Hollendorfer wins Del Mar ruling
San Diego County Superior Court Judge Ronald Frazier ruled Friday that Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer should be allowed to train and race his horses at Del Mar Racetrack near San Diego.
The track had denied stalls and entries to Hollendorfer after several horses he trained died recently, but had given access for the stable’s horses to his Southern California assistant, Dan Ward. Now Hollendorfer can return to oversee his operation at Del Mar.
“I haven’t thought it through yet, but probably that’s what will happen,” Hollendorfer said in a telephone interview with The Chronicle. “The judge ruled in our favor today, and I’ll take that and try to make plans on how to handle my business.”
Lawyers for the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club had argued in court last week that they didn’t want Hollendorfer to train and race there because of public relations fears.
But Frazier granted Hollendorfer and his coplaintiffs, the California Thoroughbred Trainers, a preliminary injunction against the ban.
“The court finds both the Race Meet Agreement and the Stall Application prohibit Del Mar from refusing Mr. Hollendorfer’s application and/or entry into a race in an arbitrary and capricious manner,” Frazier wrote.
In a statement issued later Friday, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club said it would “abide by the order of the court.”
On June 22, the Stronach Group banned Hollendorfer from Santa Anita in Arcadia (Los Angeles County) and Golden Gate Fields. Hollendorfer trained four of the 30 horses that died racing or training at Santa Anita’s winterspring season and two of the nine that died at Golden Gate Fields’ corresponding season.
The New York Racing Association also banned Hollendorfer, and his horses at Saratoga Race Course in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., are being trained by another assistant, Don Chatlos.
But despite the Stronach Group and New York bans, Hollendorfer was approved to race at Los Alamitos Race Course in Orange County in between the Santa Anita and Del Mar meetings and on the NorCal fair circuit.
Hollendorfer, 73, is third alltime with 7,623 winners. He said he routinely had 60 horses in each half of the state, but now has just 17 in Northern California and 35 in Southern California.
“I’ve lost over half my business,” Hollendorfer said.
He’s said he’s also sold ownership shares that he had on many of his horses, which allowed them to race under Ward’s name as trainer.
“I sold my share of the horses because I didn’t know what was going to happen,” Hollendorfer said.
Frazier scheduled a status conference for Oct. 25; Del Mar’s fall season opens Nov. 8. Hollendorfer remains banned at Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields, but that may change after Friday’s ruling.