Racing board approves Oak Tree meeting at Hollywood Park

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

The California Horse Racing Board gave final approval on Friday for the application of the Oak Tree Racing Assn. to hold its fall meeting from Sept. 30 through Oct. 31 at Hollywood Park.

Since 1969, Oak Tree has held its meeting at Santa Anita, but issues over the condition of the track surface at Santa Anita left Oak Tree officials embracing Hollywood Park as its home for this year.

The CHRB vote was 5-0 with one abstention. Some concern was expressed that the Northern California racing community could be affected by the decision of Oak Tree to hold night racing for the first time. There will be three Thursday night cards and three Friday night cards.

The opening-night card on Thursday, Sept. 30 will begin with a first post at 7:05 p.m. There will be back-to-back night racing cards on Oct. 21-22 and Oct. 28-29 as the track experiments with trying to attract a younger demographic by holding concerts after races.

-- Eric Sondheimer