Ruling in Hollendorfer’s Favor Confirmed Friday; Trainer Can Race at Del Mar

[Wandering Eyes]

In a ruling Friday in the San Diego County Superior Court, permission was given for the name Jerry Hollendorfer to return to the Del Mar program book for the remainder of the current meet.

Judge Ronald Frazier upheld a “tentative ruling,” granting Hollendorfer and co-plaintiffs the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) a preliminary injunction on the action taken by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, barring the Hall of Fame trainer from stabling and entering horses under his name at the facility.

“Now I can feel free to go to Del Mar and participate in the meet down there,” said a subdued Hollendorfer afterwards, outside the court room. “I’m very grateful the judge ruled in our favor.”

When asked how soon he might resume training duties at Del Mar, Hollendorfer prevaricated.

“I wasn’t taking anything for granted, so, I didn’t make any advance plans, but I’ll be there probably this Sunday,” he said.

The day before, the judge found in his “tentative ruling” that Del Mar “is not permitted to arbitrarily deny” Hollendorfer’s stalls, nor to “arbitrarily refuse him” entry to a race at the track.

“There is evidence Del Mar TC did indeed arbitrarily deny Mr. Hollendorfer’s stall application without first providing him fair procedure,” the tentative ruling stated. “Accordingly, the court finds there is adequate evidence to conclude Plaintiffs have a reasonable likelihood of prevailing on the merits, as to their claims for declaratory relief and breach of contract.”

The decision comes after weeks of uncertainty and unanswered questions. In June, The Stronach Group (TSG) ordered Hollendorfer to remove his horses from Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields after American Currency became the fourth Hollendorfer-trained horse fatally injured during the six-month Santa Anita meet. During that same period, another two Hollendorfer trainees were catastrophically injured at the organization’s San Francisco facility.

Following TSG’s lead, the New York Racing Association (NYRA) and Del Mar subsequently barred Hollendorfer from running horses at their facilities under his name, but opened their doors to his assistants, Don Chatlos now training owner Larry Best’s horses in New York, and Dan Ward assuming the role of trainer for his Southern California string. However, no formal regulatory ruling has been metered out to Hollendorfer in California and New York.

Hollendorfer and the CTT filed their complaint earlier this month, at which time CTT legal representative Darrell Vienna suggested they were on the legal back-foot, telling the TDN that “ex parte applications for temporary restraining orders are not easy to obtain.”

In a subsequent court filing earlier this week, Del Mar argued against the injunction for a number of reasons, including how the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) has yet to rule on the similar complaint filed by the plaintiffs, and that the optics of permitting Hollendorfer stalls at the facility would have been a PR headache, calling the trainer “radioactive.”

“Unfortunately, despite his lengthy and successful career during the past six months Hollendorfer has accounted for 15% of the horses that have lost their lives in racing and training at two California tracks,” Del Mar’s filing stated.

This story will be updated with more information.

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