Early Bird wagering in 1979 and it has been popular. Wednesday through Sunday (the track is “dark” on most Mondays and Tuesdays), the gates open at 7 a.m.

Betting windows start doing business half an hour later and remain open until 10:30. Then the Early Birds leave and the plant is made ready for the racing program.

For some Early Birds, free admission and parking can make a difference. Admission in the afternoon is $2.25 and parking ranges from $3 to $7.

Average daily attendance at 50,000-seat Hollywood Park runs around 21,000 these days. The largest Early Bird crowds tend to turn up when the Pick Six and Pick Nine pools swell. On this particular day, the Pick Nine prize had reached $1.8 million, and the number of early morning attendees was slowly swelling toward four figures. Not exactly grandstand gridlock, but that’s the whole idea.

Robert Hall, 68, of Torrance, a retired financial executive, was taking at stab at picking all nine winners and walking away with the nearly $2-million pot. But he wouldn’t be waiting around for the races.

“I used to go to the track regularly,” he said. “But not anymore. I just don’t like the crowds.”

While wagers placed by Early Birds amount to less than 4% of the track’s average daily betting handle of $4.8 million, it still represents between $100,000 and $200,000 each day. But that isn’t the track’s reason for the Early Bird sessions.

Said Bobby Taylor, Hollywood Park mutuels manager: “We feel a certain obligation to many of our patrons who sometimes can’t get out here in the afternoon. This gives them a chance to share in the action.”

Although thoroughbred racing is often called “the Sport of Kings,” there is no evidence of regal pomp this morning. Baseball caps and jackets, sweat suits, athletic shoes, jeans and casual shirts abound. There isn’t a tie or fancy dress in sight.

“I like it this way,” a Beverly Hills woman said. “You don’t have to get dressed up. You can be as casual as you like. If you look around, you can see this isn’t a celebrity or Turf Club crowd. I suppose some of my friends wouldn’t understand it, but I like it this way.”

Around her, on the apron along the stretch and under the grandstand, about 500 fans visually confirmed her remark. Neatly but casually dressed, the crowd consisted mostly of 9-to-5 folks and retirees, not many of them likely to be willing or able to shell out the $675 per person, $1,100 per couple, cost of belonging to the Turf Club.

Of just about every ethnic background and color, the gathering appeared generally middle-aged but nonetheless peppered with a number of people in their early 20s to early 40s. There were even a few children with parents or grandparents. Inspired, perhaps, by the swift movement on the track, several of the tykes raced around one section of the benches, chasing one another.

Under the stands, a dozen or more Early Birds lined up at each of the open betting windows, waiting to place a wager. Others stood looking up at a large rectangular screen upon which the day’s nine-race program was projected.

Others dallied around the concession stand drinking coffee and talking shop. Others sat at tables, poring over charts and forms, jotting down equestrian names, numbers and notes. The rest stood or sat on the apron watching the workouts, several using field glasses. Their expressions ranged from totally relaxed to deadly serious.

One, Jerry Anderson of Torrance, hunched in intense concentration over his notes. A serious bettor, he was poring over the racing form and writing down lengthy, detailed comments after the names of a number of horses in a worn, voluminously filled notebook. Although he was wearing a bright red St. Louis Cardinals jacket and tennis shoes, his attitude was anything but casual.

“I come out to watch the horses almost every morning,” he said. “I check to see if a horse’s head is up or down, how he looks, what kind of spirits he’s in.”

Anderson gestured toward his notebook. “I keep track of how a horse has done recently, if he’s been injured, if he’s on the rise or slipping. And then I add it all up. Of course, it doesn’t hurt if you have a good horse and it’s going to be ridden by a great jockey like (Chris) McCarron, (Eddie) Delahoussaye, (Gary) Stevens or (Laffit) Pincay.”

Glenn Hirokawa, also of Torrance, held up his 2-year-old daughter, Corrie, so she could see over the outside rail. A horse wearing fuchsia leg wraps flashed past. Corrie’s head almost spun off her shoulders. Then it swiveled from left to right again as another 1,000 pounds of expensive horseflesh, decked out in emerald green exercise gear, flew by.

