Columnist Ralph Siraco: A weak Hollywood season

Ralph Siraco

Monday, Dec. 22, 1997 | 12:58 p.m.

THANKFULLY for racing fans, Hollywood Park ends its fall/winter racing meet today.

It is no secret, that outside of two big weekends of racing, the Autumn Turf Festival over Thanksgiving weekend and of course, Breeders' Cup weekend, the Hollywood Park stand was weak this year.

Decimated by "off" tracks from El Nino-type weather, many Hollywood Park cards were pale skeleton programs. This final weekend's presentation was just the latest example. And you can't put all the fault on the racing office or the lack of effort.

Maybe we just have too much racing.

Maybe we should end the season on Thanksgiving weekend and regroup until the day after Christmas.

Ahhh ... yes, the day after Christmas.

Every racing fan knows that the final present under their tree doesn't get opened until the day after Christmas -- that is for the racing fan.

As we ready in the final hours before St. Nick's annual Dec. 25 visit, racing fans know that competition at the "Great Race Place" starts just about the time the gift return line opens at malls around town.

Santa Anita opens its 61st season of outstanding thoroughbred racing from Arcadia, Calif., on Friday for 85 days of racing through April 20, 1998.

And for Las Vegas race players, it couldn't come a day too soon.

When the simulcast signal turns on in the race books around town on Friday at about 11 a.m., it will be the first time locals get a chance to participate in the parimutuel comingling of betting pools and "live" closed-circuit televised racing from the Southern California racing emporium since the 1995-96 season.

If you recall, it was this very own Santa Anita meeting that was the first victim of the lengthy California simulcast blackout that began on opening day 1995 and lasted until the opening of this year's Del Mar summer meeting. So, this opening day means a little more than the usual session.

But, it's the holiday season so let's not digress.

First post time Friday is at noon, and this opening day promises to be special.

The seven-furlong Malibu Stakes will be the first in a full roster of important stakes races during the meeting, and is the first in the three-race Strub series exclusively for 4-year-olds. The Grade I event has been won by such celebrated champions as Spectacular Bid, Damascus, Buckpasser and Round Table.

This year is no exception. The $200,000 feature will mark the return of Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Silver Charm. This celebrated gray returns to the races from a six-month vacation and has been burning the track in the mornings in preparation for his assault on the Strub series and eventual goal of the meet -- The Santa Anita Handicap on Saturday, March 7.

If Silver Charm can pull off the sweep of Friday's Malibu, then the Grade II San Fernando Stakes on Saturday, Jan. 17, and the Saturday, Feb. 7th Grade II Strub Stakes, then he will be positioned to be only the third horse in history to run the table in that series and win the Big 'Cap. Horses of the Year Round Table in 1958 and Spectacular Bid in 1980 accomplished the feat with a Big 'Cap victory.

Trainer Bob Baffert wisely stopped on Silver Charm after his failed attempt to win the Triple Crown in the June Belmont Stakes. Charm missed the 'Crown by less than a length while finishing second to winner Touch Gold. No one, however, could forget his heart-stopping gut-wrenching victories in the Derby, by a head over Captain Bodgit, and the Preakness, by a head over Free House. Citing a hard campaign and a loss of weight, Baffert took the high road and gave his charismatic Silver Buck colt a well-deserved rest and resisted the temptation of rushing the gray for the Breeders' Cup and a chance at Horse of the Year honors.

It would be hard to believe that Silver Charm doesn't have the 3-year-old Colt Eclipse award locked up.

And now Baffert has a stronger, filled-out and soon-to-be 4-year-old tiger ready to roll.

Charm has signaled his readiness with a pair of recent eye-catching drills in the past two weeks. On Saturday, Dec. 13, he rolled seven furlongs in 1:23:3 then reeled a sizzling six furlongs on Thursday the 18th in 1:10:4 over the same Santa Anita strip.

The always quotable Baffert declared, "I feel better now that I worked him from the gate (Dec. 26) is a big day, and I didn't want to be sitting there saying 'Silver Charm, where are you?' He's got a great mind and doesn't get keyed up."

The only ones that may be asking where Silver Charm has gone are the brave few that challenge him Friday. Expected to test the Silver Streak are Captain Collins, Crypto Star (fifth in the Derby and fourth in the Belmont) Emailit, Fantastic Fellow, Flaming West, the comebacking Mud Route and the swift Swiss Yodeler.

After the three-day holiday weekend opener, racing will be conducted on a Wednesday-through-Sunday schedule except for a few added Mondays.

Championship racing from the "Great Race Place" with returned simulcasting to this gaming capital of the world.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus, even if we have to wait until the day after Christmas. Merry Christmas everyone.