Holendorfer managed to kill Shared Belief too. Charles Town? Are you kidding me???
Umm…what?
Are you saying he killed Shared Belief by making him colic? Because the horse died 7 months after the race at Charles Town after undergoing colic surgery.
And that race at Charles Town draws many of the best horses in training. It was the CT Classic with a $1,500,000 purse.
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Well if that’s the way you manage your horses.
Stronach owns San Luis Rey.
Here is Los Alamitos’ take:
Los Alamitos will gladly provide stalls to Jerry Hollendorfer, a Hall of Fame trainer and an unexcelled horseman. Unless forbidden by the California Horse Racing Board, we intend to permit entries from Hollendorfer. We do not feel he should be a scapegoat for a problem which derives from a number of factors."
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Yeah that $850,000 winner’s share isn’t worth your time. Todd Pletcher was in that race. I guess he can’t manage his horses well either.
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It was reported at the time that Rick Porter sent Songbird to Rood and Riddle against Hollendorfer’s objections. Hollendorfer publicly insisted that she was fine. Porter said that other trainers (Larry Jones) had commented that she looked off. After Songbird was retired he pulled all of his horses out of Hollendorfer’s barn.
https://www.eastcoastequestrian.net/news2017/october/Bone-Chip-Suspensory-Issues-Retire-Songbird.php
https://www.paulickreport.com/news/breeders-cup/songbirds-personal-ensign-loss-nothing-ashamed/
https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/songbird-extraordinary-story-dramatic-twist-and-happy-ending/
If an owner was willing to pay the money to have a horse checked out, why not let the vets take a look? And if a trainer won’t be cautious for evaluating physical problems in a multi-millionaire horse, then how will they treat a claimer?:no:
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That (https://www.thoroughbredracing.com/articles/songbird-extraordinary-story-dramatic-twist-and-happy-ending/ ) was educational. Thanks.
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Two 1/5 favorites broke down that night.
And Rick Porter had Eight Belles with Larry Jones. Speaking afar as an internet warrior, I think they were both understandably a little haunted by that. When Songbird lost, Porter got nervous. When he pulled Songbird out looking for problems, he may well have been asked to leave. I know the common wisdom on the internet is that the owner should be bossing the trainer around on day to day stuff but that’s not how professional barns work. When you hire a trainer with national reputation like Hollendorfer, you are part of his program. If you don’t like it, you should find someone else. But I think most trainers of that stature would find it terribly insulting for an owner to publicly second guess their horsemanship like that. Especially after the national success they had.
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Maybe part of the problem is that trainers do go with what worked for them in the past. But veterinary medicine has made huge strides in understanding injuries from wear and tear in the last 50 years, and unless the track vets and trainers incorporate those understandings in their daily work, and also understand the new pressures that racing is under, we get what seem to me to be “ignorant” breakdowns.
Just because a horse appears to be racing sound doesn’t mean it’s really sound. If racing authorities redefine “racing sound”, one suspects many of the breakdowns will go away.
I’m still appalled that a track vet would believe that a horse that he diagnosed with a hairline fracture was “racing sound”.
And that a trainer would be willing to work and race a horse with a known fracture, whether “hairline” nor not. If those attitudes are common in racing, maybe racing needs a purge to survive. if not a purge, then structured education in both Spanish and English.
Ouch, didn’t realize that TSG owned SLRD as well. While it doesn’t excuse potential bad horsemanship, kicking Hollendorfer out of so many places doesn’t impact just him. I know, it may positively impact the horses in his care but could there have been a better solution that wouldn’t impact all the other backside workers that may loose jobs, or get uprooted to a place they hadn’t planned on going.
Interesting also that TSG hasn’t said anything about kicking Hollendorfer out of SLR either.
I thought all the new protocols in place at SA by TSG were mandatory, not optional. Correct? If they are mandatory, why didn’t American Currency’s fetlock raise suspicions? He was scratched from a $12.5k starter allowance at SA on 6/16 by Hollendorfer.
