Photo: Hollywood Park
Betfair Hollywood Park has strengthened considerably its
2-year-olds stakes program for both the 2012 Spring/Summer and Autumn meets.
Purses for the Hollywood Juvenile Championship and the
Landaluce, fixtures on the Spring/Summer calendar, have doubled from $100,000
to $200,000 while the Cinderella Stakes and Willard L. Proctor Memorial have
gone from $70,000-added in 2011 to $100,000 this year.
Additionally, the Grade I Hollywood Starlet, one of the
highlights of the Autumn meet, has been raised from $200,000-added to $500,000
guaranteed.
A Grade III at six furlongs, the Hollywood Juvenile will be
run for the 73rd time Saturday, July 14. The Landaluce – restricted
to fillies and also at six furlongs - will have its 68th renewal the
same day.
Both the Cinderella, which is for fillies, and the Proctor
will be offered Saturday, June 16. The two races are 5 ½ furlongs.
Captured in the past by such stars as Blind Luck, Surfside,
Sharp Cat, Serena’s Song, Very Subtle and Althea, the Starlet, which is run at
1 1/16 miles, is scheduled for Dec. 8.
The first payment of $250 for both the Starlet and the
$750,000-guaranteed CashCall Futurity – a Grade I which will be run Dec. 15 -
are due May 18, according to Martin Panza, Betfair Hollywood Park’s racing
secretary and vice president-racing.
“These increases reward those owners and trainers who
support the 2-year-old program during the Spring/Summer meet,’’ said Panza.
“We’ve doubled the purses for two of our four stakes during the Spring/Summer
and we have eight stakes for 2-year-olds – at different distances on two
surfaces – during the Autumn season.’’
Betfair Hollywood Park’s 50-day Spring/Summer meet will begin
Thursday, April 26 and continue through Sunday, July 15.