For Hollywood Park, It’s Quiet Closing Day

The Hollywood Park fall meeting, which peaked early with wins by Skip Away and Favorite Trick in the Breeders’ Cup, then regained some footing when the brilliant grass filly Ryafan won the Matriarch, closed quietly Monday. Surachai, a colt who had never won on grass, was victorious at 5 1/2 furlongs before 4,918 who chose thoroughbreds over malls, mistletoe and reindeer.

In what passes for a breather on the Southern California circuit, there will be a three-day racing respite before Friday, when Santa Anita opens with Silver Charm headlining the Malibu Stakes.

Kent Desormeaux won the riding title with 38 winners, but Alex Solis won more stakes than anyone else and his sixth of the meeting was a two-length triumph aboard Surachai in the $87,200 Dayjur Handicap. Finishing fourth at 7-5 in the five-horse field was Bolero Boy, who had been unbeaten in three 5 1/2-furlong grass races at Hollywood. Surachai had four seconds and a third in five grass starts before Monday.

Desormeaux, who finished third in the Dayjur with Billy Dazzler, completed the 37-day meeting three more winners than Solis and four more than Corey Nakatani.

Richard Mandella, not running any horses Monday, didn’t need any to wrap up the training title. Mandella finished with 14 winners and, like Ron McAnally had five stakes wins.

Comparisons with last year are irrelevant, because of the business Hollywood did on Breeders’ Cup day and because there was no simulcasting to Nevada because of a contract dispute a year ago. On-track averages were not encouraging, however, with the daily betting average of $1.9 million up by almost 6% and the average attendance of 8,610 down by 2.6%. The season-ending numbers were buoyed by a Breeders’ Cup that drew 51,161 fans.

Eual Wyatt Jr., Hollywood’s general manager, cited bad weather as a reason for on-track downturns. Counting off-track sites, the daily handle averaged $11.1 million, with $79.7 million bet on Breeders’ Cup day.

Favorite Trick, voted horse of the meeting by reporters, is the leader in The Blood-Horse magazine’s Internet poll for horse of the year. Favorite Trick has received 41% of the vote, followed by Skip Away with 24%, Gentlemen 16%, Silver Charm 14% and Formal Gold 5%.

The horse of the year will be announced at the Eclipse Awards dinner Feb. 10 in Rancho Mirage.

Horse Racing Notes

SLM Big Daddy, probably clinched the world championship--quarter horse racing’s equivalent of thoroughbred racing’s horse of the year--by winning the $300,000 Champion of Champions Stake at Los Alamitos Sunday night. SLM Big Daddy, a 5-year-old gelding trained by Don Mourning and ridden by Jacky Martin for owners Steve and Lindsey Mitchell, finished the year with wins in the MBNA America Challenge and the Champion of Champions. SLM Big Daddy won seven of 11 starts, with three seconds and a third.