Hollendorfer Expulsion Claim Denied in San Diego Case

Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer's claim he was unlawfully barred from entering horses in races at the 2019 Del Mar summer meet was rejected by the Superior Court of California in San Diego more than 900 days after he filed suit seeking redress.

A minute order prepared by Judge Ronald F. Frazier directs the attorney for the respondent in the case, the California Horse Racing Board, to submit a proposed judgment against Hollendorfer. The minute order, dated Nov. 22, was not made available on the court's online registry until a few days after it was entered.

The legal controversy started after multiple equine fatalities occurred at Santa Anita Park in 2019, causing bad press for the track and Thoroughbred horse racing in general. Hollendorfer's expulsion from tracks owned by The Stronach Group, now known as 1/ST Racing, which includes Santa Anita, came after six deaths of horses in the trainer's care at California tracks between Nov. 18, 2018, and the day of the trainer's banishment on June 22, 2019.

Frazier's order says two weeks later Del Mar denied Hollendorfer's stall application for the 2019 summer meet; and that reasons for the refusal included "a lack of space" and "the recent actions taken by The Stronach Group and New York Racing Association, among other things."

Hollendorfer and his attorney, Drew Coutu, eventually responded to both expulsions with litigation. The procedural background of the case in San Diego is different from that of the action brought in Los Angeles Superior Court, but whether Hollendorfer had standing to bring either case was a key defense mounted in both venues.

After Hollendorfer was ruled off at Del Mar, a complaint was filed July 24, 2019, with the California Horse Racing Board by California Thoroughbred Trainers. It alleged violations of the 2019 race meet agreements. The CHRB appointed Patrick Cane to serve as a hearing officer. Legal briefs were filed, but a hearing was not held before Cane recommended no action be taken. Any alleged violation of the race meet agreement, he concluded, was a moot point because the agreement had expired. The CHRB adopted the recommendation in late February 2020.

Hollendorfer took issue with the ruling and sued the CHRB, but the CTT did not. The San Diego court ruled only CTT had standing to do that.

On April 29, Judge Maurice Leiter dismissed one of Hollendorfer's multiple claims filed in Los Angeles, also holding he lacked standing to assert a violation of the race meet agreement between the CTT and the ownership of Santa Anita.

In early June 2022, Hollendorfer and entities of the Stronach Group, entered a confidential settlement agreement. The terms have not been publicly disclosed, but in a minute order dated Sept. 16, Leiter wrote, "Counsel inform the Court that the last payment was received on Monday."

Hollendorfer has not entered a horse at Santa Anita since the settlement was announced before one meet ended June 19 and another ran from Sept. 30 to Nov. 6.

In the San Diego case, Frazier also denied Hollendorfer's claim he was entitled to a hearing from Del Mar officials before he was denied stall space, holding that the trainer failed to demonstrate a hearing was required under the California Business and Professions Code.

Something not revealed in the court's decision, probably because it is not germane to the issues, is that Hollendorfer has been racing at the Del Mar meet scheduled to end Dec. 4. According to Equibase, he's started four horses, none of which have hit the board, earning $4,560 in purse money.

Whether Hollendorfer will appeal the ruling in San Diego is uncertain.