Former horse exec Marje Everett dead at 90

LOS ANGELES, March 24 (UPI) -- Longtime thoroughbred racetrack executive Marje Everett died at her home in Los Angeles this week at the age of 90, a family friend said.

Everett was the owner and operator of tracks in Chicago during the 1960s and spent six years as chief executive officer of Hollywood Park in Southern California.

Everett's associate, Dorothy Carter, told the Los Angeles Times she had been in declining health in recent years and died Friday.

Everett broke into racing as a kid when her adoptive father, Ben Lindheimer, owned the Arlington race track in Chicago. She eventually took over the venture when her dad died in the 1940s.

She moved west in 1958 when she married Webb Everett, the manager of Golden Gate Fields in the Bay Area. After he died in 1977, she moved south to run Hollywood Park. She lost control of the landmark in 1991.

The Times said her stint at Hollywood Park came at an important time as the Breeders Cup got off the ground and off-track betting began to evolve, which ran counter to her idea of racetracks as a destination for fans with the parimutuel handle taking care of itself.