LOS ANGELES (AP) — Kobe Bryant and Pau Gasol are more than just teammates on the Los Angeles Lakers. The NBA stars have partnered in owning a racehorse.
Bryant and Gasol bid against each other for an ownership stake in a 4-year-old gelding named Siempre Mio as part of a Lakers Foundation fundraiser at Riviera Country Club on Tuesday night.
Santa Anita Park chief executive officer Mark Verge donated a 25 percent stake in the gelding along with a day at the races as part of a live auction.
“Pao Gasol bid first, but then he and Kobe got into a little bit of a bidding war. Kobe won the bidding at $8,000,” Doug O’Neill, who trains the gelding, said Wednesday.
Verge then offered Gasol a chance to buy a 25 percent interest in the horse in exchange for a donation to the Lakers Foundation. Part of the deal was that the new owners pay no expenses in the horse’s care and training.
