By Dan Ross
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, barred from The Stronach Group (TSG)-owned facilities since June of 2019, has filed a motion for preliminary injunction to be able to enter and race horses under his name at Santa Anita for the upcoming 2021-2022 winter/spring meet–the latest salvo in an ongoing legal feud between the Hall of Fame trainer and various corporate entities under TSG umbrella.
According to a filing with the Los Angeles County Superior Court, dated Sept. 26, Hollendorfer requests the preliminary injunction to prohibit the owners of Santa Anita Park from “unlawfully attempting to bypass or otherwise usurp” the California Horse Racing Board's (CHRB) authority to “supervise and control” the horse race entry process.
“The requested injunction will maintain the status quo which exists at all other non-TSG owned race meets in the State,” the filing states, pointing out that Hollendorfer has been permitted to enter and run his horses at all other CHRB-licensed facilities, and that no formal regulatory action has been made against him.
According to the filing, Hollendorfer does not seek stalls at Santa Anita as he maintains a barn at Los Alamitos Racecourse, “and intends to continue stabling and training horses there while entering and racing his horses at SAP, during the upcoming meet, subject to review by the CHRB Stewards.”
The filing adds that Hollendorfer “will suffer further irreparable harm to his business and occupation without the injunction. Plaintiff is 75 years old and has significant underlying medical conditions. The upcoming race meet at SAP may be Plaintiff's last chance to salvage his profession.”
The TDN understands that a hearing at LA County Superior Court is scheduled for Nov. 19.
TSG banned Hollendorfer–formerly one of California's most prolific trainers numerically–from its facilities after four of his horses were catastrophically injured during Santa Anita's six-month 2018-2019 winter/spring meet, when the track experienced a well-publicized spike in equine fatalities.
Since then, Hollendorfer has been engaged in a series of legal battles designed to open the door for his broad return to the California racing scene.
Hollendorfer's ongoing legal tussle with the operators of Santa Anita dates back to Sept. 26, 2019, when he filed his initial lawsuit, and the following month, when LA County Superior Court denied his application for a temporary restraining order.
Hollendorfer filed his initial lawsuit against the Pacific Racing Association–the corporate operators of Golden Gate Fields–on Aug. 12, 2019, in Alameda County Superior Court. That Court also subsequently denied Hollendorfer's application for a temporary restraining order, and the case is similarly ongoing.
Hollendorfer is also engaged in ongoing litigation against the CHRB and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club. These cases are being heard in the Superior Court of San Diego County.
In an emailed statement to the TDN, TSG attorney, Richard Specter, wrote, “We believe that the Motion for Preliminary Injunction and underlying arguments remain without merit (for the same reasons previously found by both the Los Angeles and Alameda County Courts), and shall rely upon our responsive pleadings in that regard.”
Hollendorfer's motion for preliminary injunction lays out a series of arguments not only claiming that the CHRB's board of stewards have exclusive authority to refuse an entry by a licensed trainer, but that through months of discovery, TSG's reasons for banning Hollendorfer have proven meritless.
Among the key arguments posited, the filing claims that TSG chief veterinary officer, Dionne Benson, has “admitted she has no personal knowledge of any unsafe practice or safety violation by Hollendorfer.”
The filing claims that Santa Anita's association veterinarian, Dana Stead, “admitted the stories he told about Plaintiff's alleged negligence were false and/or based entirely on hearsay, without any basis in fact,” and adds that during a meeting on May 26, 2019, between representatives of the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) and those from TSG, “CTT representatives did not make the disparaging statements about Hollendorfer that Defendants rely on to support their ban.”
Hollendorfer's stable, the filing states, has shrunk from more than 120 horses in California to an average of just 10, with another 25 to 30 horses traveling between three to four other states.
According to Equibase, Hollendorfer has trained 32 winners and earned $1,498,536 in prize money thus far this year. In 2018, he trained 176 winners and accrued $7,191,756 in prize money.
Hollendorfer's attorney, Drew Couto, declined to comment for the story.
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