Chatlos reacclimating to life as a head trainer

ELMONT, N.Y. – Don Chatlos Jr. figured he’d eventually get back to training on his own. He just didn’t think it would come at this time or under these circumstances.

On Sunday morning, shortly after 5:30, Chatlos’s return to training after an 11-year hiatus became official when he sent Rowayton out for a half-mile workout in preparation for Saturday’s Grade 2, $250,000 Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park. Gone was the blue saddle towel with the H for Jerry Hollendorfer, in its place just a plain white towel.

Chatlos has officially taken over the training of horses owned by Larry Best’s OXO Equine that originally were in the care of Jerry Hollendorfer. Since mid-May, Chatlos has been at Belmont as Hollendorfer’s assistant with six horses.

On Saturday, Hollendorfer was notified by New York Racing Association management that it would scratch any horse he entered at one of its three tracks. On June 22, Hollendorfer was banned from stabling, training or racing at tracks owned by The Stronach Group, including Santa Anita and Golden Gate Fields, where he had horses based. That decision came after Hollendorfer had a fourth horse fatally break down at Santa Anita during its meet that went from Dec. 26 through June 23.

Santa Anita management had come under fire during its meet when there were 30 equine fatalities.

NYRA, on June 23, said it would permit Hollendorfer to stable and race at Belmont and Saratoga where he had been allotted stalls for that meet, which begins on July 11. On Saturday, without explanation – though likely related to public relations reasons – it rescinded Hollendorfer’s ability to run horses here.

Chatlos on Saturday obtained his license and submitted his own application for stalls at Saratoga. Chatlos has been hired to train privately for Best, who has no more horses with Hollendorfer but who does employ Chad Brown as his primary East Coast trainer.

“It’s just been a numb feeling,” Chatlos said Sunday morning at his barn. “Obviously, this is something you could never foresee so it’s new for everybody. It’s new for all the racing associations, it’s new for all [Hollendorfer’s] owners. Everybody has different emotions, we’re all just trying to find our way through it.”

On Sunday, Best said the plan is for Chatlos to train in New York through the Belmont fall meet and hopefully return to Santa Anita for the late fall and winter meets.

“The whole thing with Jerry and the West Coast is unfortunate,” Best said. “I got to have a trainer you can run race horses under. I’ve had a good relationship with Don going back to Instilled Regard; he was the first one who worked Instilled Regard at Los Alamitos and we got him to the [Kentucky] Derby. I give Don some credit for that. He worked with Instagrand, he’s worked with the top horses I’ve had.”

Best said Instagrand, third in the Santa Anita Derby who recently had a chip removed, will join Chatlos during the first week at Saratoga. Best has an unraced 3-year-old named Cardiff Cay, stakes horses Brill and Rowayton, and three unraced 2-year-olds at Belmont with Chatlos. One of those 2-year-olds is Forever Poe, formerly known as Vegas Strong, whom Best purchased for $850,000 at Timonium in May. The other juveniles are Madison Parc and Mundaye Call.

“Don’s my guy and I’m going to send him more horses,” Best said.

Chatlos, 53, trained on his own in Southern California from 1995-97 and again from 2002-08. He won 42 races from 337 starters. His top horse was Singletary, with whom he won seven stakes including the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Mile for Little Red Feather Racing Stables. Chatlos also trained for IEAH Stables and won the 2007 Sunshine Millions Filly and Mare Sprint for them with Shaggy Mane.

In 2008, Chatlos split with Little Red Feather and IEAH took their horses out of California when most tracks in the state went to a synthetic surface. Chatlos has spent the last 4 1/2 years as an assistant to Hollendorfer.

“I always thought I’d train on my own again, but I didn’t think it was going to come this way; you could never foresee this,” Chatlos said. “I really enjoyed working for Jerry, that’s why I stayed there so long.”

Chatlos will start his first horse on Friday when Brill runs in the Grade 3, $150,000 Victory Ride Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Brill has twice finished third in graded stakes but most recently finished fourth in the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes going 1 1/8 miles at Pimlico on May 17. She was twice entered in a first-level allowance race, but it failed to fill.

“We have a good feeling that she could sprint,” Chatlos said. “She broke her maiden sprinting, didn’t break that day and still won.”

Brill will take on four opponents that include Cookie Dough, Royal Charlotte, Peruvian Appeal, and Sue’s Fortune.

On Saturday, Rowayton will step back into stakes company in the one-mile Dwyer, where he is expected to face Code of Honor, the recognized runner-up in the Kentucky Derby, Final Jeopardy, Majid, Mihos, and Whiskey Echo. On Sunday, Rowayton worked a half-mile in 51.71 seconds over the training track.

Rowayton, second in the Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity last year, won an allowance race going 6 1/2 furlongs here on June 6 following a non-effort in the slop in the same condition at Oaklawn in April.

On Sunday, Chatlos had John Dowd, a racing advisor for Best, with him during training hours.

“It was a good distraction – it would have been very strange by myself,” Chatlos said. “It was business as usual. We have horses to work, we have races to get ready for. Larry wants us focused, so that’s what we’re doing.”