Uncertainties as an Era Ends at Hollywood : Horse racing: Financial problems have clouded forecasts of who will succeed Marje Everett as track’s controlling force.

As the Marje Everett era at Hollywood Park nears an end, one of at least three prominent shareholders in the slumping track could emerge in control.

If personal wealth were the only criterion, Hollywood Park’s leader for the 1990s would be Marvin Davis, whose worth is estimated in the billions.

But Davis, who has shown no interest in racing horses himself, has not bought nearly as much track stock as he could easily afford. He seems to be content monitoring Hollywood’s financial position, which should improve now that Los Alamitos has been sold and the company is out of the quarter horse and standardbred racing business.

The most visible of the Hollywood Park figures is Tom Gamel, 49, the truck-trailer manufacturer who has publicly campaigned for Everett’s ouster for nearly a year. An owner of horses and a former board member at Santa Anita, Gamel is the third-largest Hollywood investor, with holdings worth about $5.5 million.

Gamel, who lives in Denver and Palm Springs, is expected to be elected to the Hollywood Park board at the track’s annual meeting Friday.

Meanwhile, Harry Ornest, former owner of the NHL’s St. Louis Blues and current owner of the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League, has been buying Hollywood Park stock in recent months.

Ornest and his family now own stock valued at more than $7 million and have become Hollywood’s biggest shareholders. Everett, even though she sold about a third of her shares to other board members in the last year, has another sizable block in a separate trust.

Ornest avoids questions about his role at Hollywood Park, but close friends say he would like to get involved on a day-to-day basis.

Other than Everett, who has been Hollywood Park’s chief operating officer since 1980, Ornest is the only member of the board experienced in sports ownership and administration.

Everett, who once had a strong ally in Davis, lost some of his support when Jeffrey Rhodes, a sometime Davis associate, was entrusted with selling Los Alamitos. The Orange County race track was purchased by Hollywood Park for about $58 million in 1984. Los Alamitos was sold last month to a harness-racing group headed by Lloyd Arnold for about $71 million.

Davis has been a member of the Hollywood Park board since 1988 and Rhodes, 42, is expected to be elected on Friday to the board of Hollywood Park Realty, the track’s investment trust. Hollywood Park is situated on a 340-acre tract in Inglewood and Davis apparently envisions commercial development for some of the property. Rhodes would play a key role in such a plan.

Everett, 68, is expected to remain as board chairman of Hollywood Park and will continue as the track’s chief executive officer, but the presence of Davis and Rhodes, Gamel and Ornest will prevent her from having the free hand she previously enjoyed.

So Everett’s second reign at a race track is waning. Her first regime ended amid scandal at Arlington Park in Illinois, where a governor went to prison over charges related to racing dates.

In a report to shareholders earlier this year, Gamel noted that since 1982, track debt went from zero to almost $120 million; losses in slightly more than two years amounted to almost $23 million; and a dividend hasn’t been paid in two years.

The purchase of Los Alamitos and the construction of a six-story clubhouse pavilion at Hollywood Park have been the primary expenditures under Everett. The track’s legal fees have exceeded $100,000 a month recently. Rhodes received a commission of about $700,000 for the sale of Los Alamitos.

Another prominent Los Angeles realtor received a commission equally lucrative for finding a potential Los Alamitos buyer. However, the buyer backed out of the deal because of zoning problems.

Hollywood Park’s general manager, Don Robbins, has one of the best contracts in racing. Robbins was hired by the track in 1986, leaving a law firm that represented the track. Robbins is paid more than $200,000 a year on a contract that runs to 1995. The contract includes stock options and a buyout clause.

And Mike Finnigan, who joined Hollywood Park this year as its chief financial officer, reportedly makes more than Robbins.

Gamel and Ornest seem content with Robbins’ performance. But even if they weren’t, it would be financially difficult for the track to buy him out.