San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald F. Frazier ruled in favor of trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and California Thoroughbred Trainers on Friday afternoon, granting a preliminary injunction and overturning the ban by the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club against the Hall of Fame trainer from stabling or entering at the Southern California racetrack.
Frazier affirmed his tentative ruling published Thursday after listening to final arguments from Chris Jaczko representing Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, Drew Couto representing Hollendorfer, and Darrell Vienna representing CTT.
Frazier ordered an arbitration and the parties will reconvene Oct. 25 at 10:45 a.m. PT.
Jaczko opened by telling Frazier he had the “unenviable task of rolling the boulder up the hill.” He argued that the decision by Del Mar to ban Hollendorfer was not “arbitrary,” but a business decision that Del Mar had the right to make because of potential monetary damage resulting from bad publicity he said would occur if Hollendorfer participated.
Del Mar was preceded in banning Hollendorfer by Santa Anita in Arcadia, Calif., where Hollendorfer had four horses euthanized from late December until June. He had another two fatalities at Golden Gate Fields in Northern California. Both tracks are owned by The Stronach Group.
“For the best interests of our business, we don’t want Mr. Hollendorfer here,” said Jaczko, adding that he did not think Hollendorfer did anything wrong that resulted in the horse fatalities.
Vienna argued the ban violates the race meet agreement with the CTT. He said the decision was “clearly arbitrary.”
“I guess I can go back to work,” Hollendorfer said afterwards. “I’m very grateful the judge ruled in our favor.”
Hollendorfer said he would return to Del Mar as early as Sunday to watch some of his horses work.
“I’ve lost an awful lot of business because of this. I’ve lost at least half my stable. It’s been very difficult getting through this.”
Couto said Santa Anita is on their “radar” for possible legal action.
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