They're Off And Kicking

As proxy battles go, the fight for Hollywood Park racetrack ranks as a minor contest. But the cast of characters could have been plucked from the plot of a Dick Francis novel and plunked down in an episode of Dynasty. In fact, actor John Forsythe, the patriarch of the defunct TV show, is a star defender of Majorie Everett, the eccentric chairwoman of the company that manages the track in Inglewood, Calif.

Some stockholders charge that Everett, 69, has turned "the track of lakes and flowers" into a second-class operation. The main challenger is R.D. Hubbard, a Texas glassmaking mogul and owner of tracks in Kansas and New Mexico. Hubbard launched a proxy battle last November to gain control of the company's board and install new management, complaining that the company has lost $27 million in the past three years. Everett supporters like Merv Griffin counter that she has brought many innovations to the track, including simulcasting of events.

Hubbard hired private investigators who, he said, found evidence that Everett has misappropriated funds. According to one allegation, she supplied audiovisual gear at company expense to her friends Ronald and Nancy Reagan. Everett denies the charges. "They won't find a g.d. thing on me," she told the Wall Street Journal. Defending Everett's cause, Forsythe got into a shoving match at the track last month with an opposing director.

Hubbard, in his own poll of stockholders, gathered support from 49.4%, just shy of the majority he needs to take over. As a result, he will have to wait for an official count that will take place at the company's annual meeting Feb. 18. Tallyho!