DEL MAR : Never Round Never Paid Off

There were many reasons why Jean-Laurent Andreani’s racing operation went on the rocks. It didn’t help that the French-born owner-breeder paid $250,000 for a yearling estimated by his breeders to be worth less than 10% of that.

The story was told here Wednesday when Never Round, the colt Andreani bought, finished last in a division of Del Mar’s opening-day feature, the Oceanside Stakes.

In 1990, when Never Round was a yearling, the Never Tabled-Olympic Bronze California-bred was consigned by his eight breeders to a Del Mar auction. Horsemen familiar with the sale said the reserve, or minimum pre-auction price, assigned by the consigners to Never Round was between $16,000 and $20,000.

Yet, because of intense bidding between Andreani and Marshall Naify, Never Round was bought by Andreani for $250,000, unrealistically jacking up the average figures for what would have been a lackluster sale. Andreani also outbid Naify’s trainer, Bruce Headley, for the No. 2-priced horse, buying him for $200,000, and after that, the price of the next horse was $80,000. Andreani’s two buys were the biggest at a Del Mar yearling sale since 1977, when a pair of horses were bought for $525,000. At the 1990 sale, Andreani bought 21 horses, accounting for $1 million of the $2.8-million total.

The consigners of Never Round could thank an art auction, which had been held at Del Mar the night before the horse sale. Andreani and Naify were both interested in the same painting, and when Andreani lost out, he was embittered and believed that Naify might have used a secret extra bidder to make the winning offer.

“Marshall Naify will never outbid me for anything else,” Andreani was heard saying of the rich recluse who is one of the owners of Bertrando, a top 3-year-old before illness and injury compromised his campaign this year.

Never Round has since been sold. He now races for Frances Jelks, and under trainer Lin Wheeler has turned into a useful horse. Despite that last-place finish Wednesday, Never Round has won a stake, been third in the Silver Screen Handicap at Hollywood Park and earned $146,865.

Andreani’s racing operation has since gone out of business and he’s been unable to honor a $27-million commitment to the estate of Gene Klein for the 150-acre Del Rayo Ranch in Rancho Santa Fe.

A dispersal of Andreani’s racing stock is scheduled at Del Mar on Sept. 2, when 39 horses will be offered. Naify, who doesn’t live far from the track, could be there bidding for some of them.

The California Horse Racing Board, which spends a lot of time listening to track operators and horsemen disagreeing, entertained two lengthy discussions during a meeting Thursday near here, and the rhetoric has only begun.

One issue is cross-betting, whether thoroughbred tracks open at night should also be allowed to offer off-track betting on harness and quarter horse cards. Hollywood Park was unsuccessful in selling the horsemen on the concept this past season, and Bay Meadows has also run into opposition.

“The thoroughbreds are the creme de la creme of the industry,” said Bob Forgnone, a lawyer who represents the California Horsemen’s Benevolent and Protective Assn. “It’s not proper that our horses be the incentive for patrons to come and bet on other breeds.”

The view of Henry Chavez, chairman of the racing board, was not as unequivocal. “If we don’t try this to see what happens, we could be in the dark forever,” Chavez said. “We must move with the times. The limited evidence we have does not show that an overlap hurts.”

The horsemen also presented their opposition to a 200-table card-playing club at Hollywood Park, a possibility that will be presented in a referendum to Inglewood voters in November.

Randy Funkhouser, a trainer and HBPA official from West Virginia, said racing has been hurt by other forms of legalized gambling in South Dakota and Montana, as well as in West Virginia.

“There’s a dismal situation at Mountaineer Park (in Chester, W.Va.),” Funkhouser said. “Horsemen have lost $7,500 a day in purses because of video games. California racing is the best and the most vibrant. Offering other forms of gambling is an invitation to disaster and would jeopardize thousands of jobs that racing creates.”

Hollywood Park’s chairman, R.D. Hubbard, has said his track needs to compete with legal card playing that’s already in place not far from the track. “At the Keeneland sales, there was a lot of doom and gloom about the future of racing,” Hubbard said recently. “Everybody realizes that major changes have to be made, and we’re seeing this in certain areas, such as Louisiana and West Virginia.”

Louisiana Downs recently installed 542 video poker machines, and horsemen will receive 50% of the net profits.

Horse Racing Notes

With the high weights, Flawlessly and Kostroma, not expected to run until the Ramona Handicap at Del Mar on Aug. 15, some of the horses that weren’t able to beat them at Hollywood Park will run in Saturday’s $100,000 Palomar Handicap at 1 1/8 miles on the grass. Had they run, Flawlessly and Kostroma would have each carried 123 pounds. The starting high weights in a field of 10 are Appealing Missy, Only Yours and Crystal Gazing, at 115 pounds apiece. Danzante, at 113, was nosed out by Kostroma in the Wilshire Handicap, then lost by a half-length to Odalea in the Matinee Stakes. The lineup, in post-position order: Steff Graf, Regal Peace, Lady Blessington, Appealing Missy, Danzante, Indian Chris, Only Yours, Super Staff, Crystal Gazing and Odalea. Danzante and Super Staff will be coupled in the betting. Odalea will carry 114 pounds.

Jockey Alex Solis and trainer John Sadler each had three winners Thursday. . . . Zealous Connection, winner of the Landaluce Stakes at Hollywood Park, has drawn the outside post in a field of seven for Saturday’s $200,000 Sorority Stakes at Monmouth Park. Martin Pedroza has the mount again on the 2-year-old filly.