There were plenty of steeds for Corrie to see. Some were going full bore over the freshly harrowed turf, along the inside rail. Others passed at a gallop. A few simply trotted, and some just walked. The farther from the inside rail, the slower the pace. Most moved by in a counterclockwise direction.

Across the way at 9 a.m., horses continued to come onto the track, one or two at a time, from the backstretch stables.

“All thoroughbreds are exercised each morning,” said Hollywood Park spokesman Jim Peden, “unless they’re sick or competed the previous day.”

Another exception: when a horse has had a heavy workout the day before. In such cases, they’re simply walked around the sheds in the stable area. On days when there are no workouts, they are galloped around the track by exercise riders.

“The spacing of full workouts and the distance of a ‘work’ depend on the stage of the horse’s training and the race for which it is being pointed,” Peden said.

The main track at Hollywood Park is open from 6 to 10 a.m, with two breaks when giant blue tractor-harrowing machines renovate the track surface. In a workout, a horse is asked to run hard, often with a jockey rather than an exercise ride aboard, over a predetermined distance. The times are recorded by official clockers and published in daily workout sheets and the Daily Racing Form.

From positions along the backstretch near the stables, trainers keenly watch workouts to see how their charges are responding. Owners frequently visit the backstretch during morning workout hours. Many at Hollywood Park are in the entertainment business, so the viewing area outside the track kitchen which is not open to the public, is often star-studded.

The stable and kitchen area is across the track from where the Early Birds congregate. Here, Hirokawa shifted Corrie from one arm to the other. “I’ve been here only one other time,” he said. “I don’t come to bet or to figure out which horses are going to win. I just enjoy watching these animals being put through their paces.”

At that moment, a rider stopped his horse just beyond the outside rail. Almost close enough for Corrie to reach out and touch, it tossed its head suddenly and snorted. Corrie squealed with delight. “Obviously,” her father said, “my daughter is enjoying this as much as I.”

The rest of the Early Birds continued going over their notes, watching, lining up at the mutuel windows. Each had a slightly different reason for being there, although placing a bet that might turn out to be a winner was at the heart of it. Some thought being able to see the workouts gave them an edge, some did not.

“I don’t think there’s any particular advantage in it,” said Bob Lucero of El Monte. “It’s just a convenient time for me to place a bet.”

Said Jadwyga Andrews, a Polish immigrant from South Gate: “I come every day. I’m working and I can’t be absent from my job. It’s very convenient in the morning.

“Does a peek at the workouts give me a better chance?” Andrews shook her head and laughed. “No, I don’t really come to study the horses. I bet on my own hunches. I study the forms sometimes, but I don’t go for favorites. That doesn’t do me any good, because no one really knows at post time which of these horses feels like running.”

Despite such opinions, there are those who believe that a definite edge is gained by being there early. And for some, it has nothing to do with studying the workouts.

Wilshire District retiree Patricia Stephens said: “In the morning you have time to think. You’re not rushed, so you’re not nervous about the bets you make. In the daytime there are so many people running and pushing. Early in the morning you have time to sit down and decide carefully about where you’re going to put your money.”

Still, the workouts are a major factor for a number of Early Birds. “Some,” Hollywood Park security officer Louis Montini said, “will clock a horse. If they get some good times, they’ll bet him the next time he races. If they know what they’re doing, it can definitely be an advantage.”

Lisa Caidin, 28, of West Hollywood seems to fit into that category. “I sometimes get down here by 6 a.m.,” she said. “I think it helps. If a horse works well in the morning, it gives you an indication of how fit, how healthy he is. If a horse is going OK early, it’ll usually perform well in the afternoon.”

Caidin, who says she has been coming to the track in the morning, both at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita Park, since she was 15, has obviously become far more than an casual bettor. “If you’re familiar with the horses,” she explained, “it doesn’t matter that they’re not wearing their numbered racing silks early in the day. You know their conformation, their trainers and saddlecloths. Usually, the trainer’s initials are on the cloths. So if you know what trainer it is, you can easily figure out what horse it is.”

So coming out in the morning this way helps? “Without a doubt,” Caidin answered. “I do very well at the track and have for some time.

“But even more important is that I love thoroughbred racing. I have a job, so if I didn’t come here in the mornings, I couldn’t be involved in a sport I love.”