Chiropractor all the way back with Hollywood Derby win

DEL MAR, Calif. – There seemed little hope in 2013 that a chestnut yearling owned by Glen Hill Farm would have much of a future. He had suffered a spinal cord injury so severe that his survival was in jeopardy.

“We don’t know what he did,” said Craig Bernick, the president and CEO of Glen Hill Farm. “It was 50-50 on whether we would have to put him down.”

It took months of veterinary treatment before the yearling showed progress. When it came time to name the gelding, the Glen Hill team went with Chiropractor to reflect what he had been through.

Chiropractor’s recovery took a remarkable turn on Saturday, when he won his stakes debut in the Grade 1, $302,250 Hollywood Derby at Del Mar in a 14-1 upset.

“For him to win a Grade 1 race, it’s phenomenal,” said Bernick. “We never thought he’d get to the races.”

Chiropractor’s win in the Hollywood Derby capped a memorable day for Glen Hill Farm and trainer Tom Proctor. Earlier in the afternoon, they teamed to win the $101,750 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with the homebred Family Meeting ($76.60). Family Meeting made her stakes debut in the Grade 3 Durante Stakes.

Chiropractor did not race at 2, and began his career with Proctor in the Mid-Atlantic earlier this year. He had won twice in six starts before Saturday’s Hollywood Derby.

Ridden by Corey Nakatani, Chiropractor closed from 10th in a field of 14, and held off a sustained threat from March, a shipper from New York. Bernick said that Chiropractor will be pointed for races at 1 1/8 miles to 1 1/4 miles on turf in 2016, all the while acknowledging how far the gelding has come since he was a yearling.

“Every time he’s run, it’s surprising that he comes out of his races well,” Bernick said. “This is special.”

Chiropractor, by top turf stallion Kitten’s Joy, has won 3 of 7 starts and earned $273,100.

Family Meeting was fourth in a maiden race on dirt at Delaware Park in September in her debut, and won a maiden race on turf at Laurel on Nov. 7 before being sent to California. Family Meeting closed from ninth of 12 to win the Durante Stakes, run at a mile on turf. She won by a half-length.

Bernick said Family Meeting is likely to be pointed for turf stakes for 3-year-old fillies early in 2016. One logical spot for her during the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting is the $150,000 Providencia Stakes at 1 1/8 miles on turf on April 9.

Bernick said Family Meeting didn’t show her true ability until she began training.

“She’s a light filly and doesn’t need a lot of training,” he said. “She didn’t wow us at the farm. As she got ready to run, she’s been a nice filly.”

The win by Family Meeting has a connection to one of Glen Hill’s finest horses, and one with a profound sentimental attachment.

Her fifth dam is Convenience, the brilliant racemare owned by Bernick’s grandfather Leonard Lavin, who founded Glen Hill Farms. Convenience won 15 of 35 starts and earned $648,933 in a career that ran from 1971 to 1974. She is well known for beating Typecast in a match race at Hollywood Park in 1972. Typecast was later honored as the champion older filly or mare for that season.

Bernick and Lavin spoke on Saturday morning to discuss the afternoon’s races. They had plenty more to talk about later in the weekend.