HOLLYWOOD PARK : Opening Day Attracts Only 11,729

As a result of recent renovation, new bricks and fresh paint were much in evidence for the start of Hollywood Park’s 30-day fall-winter meeting.

Unfortunately for the track, people were in shorter supply.

Continuing a distressing trend for the Inglewood plant, only 11,729 fans showed up Wednesday, making it the smallest opening-day gathering in Hollywood Park history. The previous low was last year, when 14,980 turned out on a day when there was a promotional giveaway.

This does not bode well for the remainder of the meeting, which concludes Christmas Eve and follows an Oak Tree meeting that had only small declines in on-track attendance and handle.

Gary Boulanger, however, found absolutely nothing wrong with his first day at Hollywood Park.

The recently arrived jockey scored his first stakes victory in Southern California when he rode Owiseone to an upset in the $75,825 Moccasin Stakes.

The longest shot at 5-1 in a field reduced to four after four scratches, the 2-year-old Smarten filly defeated 6-5 favorite Ten K by 1 1/2 lengths while covering the 6 1/2 furlongs in 1:16 3/5.

This was the third consecutive win for Owiseone, purchased for $60,000 by trainer Terry Knight after she broke her maiden for $32,000 on the first try.

In her initial start for Knight, Owiseone beat a Bay Meadows allowance field by nine lengths.

Never far off the lead Wednesday, she moved ahead and drew clear in the final sixteenth to make it two for two with Boulanger aboard.

Ten K, making her first start since being beaten by 17 lengths at 1-1 odds in the Del Mar Debutante, outfinished Dramatic Joy by a neck for second place. Bel’s Starlet, who seemed unusually washy going to the gate, was last, another half-length back. A Wild Ride was scratched earlier in the afternoon, and Puppet Show, Nasers Pride and Interlope opted instead for an allowance race on today’s program.

“We were just real impressed with the way she broke her maiden,” Knight said of Owiseone. “She didn’t beat a lot, but she did it like a real seasoned horse that had a big future.

“After we got her and started training her, we thought we had a nice prospect. She beat nobody in her first race for us, but she won as easy as a horse can. It really was what we were looking for because she’d been off almost two months after her maiden win, and we didn’t want to have a race that was too tough on her.

“She’s got good natural, tactical speed and a good finish, as you saw today. They were all right together at the quarter-pole, and she outfinished them.”

Since making his local debut on Breeders’ Cup day at Santa Anita, Boulanger has shown he belongs on this circuit, and it helps that his agent is Jerry Ingordo, Pat Valenzuela’s longtime partner.

The top rider at Longacres in Renton, Wash., last spring, Boulanger, who will turn 22 Sunday, had won 16 races in 17 days at Bay Meadows before Ingordo persuaded him to move again.

“It feels fabulous, to say the least,” he said after his first added-money success. “Everyone has been very responsive from the stables we’ve approached to giving us a shot. I have to give 90% of the credit to Jerry. He has a lot of connections, and I’m just the kid who goes out and works.”

Because he was able to work with an agent of Ingordo’s longevity, Boulanger decided the time was right to try to compete with such riders as Eddie Delahoussaye, Chris McCarron, Gary Stevens and Laffit Pincay.

“I had thought about coming here, but when I did I wanted to come in with an agent with a lot of power and a lot of pull,” he said. “It was tough to leave (Bay Meadows) because we were on a really good roll and business was looking good.

“But I came at a very opportune time with everybody out of town for the Breeders’ Cup, and I was able to get into a number of barns a lot sooner.”

A Canadian, Boulanger didn’t begin riding until he was almost 18 and he is well-traveled. Besides Washington, he has also ridden in Canada, Florida, Delaware, Ohio and New York.

After Owiseone’s romp up north last month, Boulanger felt confident about her chances in the Moccasin.

“She’d done everything asked of her, and the only thing we were concerned about was the shipping,” he said. “She’s a 2-year-old and it was her first time on (this) track, but she did everything perfect.”

According to Knight, Owiseone will return to Bay Meadows, but the $500,000 Hollywood Starlet at a mile on Dec. 3 is a definite consideration.

Stevens had no excuses for Ten K, who looked ready to swallow her rivals at the quarter-pole. Instead, she was handed her second straight defeat after beginning her career with two imposing wins.

“She came up empty the last eighth of a mile,” Stevens said. “I lost a lot of ground, but she didn’t fire the last quarter-mile like I felt she was going to.”

Ron McAnally, the leading trainer at Del Mar and Oak Tree, started off as if he might be in line for a hat trick.

He doubled Wednesday, winning the second race with maiden Lori’s Wonder and the ninth with the promising 2-year-old, Silver Ending.

Making his first start on grass, the son of Silver Hawk, who also sired Hawkster, won easily and may be the horse to beat in the Hoist the Flag Stakes on Nov. 25.

Silver Ending also completed a double for Stevens, the lone rider to get more than one victory. He also took the seventh with 11-1 shot Runaway Blues.

Horse Racing Notes

The on-track handle was $2,866,763, contrasting with $3,349,424 a year ago. The figure was the smallest for an opening day at Hollywood Park since $2,837,187 was bet in 1971. The per-capita wagering, however, was a solid $244.42. . . . The Moccasin was trainer Terry Knight’s first stakes win in Southern California. . . . Owiseone paid $12 and $4.40. There was no show betting because of the small field. . . . Sunday Silence’s arthroscopic surgery to remove a chip from his knee is scheduled for 11 a.m. today and should take less than an hour to complete.