You heard it here first: Aug. 3 - An opening-day crowd of 24,000 slowly broils as the temperature hits 97 degrees.

Mr. Lowry resisted giving any estimate of the opening-day crowd.

The Mets sold 54,371 tickets yesterday, the largest opening-day crowd in their history.

The opening-day crowd will be greeted by $3.5 million in renovations that were performed without altering the country style of the old track.

For the opening-day crowd, there was a Portuguese special with cinnamon, lemon and port-soaked currants.

The crowd of 36,316 fans was the smallest opening-day crowd in the Blue Jays' 20-year history.

He charged five cents for a three-minute show - and saw an opening-day crowd of 4,993.

But the opening-day crowd of 22,322 nonetheless watched a runaway sprint by Kelly Kip, who won with command for the third straight time.

The crowd numbered about 3,000 more than last year's opening-day crowd, and they bet $2.6 million, about $200,000 less.

"Atta girl," said the 77-year-old Mrs. Hoffman in a refined shout, barely drowned out by the opening-day crowd of 9,182.