On Thursday 1/23/14 was Hollywood Park's last inspection day before the auction. Inside this monumental racetrack was death. Silence echoed while nostalgia lingered. Visitor looked lost, shocked in disbelief of its short undertaking. I was hoping that maybe-- finally -- I might have an opportunity to see the life of the race. Or what was left of it. The horse.
I saw my 1st horse here at the Hollywood Park Racetrack. My dad 1st saw a horse at a racetrack. My grandpa, too. We all fell enamored at first glance. We had all felt a bond. The horse is fast, graceful, and a glorious creature! You really would have to see it to believe it.
Here, horses were like life-- because whether or not they were bred to race-- they were selectively chosen by those who had trained and prepared them for a chance at the limelight. A chance to race.
Here, the racetrack was their stage. Where ONLY the BEST could WIN the race.
And people cheer for them. Or used to....
Now Hollywood Park looked like a ghosttown. A wasteland. Of defeat.
RACING WAS OFF.
And the county of Los Angeles has no more horses. Not for anyone like me.
Where else can you see horses treated like Royals? Like executives? Like Kings?
And where else can a horse even RUN?
Sure, there are other racetracks and maybe a small few stables here-and-there, but how else can an average Angeleno Native Cityslicker take the reigns in the race?
How else can we witness nature nurtured by grandiosity?.... A creature whose speeded and timely skill is measured by its reaction amid competition and willful stride--... from the Starting Gate to the Finish Line...
How else can an average Angeleno-- whether born, bred, or immigrant-- with little to nothing have a chance to change their life positively for the better in a race to live a life of real freedom?
Is there ANY way to postpone the auction? Or keep the land for the city of Inglewood and ALL who wish to see its last upstanding and outstanding history told through the bond between man and horse?
Sincerely, Dior
TOGETHER, CAN WE #SAVEHOLLYWOODPARK?
