R.D. Hubbard, owned Hollywood Park and Ruidoso Downs, dies at 84

R.D. Hubbard, a lifelong owner and breeder who owned Hollywood Park and Ruidoso Downs, died Wednesday in Palm Desert, Calif., his family said.

Hubbard was 84 and had been in failing health in recent years.

Born in the tiny town of Smith Center, Kan., Hubbard was a teacher early in life and later owned a Fort Worth-based glass company. He became active in racing in the 1970s with Quarter Horses and led a small partnership that purchased Ruidoso Downs in 1988, making a much-needed investment in the southern New Mexico track.

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Two years later, Hubbard turned his attention to Hollywood Park and gained control of that Southern California track after a brutal proxy fight. Through the 1990s, Hubbard made considerable improvements to Hollywood Park and owned the track when it was the site of the 1997 Breeders’ Cup.

At times, some of Hubbard’s management decisions were controversial, notably the addition of a card club on Hollywood Park property and conducting racing regularly on Friday nights in an effort to draw a younger audience.

In the mid-1990s, Hubbard announced plans to build a stadium at Hollywood Park to accommodate an NFL team and held talks with the Oakland Raiders about a potential relocation. The deal later fell through.

Hubbard sold Hollywood Park in 1999 to Churchill Downs. The track was sold again in 2005 and closed permanently in 2013. An NFL stadium is scheduled to open on the property later this year.

Randall Dee Hubbard, who was better known to friends and employees as Dee, also was involved with ownership of The Woodlands Racetrack in Kansas City and the development of Zia Park in southeast New Mexico.

After the sale of Hollywood Park, Hubbard spent considerable time at Ruidoso Downs. He sold the track in October 2017.

Hubbard owned such Quarter Horse champions as the legendary Denim N Diamonds, as well as Feature Mr Bojangles, Stoli, and Super Sound Charge, to name a few.

Beginning in the 1980s, Hubbard became more active in Thoroughbred ownership.

He campaigned such major stakes winners as Fire the Groom, winner of the 1991 Beverly D. Stakes at Arlington Park; Gentlemen, a multiple stakes winner who was one of the leading older males in 1997; and Spring House, a six-time stakes winner on turf in 2008 and 2009 whom Hubbard bred in partnership.

On the business side of racing, Hubbard helped form the National Thoroughbred Racing Association. He and his wife, Joan Dale, were active in charities, particularly in California and New Mexico.

Hubbard’s survivors include his wife and three children.