Hollendorfer, trainers group file court complaint

Jerry Hollendorfer and the California Thoroughbred Trainers organization have filed a complaint in San Diego Superior Court against the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club and the 22nd Agricultural District because the race track is not allowing the Hall of Fame trainer to participate in the summer meet that begins Wednesday.

Filed on Monday, the complaint alleges Del Mar has not given Hollendorfer adequate cause for why he is not being allowed to work at the meet. It also claims the track has not adhered to an agreement it has with CTT about how disputes are resolved.

Attorneys for Hollendorfer and CTT are asking the court to issue a temporary restraining order to allow Hollendorfer to train at Del Mar until the matter is resolved. A court hearing could happen as early as this week.

Hollendorfer’s San Diego-based attorney, Drew Couto, declined Tuesday to discuss the case, as did DMTC President Josh Rubenstein.

The complaint, available in public records, is the latest development in a dispute that began June 22 when The Stronach Group, owners of Santa Anita Park, told the 73-year-old Hollendorfer he needed to vacate all of his stalls after a horse he trained suffered a fatal breakdown that morning during a workout.

The horse death was the fourth for Hollendorfer in a meet in which there were 30 deaths in training or racing at Santa Anita.

Hollendorfer was allowed to have stalls for the subsequent nine-day meet at Los Alamitos that ended Sunday, but he was denied participation at meets this summer by the New York Racing Association, which reversed itself after initially saying it would allow him at its tracks.

Del Mar has yet to comment on the Hollendorfer situation. The complaint alleges the trainer, who has raced horses at Del Mar for more than 30 years, was told by track officials on June 28 that they would not be able to assign him stalls because of “PR risks and considerations.”