By Dan Ross
Trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and The Stronach Group (TSG)-controlled subsidiary owners of Santa Anita Park and Golden Gate Fields have reached a settlement in the legal disputes that have been ongoing since 2019, according to notice of settlement court filings dated Wednesday.
The details of the settlement were not disclosed in the notices, however. It's currently unknown, therefore, if the terms include any remuneration, for example.
It's similarly unknown if the settlement terms open the door to the possibility of Hollendorfer once again training and racing at TSG-owned facilities.
TDN reached out to Hollendorfer's attorney, Drew Couto. There is “nothing I can share,” Couto said. “Everything is confidential.”
Attorney Richard Specter, representing TSG, did not respond before publication to an emailed request for comment.
This settlement doesn't draw to an end Hollendorfer's legal wranglings.
The trainer is also engaged in ongoing litigation against the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) and the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club (DMTC). These cases are being heard in the Superior Court of San Diego County.
TSG banished Hollendorfer from its facilities after four of the trainer's horses were catastrophically injured during Santa Anita's ill-fated 2018-2019 winter/spring meet, when the track experienced a well-publicized spike in equine fatalities during an unusually wet spell.
The trainer subsequently launched legal actions in Alameda County Superior Court against the Pacific Racing Association, the corporate operators of Golden Gate Fields, in August of 2019.
Hollendorfer sued the Los Angeles Turf Club, TSG's subsidiary owners of Santa Anita, in September of 2019. This lawsuit concerned seven causes of action.
A bifurcated non-jury trial was conducted in the LA County Superior Court between April 4 and April 6 of this year, focused on a single declaratory relief cause of action, encompassing the proper legal interpretation of the race-meet contract between the California Thoroughbred Trainers (CTT) and Santa Anita.
In his ruling, judge Maurice Leiter found that Hollendorfer had no standing as a third-party beneficiary to seek a legal declaration of his rights under the race-meet contract in effect when he was barred from all TSG-owned facilities in June of 2019. Only the CTT could pursue these rights under that race-meet agreement on the trainer's behalf, the judge decided.
TSG's actions in 2019 appear to have led to a marked reversal of fortunes for the former numerical powerhouse trainer.
According to Equibase, Hollendorfer trained 35 winners and earned $1,619,956 in prize money last year. In 2018, he trained 176 winners and accrued $7,191,756 in prize money.
A court filing from late last year states that Hollendorfer's stable 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.
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
