Hubbard Requests Ownership Ruling : Horse racing: He apparently wants to know if Hollywood Park role could be considered a conflict of interest.

R.D. Hubbard, apparently continuing his battle to oust Marje Everett and assume operating control of Hollywood Park, has asked the California Horse Racing Board for an opinion about whether he has a conflict of interest because of holdings in other California race tracks.

Hubbard, whose purchases this year have given him 9.9% of the stock in Hollywood Park, also is one of the owners of Los Alamitos Race Course and owns less than 1% of the stock in Santa Anita. The structure of Hollywood Park stock is such that no one can have more than 9.9% of the total. Everett has control of 11%, but a portion of it is in a trust and can not be used for voting.

Dennis Hutcheson, executive secretary of the racing board, could not be reached for comment on the opinion sought by Hubbard, who apparently anticipated that his ownership in other tracks could be interpreted as a potential conflict. Hubbard’s office in Ft. Worth, said that he was out of the country and could not be reached.

The next meeting of the racing board is on Sept. 28, but since Hubbard’s request is not on the agenda, it is unlikely that the board will consider his situation then.

Everett, who has run Hollywood Park since 1972, has told her opponents that she will not step aside. Her regime has been subjected to considerable criticism in recent years as the track’s debt reached $100 million. Payment of dividends resumed recently after a three-year absence. By selling Los Alamitos, Hollywood Park has eliminated more than half of that debt.

Tom Gamel, a member of the Hollywood Park board, is another shareholder who has tried to oust Everett. Gamel nominated Hubbard to the board in June, but no action has been taken by the nominating committee, which consists of Everett and two of her allies, Merv Griffin and John Forsythe. Apparently the 11-member board will meet with Hubbard before considering his nomination.

Hubbard, who also owns Ruidoso Downs in New Mexico and the Woodlands, a thoroughbred-greyhound racing facility in Kansas City, Kan., would like to oust Everett at the board level, and in a recent letter to the track’s board he proposed making her chairman emeritus by the end of the year. Another way to create a change is through a proxy fight, which would cost the track’s shareholders and Hubbard’s group millions of dollars in legal fees. Some investors say the fight could cost each side as much as $2 million. The advantage Everett would have in such a struggle is that she could wage her side of the battle with track money.

In the event of a proxy fight, Hubbard reportedly has begun to line up constituents and may have owners of as much as 30% of the stock on his side. A key player in the struggle is Harry Ornest, a Beverly Hills resident who owns the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League. Ornest owns 9.9% of the track’s stock, but he has been noncommittal about which way he would go in the event of a proxy battle.

Hollywood Park’s second-quarter report was much improved over last year, primarily because the restructuring of its bank loan greatly reduced interest charges.

The track’s net cash flow for the period was $6.4 million, compared to $3.3 million for the second quarter in 1989. Hollywood’s debt service was reduced by $2.7 million for the quarter, to $1.1 million, which means that the track’s cash flow for the period increased by about $400,000.