From the PR article TSG claims
Individuals who do not embrace the new rules and safety measures that put horse and rider safety above all else, will have no place at any Stronach Group racetrack,” the statement reads. “We regret that Mr. Hollendorfer’s record in recent months at both Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields has become increasingly challenging and does not match the level of safety and accountability we demand. Effective immediately, Mr. Hollendorfer is no longer welcome to stable, race or train his horses at any of our facilities
So, is he in or out at SLR?
Del Mar may also exclude him
A source close to Del Mar said the San Diego-area track, which begins its summer meet July 17, does not intend to provide stalls to Hollendorfer.
However, Los Al will accept him and he also ran at Pleasanton.
Sitting here still wondering if Hollandorfer is as bad as all this makes him seem or really he’s just been unlucky and really his horsemanship is no better or worse than any other trainer. American Currency took his “bad step” at the start of his breeze on the infield training track. 
The news reports sounded like Porter had privately expressed his concerns for some time and didn’t feel that they were addressed. I can understand that a trainer might find it insulting to have an owner second guess their judgment. On the other hand, you could turn that around and say a long-time owner might find it insulting of a trainer to dismiss or ignore their concerns. In this case the Bramlage vet report specifically recommended that it would be unsafe to continue training. So Hollendorfer’s ego may be insulted all he wants, but his judgment was wrong.
As an internet warrior from afar, I related to Porter’s stance because of my experience with my own, albeit inexpensive, pleasure horse. I once expressed concerns to a then-trainer (who had completed an international licensure in his discipline and was successful in showing.) He got huffy that I dared to question his program, told me my difficulties under saddle were completely behavioral and not to bother the vet, not to change shoeing. We continued to work my horse until he was obviously lame and the vet found clear x-ray evidence of a long-standing hock problem. The barn farrier we had been using was ultimately fired from the barn as his substance abuse increasingly wrecked his work:eek:. I switched to a trainer with more a more conservative approach to injuries. I very, very rarely felt the need not to follow the new trainer’s recommendations (who would always explain the thought process if asked) and the few times that I did pull a Rick Porter, my new trainer respected that it was my money, my horse, my peace of mind, and my call. In some of those (again rare) cases, my new trainer had been completely right and I acknowledged that. In one case, I ended up being right and trainer acknowledged that. You shouldn’t have to have an absolute cult-like agreement to have a productive and respectful working relationship.
It sounds like Porter did just that.
Many owners of expensive performance horses whether in racing or in other disciplines like reining or Olympic sports have never ridden a horse. Regardless of internet wisdom, it would be weird for these owners to be dictating daily schedules and activities or feed. But does wanting a thorough vetting over a perceived decline in performance qualify as “day to day stuff”?- it’s not like you’re telling the trainer to breeze today for a certain x number of lengths.
As an outsider, I couldn’t tell you if Hollendorfer has better/ worse management of his horses than other successful trainers. I like watching thoroughbreds run. Then when I read its news in American racing I often feel uncomfortable and this saga was kind of off-putting. I haven’t followed the races much since last year, aside from getting sucked in to look at Canter horse’s pedigrees and records. But racing doesn’t exist for people like me, so I’ll probably stick to worrying about my own horse.
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Stronach will very quickly remind anyone that there is no God given right to operate at any of their tracks, and if they do not care for your operation or the way you do things or what you say to them, you will be asked to leave, or they may not accept your entries. Ya think, with fields so small, this decision was not made with a lot of thought? There are absolutely things going on with Hollendorfer that are not in the atricles. If they’ve decided he is such a bad apple he and his 100 horses are no longer welcome at ANY of their tracks, there is absolutely other stuff going on that is not in the news. I wish all tracks were this strict. I know there are some good horsemen out there who are ethical and will not push the medication envelope or do anything that is not in the best interest of the horse, and I hope they get more action and a better chance at being successful.
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I’m not going to join in the Hollendorfer pile-on until I hear more. There are good reasons that he’s a Hall of Fame trainer and that respected owners have chosen him to train their horses through the years.
I think there’s every chance that Belinda Stronach felt she needed a scapegoat and jumped in his direction.
If I had to choose between Belinda Stronach and Jerry Hollendorfer which one I trusted more, and which one I thought had racing’s–and horses’–best interests in mind, it wouldn’t take me three seconds to point to JH.
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Stronach’s called a meeting at Laurel next Tuesday that is mandatory for trainers and vets.
And I think this is also a little of Porter being Porter. Reference what he did to Mario Pino and Hard Spun. Hollendorfer is a Hall of Famer; he no doubt knows what he’s doing. One doesn’t survive in this business otherwise. A larger insult than just pulling a horse is invoking the opinions of other trainers in making the case to do so.
And NYRA is welcoming Hollendorfer to their tracks, Belmont and Saratoga.
Often easier to point fingers than really solve the problem. Makes me wonder how really effective SA’s new protocols are if they’re still having problems… getting ready now to run the last race of this meet.
Wonder what, if anything, SA plans to do to the track between now and, what is it, sometime in September before the fall meet and Breeder’s Cup (if it stays at SA).
The amount of people on here defending Hollendorfer is sickening to me.
I could care less how long he has been at this game or whether or not he’s in the HOF.
You all need to go look up what he did to poor Kochees since the time he claimed that poor horse a few months ago. It’s been documented in this thread in pages prior. Raced on 3/1, 4/19, 5/5 and 5/25. P.sted 4F workouts on 4/28, 5/13 and 5/21. The horse was already on the track vet’s radar and listed by them as being unsound. And yet, here is Hollendorfer pounding away on the poor horse, raced him on 5/5 then worked him on 5/13 and 5/21 before his final start 3 days later on 5/25 where he broke down. inexcusable.
The Veterinarians in charge on the panel, after their evaluations, scratched all of Hollendorfer’s horses for the weekend card. This was done after reviewing the horse’s race and veterinary records for those that raced over just the past 2 week period. These are panels of Veterinarians who made the call based on what they saw…Jerry Hollendorfer entering, working and racing unsound horses with known problems and issues.
As for the Songbird issues; all praise goes to an owner who actually knew something was amiss, was told by others that things were amiss, and stuck up for his horse and did what is right despite urgencies from the man he pays that she was fine. And yep he did own Eight Belles. And Eight Belles was in a barn that put it’s horses first. Eight Belles had no prior soundness issues and when she was purchased as a yearling for almost 400K; obviously didn’t have any major issues on her radiographs either. If Songbird could walk off the trailer at Rood & Riddle and those in attendance clearly see she was lame then, that answers the question.
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this is true and Bob B is right. Most of Jerry’s is business is claimers. He claims a lot of horses trying to turn around a profit. He also races a lot of claimers that he bred himself with others. If you follow Jerry’s results and entries over time, there is a select few individuals who he has ownership with.
That’s not to say Bob doesn’t run claimers either. He does. And he does so with nice horses, well bred with well known owners/breeders.
But Jerry has been around the block like many. It shouldn’t matter if you run “cheaper” horses or not. The care, wellbeing, and health of what is in the stable should be paramount. Running and training horses into the ground and doing so with unsound horses with known issues is wrong and deserves to be investigated. Kochees was listed by the Vets in recent weeks/months when all of this went down.
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for once you and I can agree on something. Hollendorfer being removed from the racing card for the weekend was not SA’s decision. Vets who reviewed race history and vet reports outside of SA made that decision.
I think there is a lot more behind the scenes that the VETS (not Stronachs) know which led to this decision and I am sure it is not one taken lightly. 100 horses off the track is a financial hit to any institution, especially when they are frequent-running claimers (look at the race results).
Those tracks “welcoming” hollendorfer are blind and completely unaware of what is going on and it speaks volumes
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