Hollywood Park Meet to Be Reduced by Four Days

Hollywood Park, which had to cancel turf racing for its upcoming meet because of dissatisfaction with a newly installed course, reduced its meet by four days and increased overnight purses by 14% after the track reached an agreement Thursday with the Thoroughbred Owners of California.

Scheduled to run for 31 days between Wednesday and Dec. 19, Hollywood Park will instead have a 27-day season and it has yet to be determined which days will be cut. It is known the track’s first two weeks will remain unchanged. Golden Gate Fields in Albany, Calif., will be provided $166,000 to supplement the purses for selected turf races.

Desert Boom is the 2-1 morning-line favorite for the $250,000 California Cup Classic, the main event on the $1.325-million California Cup Day on Sunday at Santa Anita. Seven others were entered in the 1 1/8 -mile Classic: Devil Badgett, McCann’s Mojave, Cheroot, Deputy Doc Renzi, Texcess, Mr. Joe C and Carano.

-- Bob Mieszerski

GOLF

Bryant Fires a 62 for Two-Shot Lead

Bart Bryant shot a course-record 62 at East Lake to take a two-shot lead over Retief Goosen after the first round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Kenny Perry bogeyed the last two holes for a 65 and Tiger Woods and Sergio Garcia were at 66.

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Bob Tway shot a tournament record-tying eight-under 64 for a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Southern Farm Bureau Classic at Madison, Miss.

Jonathan Byrd had a 65. Kevin Na, Tom Pernice Jr., Tom Byrum and Bo Van Pelt were two shots back after 66s.

TENNIS

Roddick Looks Sharp in Defeating Hrbaty

Andy Roddick had 16 aces and routed Dominik Hrbaty, 6-1, 6-2, to reach the Paris Masters quarterfinals.

Roddick will play David Ferrer, who defeated Tommy Haas, 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-3.

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Two-time defending champion Amelie Mauresmo defeated Ai Sugiyama, 6-3, 6-4, to advance to the quarterfinals of the Advanta Championships at Villanova, Pa.

In other matches, Nadia Petrova defeated Yaroslava Shvedova, 6-2, 6-2; Kvete Peschke topped Sesil Karatantcheva, 6-1, 6-0; and Lisa Raymond beat Stephanie Gehrlein, 6-1, 3-6, 6-2.

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Nathalie Dechy defeated Maria Emilia Salerni, 6-1, 7-6 (5), to advance to the quarterfinals at the Bell Challenge at Quebec City. Marion Bartoli defeated Emma Laine, 2-6, 6-1, 7-5.

BASEBALL

Padres Acquire Castilla From the Nationals

Third baseman Vinny Castilla was traded by the Washington Nationals to the San Diego Padres for right-hander Brian Lawrence and cash.

The move paves the way for Ryan Zimmerman, the No. 4 overall pick in June’s amateur draft, to start at third for the Nationals.

Castilla, 38, was hampered by knee tendinitis but batted .253 with 12 home runs and 66 runs batted in. He led the National League in RBIs with Colorado in 2004, and signed a $6.2-million, two-year deal as a free agent with Washington last off-season.

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Glenn Hoffman, the older brother of free-agent closer Trevor Hoffman, was hired as third base coach of the Padres.

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Roberto Alomar and Danny Bautista were reinstated from the voluntary retired list by the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, and the two players filed for free agency.

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Former Kansas City manager Tony Pena was hired by the New York Yankees as their first base coach.

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Torey Lovullo was hired as manager of the Buffalo Bisons, Cleveland’s triple-A farm team.

MOTOR RACING

Oval Nationals Draw a Record 75 Entries

The Oval Nationals, one of the most prestigious events in the country for non-winged sprint cars, has attracted a record 75 entries this weekend at Perris Auto Speedway.

Qualifying, heats and 20-lap main event are scheduled tonight. Saturday night’s 50-lap finale will pay $30,000 to the winner. The competition matches the best of the U.S. Auto Club’s national series with the USAC/CRA, a West Coast organization. Cory Kruseman is the defending champion.

-- Shav Glick

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Rod Fuller, Robert Hight and Erica Enders turned in the best qualifying runs in the Auto Club NHRA drag racing finals at Pomona Raceway.

Fuller had a pass of 4.501 seconds at 316.08 mph in top fuel, Hight hit 323.66 mph in 4.745 seconds in his funny car, and Enders led pro-stock drivers with a 6.696-second run, hitting 206.29 mph.

John Force, who trails funny car drivers Gary Scelzi and Ron Capps as he shoots for his 14th national championship, tried to set a national elapsed-time record, worth 20 bonus points, in his run but spun his car’s wheels and posted a time of only 9.959 seconds at 67.68 mph. He has three more chances to qualify for Sunday’s final eliminations.

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Mike Skinner matched two NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series qualifying records in winning the pole for the Chevrolet Silverado 350 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Skinner, a former series champion, drove his Toyota Tundra truck to an average lap speed of 182.593 mph to win his third consecutive pole at the 1.5-mile superspeedway. He becomes the third driver to win three consecutive poles, sharing the record with Jack Sprague and Canada’s Ron Fellows. Skinner also is the third driver to win three consecutive poles on superspeedway tracks measuring more than a mile.

MISCELLANY

Authorities Indict Illinois Chemist

An Illinois chemist who authorities believe created the designer steroid THG was indicted in federal court in San Francisco, a signal that the BALCO doping scandal is far from over.

Patrick Arnold, 39, of Champaign, Ill., was named in a three-count indictment. It alleges that he conspired with Victor Conte, the president of Burlingame, Calif.-based BALCO, to distribute THG and other performance-enhancing substances to professional athletes. THG was code-named “the clear.”

The indictment alleges that Arnold sent packages containing THG to Conte in California, wired money to alleged chemical suppliers in China and sent packages containing THG to a noted track coach in Greece.

Arnold’s lawyers said in a statement that he is not guilty and “will defend these charges vigorously.” He was not taken into custody. An initial court appearance has not been set.

-- Alan Abrahamson

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Dwight Lewis, a 6-foot-5 swingman originally headed to Kansas, has given USC basketball Coach Tim Floyd a verbal commitment.

Lewis, who had been an all-state forward at Metairie Archbishop Rummel in Louisiana before being displaced because of Hurricane Katrina, now attends Taylor High in Katy, Texas.

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The U.S. soccer team will play an exhibition game against Norway on Jan. 29 at the Home Depot Center.

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Former UCLA long jumper Mike Powell, the world-record holder, will be inducted into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame.