HOLLYWOOD PARK : Attendance Is Down in Return

Even though on-track attendance was down 4,500 from the corresponding day a year ago, Hollywood Park management was satisfied with Wednesday’s resumption of racing.

Open for the first time after civil unrest in Los Angeles forced the cancellation of four racing dates last week, Hollywood Park attracted 8,679 fans, compared to 13,179 last year. However, there was no inter-track wagering among Santa Anita, Los Alamitos and Hollywood Park at this time last year.

Santa Anita was down 28.8% on-track for its just-concluded meeting. Factoring in that drop-off, which Hollywood Park did in distributing the day’s figures to the media, the attendance for the corresponding day in 1991 would have been 9,383.

“It’s a strong showing. We’re just thrilled . . . to do this number our first day back,” said Rick Baedeker, the track’s vice president of marketing and public relations. “I think it’s a good omen for the rest of the season. Nobody really had any idea what we would do. There’s no prior experience to draw on.”

Mutuel handle on-track was $1,866,131 compared to $3,390,983 a year before. However, factoring in the 35.7% on-track drop in handle Santa Anita experienced, Hollywood Park’s projected figure for the same day in 1991 would have been $2,120,000.

Though Baedeker says Hollywood Park has yet to determine how much the four lost dates cost the track, the state estimates it lost $1.5 million in revenue.

It is possible the track could make up the lost days by requesting permission from the California Horse Racing Board for some Monday programs. There has been no discussion of that yet, according to Baedeker.

Riding for the first time since he broke a collarbone for the 11th time April 4 at Santa Anita, Laffit Pincay clicked won with his initial mount, 17-1 shot Providence in the fifth race.

A loser in four of his five starts in England, Providence was a comfortable winner in his first American outing for trainer Neil Drysdale.

“I was ready a week ago,” said Pincay, who finished second with The Harpist in his only other mount Wednesday. “I wanted to ride Tight Spot (in the since-canceled Shoemaker Handicap), so I started working horses a week earlier.

“This (injury) gave me less than trouble than any of the other ones. I had less pain and I felt like I could start doing things right away. I feel like it’s healed well.”

Hollywood Park will donate $2 from the price of admission this Sunday to a fund that will help rebuild riot-decimated areas of Los Angeles. The track will make a guaranteed minimum donation of $40,000.

“We are open for business and can take immediate action to help the situation,” said R.D. Hubbard, Hollywood Park’s chairman of the board and chief operating officer, in a statement released Wednesday. “This will be the first of many efforts Hollywood Park will undertake to support the community.

“We feel so strongly about supporting the effort to rebuild that we throw out the challenge to other corporations to meet or beat our pledge.”

Best Pal, who worked six furlongs in 1:12 2/5 Sunday at Pimlico, will go for his fifth consecutive victory in Saturday’s $700,000 Pimlico Special, the fourth race in the American Championship Racing Series. The Special, which goes at the Preakness distance of 1 3/16 miles, will be simulcast at Hollywood Park.

Pimlico was the scene of one of Best Pal’s worst performances--he was well-beaten in last year’s Preakness--but he worked well under Kent Desormeaux over the track.

“We hadn’t felt comfortable with his first two works (in Maryland), but he really worked great (Sunday),” trainer Gary Jones said. “Kent said his work felt more like his work before the Santa Anita Handicap than any other he’s had and that made me feel good.”

Successful in the San Fernando, Charles H. Strub Stakes and Santa Anita Handicap at Santa Anita and the Oaklawn Handicap at Oaklawn Park, Best Pal will carry highweight of 126 pounds Saturday.

Others scheduled to run are Defensive Play, who won the Excelsior at Aqueduct in his last start, Ibero, Twilight Agenda, Fly So Free, Strike The Gold, who was sold for $2.9 million at auction Tuesday, and Valley Crossing.

Horse Racing Notes

The first 2-year-old races of the meeting will be run this afternoon. The second will have 10 2-year-olds running for a $50,000 claiming price and the fourth has attracted 10 fillies. Both races are 4 1/2 furlongs. . . . Julio Garcia, who has spent the last nine months riding in Puerto Rico, will resume riding at Hollywood Park next Wednesday. Garcia rode 35 winners during the 1991 spring-summer meeting. He left for his native land during the Del Mar meeting for personal reasons. Garcia’s agent will be Rene San Miguel, who also books mounts for apprentice Hector Torres. . . . .The Harry Henson Stakes, scheduled to be run on what was to have been the second Friday night card, will be run Saturday, and the Hawthorne Handicap, scheduled for May 22, will be run the following day. . . . In addition to the Shoemaker Handicap, the Spotlight Breeders’ Cup Handicap, which was to have been run last Saturday, has been canceled.