For the better part of the past decade, Santa Anita Park had placed its bet on Rick Caruso.

But now that the billionaire mall magnate has called off plans to build a $500 million shopping and entertainment complex next to the storied track, Santa Anita is making a different gamble.

The venue, which last week acknowledged financial troubles that will force it to lay off perhaps dozens of employees, hopes to reverse a long slide in attendance and wagering by cashing in on some of the latest youth trends.

Santa Anita is carrying all of its races online and inviting food trucks to set up shop in the parking lot. Nonracing events such as car shows are likely to be held there. And more live entertainment is on the card at this year’s fall meet, which started two weeks ago.

“If we’re going to succeed going forward and successfully compete with other forms of entertainment, we’ve got to package our product in a way that’s appealing to a younger demographic,” said Greg Avioli, a former top lobbyist for the horse-racing industry who now heads the track.

Avioli was handpicked this year by Canadian billionaire Frank Stronach to run his horse-racing empire after Stronach’s previous company, Magna Entertainment, filed for bankruptcy. Santa Anita and several other parks formerly owned by Magna have since been acquired by the billionaire’s newly created Stronach Group.

Avioli is taking over as chief executive of the group’s racing and gaming division after Caruso announced in May that he was abandoning the planned 51-acre shopping complex due in part to Magna’s financial troubles.

The challenge for Avioli is substantial.

The park may be classic but, like many of its fans, it’s aging – it’s now 77 years old. And while the young also like to gamble, they have many other opportunities, including local card clubs, Las Vegas casinos and online poker sites.

Those headwinds have hit the park. Last week, it announced that several divisions will be restructured. The moves are expected to result in reduced hours or layoffs of more than 100 employees.

Santa Anita continues to field interest from developers looking to acquire some of its vast and coveted parking lot space, but Avioli said the company isn’t pursuing the opportunities.

“There are a lot of people interested in acquiring different pieces of our land,” he said. “We’re really focusing on the activity within the race track and the facility as opposed to developing anything else adjacent to it.”

Stronach, who was not made available for comment, said in interviews earlier this year that he would still like to see development in the area.

Waning popularity

Santa Anita, which has faced declining attendance for decades, hoped to reverse that trend after Magna reached a deal in 2004 with Caruso for the shopping complex. But the project faced opposition from residents and the Westfield Group, the mall giant that owns adjacent shopping center.

Meanwhile, when the economy collapsed, the horse-racing industry swooned as well and Magna filed for bankruptcy in 2009. But the end of the partnership with Caruso may actually prove beneficial for Santa Anita, which had put off improvements as it awaited the start of Caruso’s development.

Besides food trucks and Internet streaming, the track recently convinced Arcadia officials to change the historically restrictive zoning laws to allow it to host more nonracing events – something Santa Anita hadn’t pushed for while the Caruso project was on the table, said Arcadia City Manager Don Penman.

“They didn’t want to add anything that would, if you will, muck up that process,” he said, noting that the track feared development opponents might seize upon the request.

The city finally passed changes this summer that will allow the track to hold events as varied as car shows and concerts. The California Philharmonic is scheduled to play a five-concert series there next summer.

“We want to use this venue more as an entertainment venue,” said Avioli, who lives in Kentucky but spends as much as two weeks a month at Santa Anita. “It can’t just be traditional horse racing.”

Other nonrace events include a recently hosted Greek festival and a food truck promotion, with dozens of trucks in attendance such as the Grilled Cheese Truck.

Reaction from racing fans has been mixed.

Marco Meza, a 31-year-old Arleta resident and longtime Santa Anita patron who came out on opening day, said, “I like what brings more people.”

But Walter Tanesky, an elderly horse-racing enthusiast from Arcadia, wasn’t as supportive.

“They don’t need all this,” he said. “For the young people they have food trucks that come in. Who cares about food trucks?”

Avioli stressed, though, that some of the changes are directed at racing fans, especially the streaming of races. He said the two-minute races are perfect for watching on iPads and mobile phones.

However, it’s unclear whether the initiative will have much of an effect in reversing the long-term trends that have not been kind to racing.

Evan Hammonds, executive editor of industry trade magazine the Blood-Horse, said, “every … venue out there is trying” new tactics to broaden the appeal of horse racing, including streaming races, but the benefits are unclear.

Hopes alive?

Still, development may not be off the table entirely, and certainly the city would like to see it. Arcadia had projected sales tax revenues from the new mall would generate $2.2 million for the city and property taxes of $300,000 a year.

“It’s a significant amount of money that we’re not going to be receiving,” Penman said.

He noted that Westfield has been working with the city to add tenants to its Westfield Santa Anita mall, and has an application to build more restaurants and commercial space. Now, with Caruso out of the picture, Penman said he wouldn’t be surprised if Westfield tries to expand onto the race track’s property.

“It’s a prime piece of real estate,” he said.

Westfield spokeswoman Katy Dickey would not comment on any future development, but noted that the company in 2009 completed a $120 million, 115,000-square-foot expansion of Westfield Santa Anita.

“Although we’re always looking ahead and for ways to improve, there are no announcements to make at this time,” she said.