Horse Racing / Bill Christine : Hollywood Park Receives Tentative Offer for Its Los Alamitos Facility

On the heels of a rejected buyout offer of about $135 million, Hollywood Park has received a tentative offer for Los Alamitos Race Course.

The Los Alamitos offer was made by Chris Bardis, an attorney and land developer who conducts a harness meeting in Sacramento.

Bardis is interested in buying about 135 acres of the 300-acre site that Hollywood Park acquired in 1983. “The only property I would want is the amount necessary to hold racing there,” Bardis said.

The recent $135-million offer, which was turned down by Hollywood Park’s board of directors, was for both Hollywood Park and the entire Los Alamitos site. That offer came from R.D. Hubbard, a glassmaker and quarter-horse owner, and two partners, one of whom is an investor in Santa Anita.

In approaching Hollywood Park about buying Los Alamitos, Bardis did not mention a price, although he said that the Orange County track is now worth less than the $27 million that Hollywood paid for it three years ago.

According to the Western Standardbred Assn., a group of harness owners, the average daily handle has dropped more than 50% since 1983, when harness racing was held at Hollywood Park. At the Hollywood Park-conducted meeting at Los Alamitos this year, betting averaged $529,000 and was down 40% from the previous year.

Bardis said his offer to Hollywood Park consisted of hiring an independent appraiser who would evaluate Los Alamitos. Bardis said that both parties would have the right to reject the appraisal if it didn’t seem fair.

This week, Bardis said, Neil Papiano, Hollywood Park’s general counsel, indicated that he didn’t approve of certain aspects of the appraisal proposition.

“I get the feeling that Hollywood Park is not hot to sell,” Bardis said. “Actually, I thought they were crazy not to take that $135-million offer. The way things are going at both tracks, it almost showed a lack of responsibility to pass up the offer.”

Hollywood Park’s thoroughbred and quarter-horse operations at the Inglewood facility are not doing well. In fact, attendance and handle this thoroughbred season at Hollywood have shown double-digit declines, comparable to losses incurred during the main meeting in the summer.

Lloyd Arnold, a harness breeder who used to operate meetings at Los Alamitos and Sacramento, has been rumored to be interested in returning to track management, possibly with Bardis.

“I’m having too much fun playing golf,” Arnold said. “It’s too bad what’s happened to the harness business in California. Not that far back, we were doing $900,000 a night at Los Alamitos. Harness racing is different than thoroughbreds, and it takes harness people to run a harness meet. You’ve got to have a hands-on operation in order to make a go of it.”

Tony Ciulla, a confessed race-fixer from the 1970s, is no longer living in Malibu, according to one Los Angeles law-enforcement officer.

Ciulla, who claimed to have fixed hundreds of races in the East, including some in New York, moved to California under a new name, Tony Capra, testifying as a government witness in the race-fixing trials.

Ciulla, who through his wife attempted to get involved in horse ownership in California, reportedly has moved to England. According to Los Angeles authorities, the Ciullas went to Philadelphia for the funeral of a friend and were shaken when several windows in the funeral home were blown out.

Talinum, second to Java Gold in the Remsen Stakes at Aqueduct last month, and Persevered, winner of a division of the Hoist the Flag at Hollywood Park, won’t be running in Sunday’s $1-million Hollywood Futurity. And Brave Raj, who would have been the only filly in the race, has now become a doubtful starter.

Talinum has been bothered by a cough that has plagued a number of horses at Hollywood Park and Santa Anita. Laz Barrera has decided just to run Qualify, second to Capote in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, in the Futurity and keep stablemate Persevered in the barn.

Brave Raj, who has already won a $1-million race, the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, has not been working well recently and may need a good workout today to convince trainer Mel Stute that she should challenge the colts.

A field of eight or more is likely for the Futurity, with two of the other probables being Jack Van Berg-trained colts, Exclusive Enough and Alysheba. Exclusive Enough won the Hollywood Prevue Nov. 15 and Alysheba was a late-running three lengths behind Capote in the Breeders’ Cup.

Capote, who was scheduled to be rested for the rest of the year, anyway, has recovered from a six-day virus that slowed his training.

“He’s eating good again and just the other day he was so strong that he was almost too much to handle,” trainer Wayne Lukas said.

Precisionist has been assigned top weight of 127 pounds for Saturday’s Native Diver Handicap at Hollywood Park. Super Diamond, who won the On Trust Handicap in his last start, is next among the starters at 124 pounds, and then it’s a drop to Nostalgia’s Star at 118.

Not long ago, Bill Zels and Lee Bromily would have sold Jet Sound Rhythm for $250. They had bought the 4-year-old pacer for $1,000 and he had failed to win in 10 starts this year.

But Jet Sound Rhythm was turned over to trainer Dale Glasco and Tuesday he won his eighth straight race over a 31-day span. Jet Sound Rhythm’s streak has raised his earnings this year to about $9,000.

Horse Racing Notes Eclipse Award ballots are due to be mailed to the 250 voters this week, and campaigning has started on behalf of some of the horses. Walmac-Warnerton Farm in Lexington, Ky., where Phone Trick will go to stud, has hired a public relations firm, and the owners of Skywalker had a full-page ad in last Sunday’s Daily Racing Form. . . . An inequity in the Eclipse program is that Tommy Trotter, Hollywood Park’s director of racing, and Bob Umphrey, the track’s racing secretary, don’t have votes, even though they probably see as many major races as anybody in the course of a year. None of the tracks that employ Trotter and Umphrey belongs to the Thoroughbred Racing Assns., one of the sponsoring groups for the awards. . . . Few expensive yearlings earn more than their purchase prices on the track. But Life at the Top, who was bought for $800,000, has earned $843,000 through this year and will continue running in 1987.