Chatlos returning to California, will have 12 horses at Del Mar

ARCADIA, Calif. – Trainer Don Chatlos will have a stable of approximately 12 horses for owner Larry Best at the Del Mar autumn meeting, which begins on Friday.

Chatlos said on Thursday that a group of nine horses will be shipped from New York to California on Sunday, with others to follow soon. Chatlos said he plans to be based in Southern California through the spring before a possible return to New York in May.

“I’m going until the end of April and then we’ll play it by ear and see if we’ll come back here,” Chatlos said Thursday from New York. “We’ll see how it goes.”

Chatlos began training a small group of Best-owned horses in New York this summer, having previously worked as an assistant to Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer. The Best horses were previously trained by Hollendorfer.

In June, Hollendorfer was evicted from Santa Anita and relocated to Los Alamitos after four of his horses were euthanized as a result of injuries sustained in racing or training at Santa Anita from late December to early June.

Chatlos, 54, had his first runner for Best in early July at Belmont Park. He is winless with nine starters this year through Thursday.

“Obviously, this has been crazy,” Chatlos said. “It was definitely not the way I want to get started and go into the toughest meeting of the year at Saratoga. I couldn’t have jumped into a deeper end of the pool. We weren’t disgraced.”

Chatlos won the 2004 Breeders’ Cup Mile at Lone Star Park with Singletary when he had his own stable for a variety of clients. Currently, Chatlos only has horses owned by Best, who races as OXO Equine.

The group sent to Del Mar will include Instagrand, who won the Grade 2 Best Pal Stakes for 2-year-olds at Del Mar in August 2018, and Brill, who was third in the Grade 1 Chandelier Stakes in 2018. Both were trained by Hollendorfer at the time.

Instagrand was eighth in the Grade 3 Pat Day Mile at Churchill Downs for Hollendorfer in May in his most recent start. Brill was fourth of five in the Grade 3 Victory Ride Stakes at Belmont Park in July in her first start for Chatlos.

“Instagrand is ready to run,” Chatlos said. “We’ll get settled into California and see what we can do there.”