Derby Watch: Hollendorfer, due for some luck, has 3 contenders

ARCADIA, Calif. – Just a few minutes after Galilean won the California Cup Derby on Monday here at Santa Anita, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer saw Jeff Lifson, the former TVG personality who for years has worked as the executive vice president for West Point Thoroughbreds, and they congratulated one another on the victory with a colt West Point had purchased at auction 10 months ago and placed with Hollendorfer.

“You guys have been so kind I can’t believe it,” Hollendorfer said. A mischievous grin came across his face. “But I’ll accept more kindness.”

When it comes to the Kentucky Derby, this winter has been particularly kind to Hollendorfer. But the Derby itself has been quite cruel.

Galilean is one of three Derby prospects in Hollendorfer’s barn, along with the unbeaten Instagrand – who is scheduled to make his 3-year-old debut in the San Felipe on March 9 – and Sham Stakes winner Gunmetal Gray. Galilean and Instagrand, who is owned by Larry Best, are two of the members of the Derby Watch top 20. Galilean and Gunmetal Gray are both co-owned by West Point. In the coming weeks, each colt will get a chance to prove he belongs at Churchill Downs on the first Saturday in May.

Hollendorfer, 72, knows better than anyone the heartache that can come on this journey. The first two times he got to the Derby, his runners didn’t even make it to the starting gate.

Hollendorfer had the highly regarded Event of the Year in 1998, but eight days before the Derby, in the final work at Churchill Downs for a race in which he might have been the favorite, he fractured a knee.

“It was a good experience getting there, but it was disappointing,” Hollendorfer says now, with two decades to soften the blow. “I’m not the first one that’s happened to.”

Two years later, still seeking his first Derby starter, Hollendorfer brought the longshot Globalize. He was entered in the Derby three days before the race and landed the rail at the draw. The next day, while on the track for what was supposed to be a routine morning of training, Globalize was kicked by his stable pony, opening a gash that required stitches, medication, and scratching from the race.

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As fate would have it, though, that incident is what in part led to West Point having horses with Hollendorfer.

“We didn’t have a horse in that year,” Terry Finley, the president and chief executive of West Point, recalled in a telephone interview this week. “But I went to the Derby religiously. I remember how he handled that. It ain’t easy. You see how much pressure a trainer is under for that race. I respected how he handled it. He didn’t whine. He didn’t gripe. That made a good impression on me.”

West Point had horses in California, but not until a few years ago was the ownership group looking to change trainers, Finley said. At a meeting of the top executives of West Point at the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. auction, a few trainers were considered for their California horses.

“We brought up Jerry Hollendorfer, and everybody loved the idea,” Finley said.

Moments later, Hollendorfer happened by and got called over by West Point. He ended up getting the job.

“It was providence he walked by,” Finley said.

“One thing I like about him is that he never puts you on the spot: ‘When are you going to send me a horse?’ Things like that,” Finley said.

In the years since Event of the Year and Globalize, Hollendorfer has had seven starters in the Derby, beginning with Eye of the Tiger in 2003. None has won. But several have outrun their odds, including Eye of the Tiger, who was fifth at 41-1; Battle of Midway, who was third at 40-1 in 2017; and Instilled Regard, fourth at 85-1 last year.

They may have been longshots in the betting. But Hollendorfer, a Hall of Famer, is as clear-eyed and realistic as any trainer around. He never wants to be in a race unless he thinks he has a chance, and he thought those horses belonged.

“Horses take you to the Derby, you don’t take them,” Hollendorfer said. “You have to really believe they’re ready for that kind of race.”

In the coming months, Galilean, Gunmetal Gray, and Instagrand will be given the opportunity to prove they belong. And if Hollendorfer heads to Louisville, you’ll know he’s not going just for the hot browns.