Hollendorfer barred from Stronach tracks
 

4 breakdowns this meeting at Santa Anita, more in San Francisco, and the last one was a classic dump job. He has been told to remove all horses and equipment from Stronach tracks. He saw it coming. He is opening a stable in NY.

Hollendorfer `No Longer Welcome’ At Santa Anita
 

Friday, CNN posted a report that named Hollendorfer as a trainer “under scrutiny” by Santa Anita after three of his horses had lost their lives at the meet since it opened for the season Dec. 26. Those losses included the most prominent horse of all of Santa Anita’s rash of breakdowns this winter and spring, Battle of Midway (Smart Strike), the 2017 GI Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile winner.

The CNN report said that Hollendorfer had also lost two horses at Golden Gate Fields since December, and said he had been sanctioned 19 times by the CHRB since 2006 “for over-medication or use of illicit medications on horses.”



http://www.thoroughbreddailynews.com...-track-breeze/

So this is the new narrative. Never the track, now it's the trainers fault. Stronach couldn't be a bigger PoS.

Welcome to New York, Jerry

GET THE BREEDER'S CUP OUT OF CALIFORNIA! before any more damage is done to the sport!

They are doing their best to destroy the sport!

Good Lord. He's run like 33,000 horses. He's in the HOF. Do people really think trainers want to see any of their horses break down ? Do they just think they are so callous. It's not that way. These guys love their horses.

From Doc Allred, Chairman and Owner of Los Alamitos Race Course: “Los Alamitos will gladly provide stalls to Jerry Hollendorfer, a Hall of Fame trainer and an unparalleled horseman. Unless forbidden by the CHRB, we intend to permit entries from Hollendorfer. We do not feel Hollendorfer should be a scapegoat for a problem which derives from a number of factors.”

Hollendorfer to Steve Anderson: https://www.drf.com/news/hollendorfe...l-injury?type=

“I’m trying to work out a plan now,” Hollendorfer said in a telephone interview. “The only thing I have to say is every time anyone loses a horse, the whole backstretch loses. That’s the way everyone feels. I’ve been doing this for almost 40 years, and I’ve started more than 33,500 horses that have been under my care in my career. I haven’t, in my opinion, had that many problems.

“I’ve never been suspended or anything like that. I have a lot of employees that I want to take care of and who have families that depend me. I’m training over 100 horses right now. Santa Anita didn’t want me stay on the grounds. My opinion was that was a premature thing to do. I thought it was extreme. Now I have to step away for a while.”

Saturday's episode with Hollendorfer, preceded by The Stronach Group's orchestrated public relations/character assassination Friday on CNN, is a new low in deflection and blame-avoidance.

The most disheartening aspect of the 'debate' and contorted 'solutions' coming from this disastrous Santa Anita season, is the wholly amoral posture of purported advocates of 'positive change' who are relying on distorted sensationalism while conveniently ignoring The Stronach Group's mismanagement which created the conditions for the problems.

Man is it too late to move Breeders Cup? No way should be at that track

Stronach even brought in a consultant (PETA) on distorted sensationalism.

it's most likely his daughhters doing as she is running things, and has an ongoing battle with pops. in court

will want to hear Hammers take on it .:zz:

According to twitter the hotel prices in Louisville have skyrocketed in the last few weeks for Breeders Cup weekend.

I’m glad that Stronach has finally addressed the root of the problem.

Are you all saying Hollendorfer is not the reason for HIS STABLE's breakdowns?
think the 800 lb. gorilla in the room is not Stronach here. This is certainly more serious than just giving him a pass.

It just seems convenient the day after that silly CNN hatchet job that TSG bans Hollendorfer.

I think trainers are....or at least were part of the problem at Santa Anita this winter. I think they were running and training horses that should not have been running or training. But to isolate Hollendorfer seems like TSG is looking to place the blame on anyone and everyone but themselves.

They fired the racing secretary. They forced the track super out. They had people hustling entries of horses that shouldn’t have been running in order to create big fields for the jackpot bet and they were the ones sealing the track.

Lots of blame here. Hollendorfer is the convenient bad guy. Maybe he really is but I think the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

Show us the statistics you used in saying Hollendorfer is the problem? Is his breakdown rate so far out of the norm from other trainers that he needs to be singled out? Stronach Group is the absolute problem , it is the track. What has changed here? California has had unprecedented amount of rain during this meet. Could it be that the track simply cannot handle it? Stronach Group is the absolute problem. Still trying to hold on to the Breeders Cup after all this instead of shutting it down and rebuilding the track and after each breakdown they give us a new knee jerk reaction and another scapegoat.

If you have not seen this some good points made about the mess in California and the deflecting blame and lack of responsibility by the $tronach.Group.....https://thepressboxlts.com/cleaning-...ther-thoughts/

Just ignore the fact that since the original spate of breakdowns that caused the initial closure, Santa Anita has been one of the safest tracks around. Compare the number of breakdowns at Santa Anita since late March with the number of breakdowns at Belmont since late April. Compare late March til now at Santa Anita with a full season at Saratoga.

Santa Anita doesn’t have a problem with the racing surface.

It wasn’t the ONLY problem, but it was one of them.

Surface isn’t an issue now but it was.

I think yes and no. The surface was an issue but it wasn’t because it was a bad surface. Unless you live in Southern California, it’s hard to relate to how unprecedented the amount of rain was that fell. They weren’t prepared for the conditions because the conditions were so unusual.

So what are you saying exactly?

I’m saying that there has been an extreme overreaction to an unprecedented situation. The surface was never bad, per se. It wasn’t like when they switched to synthetics and had all kinds of man made problems. The conditions were never unsafe because of man made error or negligence. The problems haven’t been the horsemen, the same horsemen that were there before and are still there now.

