Hollendorfer Granted Preliminary Injunction

[Wandering Eyes]

The Superior Court of San Diego has granted trainer Jerry Hollendorfer a preliminary injunction, which will allow him to resume racing at Del Mar.

In issuing the ruling, the court wrote: “Plaintiffs have submitted sufficient evidence for the court to conclude that Mr. Hollendorfer will suffer irreparable harm if an injunction is not issued. Mr. Hollendorfer has been a licensed Thoroughbred owner and trainer for approximately 40 years. This is his only occupation and his principal income is derived from participating in races. Mr. Hollendorfer asserts that if he is excluded from the Del Mar Fairgrounds and/or Los Alamitos Racetrack, he will have lost the opportunity to engage in his occupation and will face imminent loss of business.”

The court ruling noted that since Del Mar’s ban of Hollendofer had been made public, he has lost approximately 40 horses. However, most of those horses were turned over to his former assistant, Dan Ward. It was not immediately clear if they would now be returned to Hollendorfer’s care.

According to attorney Darrell Vienna, who is representing the co-plaintiffs in the case, the California Thoroughbred Trainers, the two parties are still scheduled to meet in the San Diego court Friday and Del Mar can contest the ruling. However, he did not expect the judge to change his mind.

“The ruling looks to be pretty well thought out,” he said. “We appear to be on solid ground,” Vienna said.

A preliminary injunction does not mean the battle is over for Hollendorfer. If Del Mar wants to continue the fight to keep Hollendorfer from racing, the next round in court will take place later this year. A preliminary injunction is not a final ruling. Vienna thought that would not happen until October, or well after the current meet concludes. Racing returns to Del Mar in November for the Bing Crosby meeting.

In response to Hollendorfer’s complaint that he be reinstated, Del Mar filed court papers defending its actions in which its lawyers called Hollendorfer a “radioactive PR risk” after six horses of his has to be euthanized earlier this year, four of them at Santa Anita and two more at Golden Gate Fields.

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