I Got the Horse Right Here

The phrase “going to the races” suggested two things to me: chain-smoking, grizzled old men who go “down to the track” to risk it all on a pretty filly called Lucky Lady, or, aristocratic ladies in hats stepping out of Bentleys to watch the “sport of kings.” The racetrack could be someplace decadent or desperate, but not a destination for the urban twenty- or thirtysomething. You know, cynical, everything-in-moderation, Gen-X-type people.

Turns out, Hollywood Park in Inglewood sees it differently. It sees an untapped market ripe for recruitment. For its Friday Night Racing, it is using well-tested enticements--$1 beers, hot dogs and soft drinks, and even $1 bets--to initiate a new generation of horse racing fans.

Friday Night Racing, in its 10th year, is one of the few times the park is open for nighttime racing and is offered from May to July. (The last Friday night race is July 19.) The first race starts at 7 p.m. and the last one at 10:30 p.m., when they give the MTV generation another reason to trek to Inglewood--live music at Longshots, the Hollywood Park bar.

I arrived at Hollywood Park a complete racetrack novice. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t need my wide-brimmed hat but didn’t know if it would be run-down and seedy or smart and upscale. Turns out it’s somewhere in between. There are three levels of admission: Grandstand ($7), general admission to the track; the Clubhouse ($10); and the glamorous-sounding Turf Club ($20). Everything in moderation, I chose Clubhouse. Once inside, I couldn’t understand why anyone would pick the no-frills Grandstand when the extra $3 gained me access to patios, bars, ample seats and charming equestrian paintings lining the walls. Perhaps it’s because Grandstand admission, though with fewer amenities, gets you close to the action and leaves $3 for another wager.

The actual racetrack was just what I’d imagined, only more kitschy. There’s the traditional-looking oval dirt track encircled by a white fence, but inside the track--in the infield--is a manicured grassy area, complete with a small waterfall, a pond, live flamingos and a horse topiary that looks more like a Labrador retriever. With the track so close to Los Angeles International Airport, the low-flying jets threatened to distract from the horses, but after a few minutes the noise became part of the ambience, along with the nasal voice of the announcer, the vendor shouting “peanuts, lemonade and ice cream” and the rustle of the crowd.

To decide which horses to bet on, many people buy--in addition to the regular program--a copy of the Racing Form, a daily newspaper and guide to each race, with information about the horses, jockeys, trainers, odds and opinions from handicappers. To me much of it looked like hieroglyphics--a mishmash of fractions, abbreviations and acronyms, with no discernable glossary of terms. Luckily, a nice man in an information booth saw my eyes glaze over and handed me the racing Rosetta Stone, a pocket-sized yellow card with definitions of racing and betting terms like “quinella,” “trifecta” and “maiden race.”

Hollywood Park doesn’t offer a beginner’s guide per se, which is surprising with the market they get on Friday nights. If you don’t have a friend with betting experience, try meeting someone who does.

The Friday night I went, most of the crowd was under 40. Some were on dates, some came in groups. Few looked like seasoned pros. Usher Dominick Mastro explained that this wasn’t a typical Hollywood Park crowd. “The typical racetrack people, midweek, are very serious about it. The regulars don’t come on Friday nights. They don’t want to fight the traffic and the crowds.”

With a two-minute race every half-hour, that’s 56 minutes left each hour to learn how to bet, read the Racing Form, make a wager, buy a beer or catch up with friends. It’s not exactly action-packed, but during the races it’s easy to get swept up in the frenzy of the crowd. Even when my horse was indistinguishable from the galloping blur, I heard myself screaming “Come on, 6, keep going!” over the other hyped-up gamblers.

But there are signs that even Hollywood Park doesn’t think horse racing is quite exciting enough. Just after the sixth race, the song “Hollywood Nights” began blaring out of the loudspeakers, and for no apparent reason, a dance troupe, scantily clad in black leather pants and royal blue spandex tops, started a shimmying routine. Turns out, these are the Hollywood Starlets, the Laker Girls of Hollywood Park. A bit later came the “hop-along derby,” grown men racing down the grass on red bouncy balls.

Yet because the betting isn’t nonstop, unlike most casino games, there’s less temptation to be impulsive. You can bet as little as $1, and nobody I met put more than $20 on any one race. Most people pick their horse using the early odds printed in the program or the updated odds displayed on an electric scoreboard in the infield, but some, such as Jennifer Johnson, a 29-year-old physical therapist from Burbank, use other methods.

“I choose a horse based solely on its name or number,” she said. “Five is my favorite number, so I choose horse No. 5 a lot. That’s probably why I never win, but it’s fun anyway. For me, it’s entertainment. If you really want to win money, I guess you should pay more attention.”

Paying attention didn’t get me anywhere. I bet timidly for several hours, putting money on the favorites, but it didn’t work. I tried choosing longshots, hoping for the big money off my $2 bet. That didn’t work. Then I tried a “trifecta box.” I chose three horses, and if they finished first, second and third, in any order, I would win. Didn’t win then either. At the end of the day, it felt like as much of a game of chance as roulette.

But, like fellow first-timer Ron McGinty, a 27-year-old legal secretary from Hollywood, I didn’t regret the money lost. “I never won but came close four times,” he told me. “I spent $25, probably less than I would have, had I gone somewhere else for three or four hours, and I had three beers and a hot dog. And unlike just going out to some bar, there was a chance I could actually win some money.”

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Friday Night Racing, 7 to 10:30 p.m., Hollywood Park, 1050 S. Prairie Ave., Inglewood. $7-$20 admission. (310) 419-1500.