Perhaps some good can come from the new rules and oversights. In the end, that’s all anyone should want, a safer sport. Going after Hollendorfer does nothing towards that end.

If it snows and the roads turn icy but I decide to drive 80 mph on the highway, spin out, and wreck my car...is that caused by man made error or negligence?

Saying it rained a lot doesn’t absolve people if they continued to field races on an unsafe surface. I don’t know all the facts with Santa Anita, but just because it rained an unprecedented amount doesn’t mean there aren’t people to blame in connection with the fatalities related to the racing surface over the winter/spring.

Occured to me this morning, how/why did Santa Anita's 'Workout Approval' system allow American Currency to drill on Saturday? Hollendorfer had to submit the gelding for the OK and they let him work. Or has that part of the 'safety initiatives' been forgotten?

Bloodhorse article said he was vet scratched from a 12,500 allowance on June 16. But he was ok to breeze a few days later? That part didn't make sense to me either.

Exactly. There are people to blame. Track management is to blame. They don’t need to blame the horsemen. They didn’t need to blame track maintenance crews. They didn’t need to overreact with these new rules and safety precautions because the ones they already had worked fine. They simply needed to halt racing until things got back to normal. Which they did. Since that point, racing and training has gone back to normal and the number of breakdowns has decreased to levels lower than other tracks comparable activity.

You don’t think some horseman were running horses they shouldn’t have?

If you’re referring to physically shouldn’t have been running, I think that’s been going on since the beginning of time. If you’re referring to shouldn’t have run them because the track was compromised by the weather, that’s a different subject and one that isn’t and can’t be addressed by the new rules.

I don’t understand how they put together some committee, said committee allows a horse to run, horse breaks down, and you punish the trainer. Shouldn’t this fall on the committee?

Hossy. Horsemen were being browbeaten into running. Threatened and motherphucked.

And note that there were horses on the grounds that would never have been given stalls by the previous racing department head. (Hammer).

I’m well aware Steve. I was the first (and only) person that was telling it like it is on that other board and was told over and over again I was wrong.

TSG is a train wreck and have screwed up at every step here.

I just think threats or not, if you know your horse shouldn’t be running, you don’t run. But that’s another discussion.

I had a feeling it was something like that. Pressure to run.

I'm confused, Steve. On one hand, they're pressuring to fill races which sure makes it sound like they're trying to stay afloat, but Santa Anita's also worth more as a real estate venture to TSG than as a wagering one from what I understand. The conspiracy theories out there contradict the implications of urging to run so which is it? Is TSG just bad at this, flailing around like someone trying to catch farts with a butterfly net? Or is there any sincere desire on their part to tank the track/Cal racing? Are people just seeing malice where there isn't any? (Although I'm sure genuine malice exists on PETA's part).

https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac...ntering-horses

https://www.drf.com/news/reversal-ny...-runners?type=

Okay, I'm at a loss. I've not got intimate knowledge of his operation or the inner workings of NYRA, so can anybody explain what the heck is going on? Did they just rethink the PR of it all? Is anybody exerting pressure? I get TSG throwing him under the bus because of course they'd do that to someone right now, but NYRA? From afar I'd always heard people speak of him with esteem and as a true horseman. Are they basically 'pulling a Dutrow' unofficially and why? I've definitely heard rumors about some people as sketchy trainers that are going untouched. Are we supposed to go 'oh good, they took down that troublemaker Hollendorfer?' Is there anything about his operation to justify this?

Maybe NYRA now knows something we don't.

Or maybe they are just caving too!

Hall of Fame Trainer
 

I challenge anybody to name one horse that he felt physically was not ok to run but did anyway.
I can name a thousand horses that were scratch because the trainer felt something wasn't good with the horse even though a vet said they could run!
If anybody thinks a trainer wants one of his horses to break down you don't know anything about thoroughbred horse racing or any sort of animal husbandry

Hollendorfer
 

Well at least now there is a motive for the potentially doctored Songbird/Beholder photo. Maybe Mr. H was not in good graces back then? I wonder what King J was doing that nobody knows about except the racing officials.

While I think what they have done to him is appalling...this is really dumb.

He’s a scapegoat here. Del Mar all but admitted they don’t think the potential backlash is worth it. My guess is NYRA thought the same thing.

Hollendorfer files suit against Del Mar
Steve Andersen
Jul 16, 2019

DEL MAR, Calif. -- Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer filed a complaint in San Diego superior court earlier this week in an effort to operate a stable at the Del Mar summer meeting that begins on Wednesday.

Hollendorfer was not given stalls by Del Mar officials last week after the track and trainer held a series of meetings to discuss his participation. Del Mar’s decision occurred three weeks after Santa Anita officials told Hollendorfer to vacate his stalls on the track’s backstretch after a fourth horse in his care at that track suffered a fatal injury in training or racing since late December.

Hollendorfer relocated his stable to Los Alamitos, where he operated without impediment during the track’s three-week meeting that ended on Sunday. After he was denied stalls by Del Mar, Hollendorfer’s longtime assistant, Dan Ward, applied for stalls. Ward has four starters on Wednesday and Thursday at Del Mar.

The court action seeks a temporary restraining order, as early as this week, preventing the racetrack from denying Hollendorfer stall space or the ability to submit entries.

The California Thoroughbred Trainers association, of which Hollendorfer is a member, is a party in the lawsuit against the racetrack. Hollendorfer has been represented by attorney Drew Couto, while Darrell Vienna is representing the CTT in the case.

THERE WAS NOT A DOCTORED PHOTO. STOP IT.

For God's sake. There's enough stupid in this world without adding to it.