Ed Nahem, 64; horse owner-breeder also was an art and antiques dealer

Ed Nahem, 64, a Southern California-based horse owner and breeder, died Wednesday of liver failure at his Beverly Hills home.

A longtime dealer of art and antiques, Nahem bred Bertrando, the champion older horse of 1993 and a runner-up in two different Breeders’ Cup races.

Bertrando was second to Arazi in the 1991 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and second to long-shot Arcangues in the 1993 Breeders’ Cup Classic at Santa Anita.

He also named a horse in honor of friend and Playboy publisher Hugh Hefner, and it ran as a long-shot in the 2000 Preakness Stakes.

“I always went to Belmont and Aqueduct as a kid, always loved playing the horses,” Nahem, a native of Brooklyn known for his flamboyant wardrobe and ebullient personality, told the New York Post in 2000.

“But I found it was better to breed and own them yourself,” Nahem said.

Another horse he owned and bred is Bilo, the winner of the Triple Bend Handicap earlier in the year at Santa Anita. Bilo is a scheduled starter in the California Cup Sprint on Saturday at Santa Anita.