Hendricks disbands his stable

DEL MAR, Calif. – Trainer Dan Hendricks has disbanded his stable.

Hendricks had his final runner Sunday when Matson finished ninth in the 10th race at Del Mar.

“I’ll stop for a while,” he said earlier that day. “I’m low on horses and I don’t feel like going back to the situation at Santa Anita, so it’s a good time to stop.”

Hendricks has been based at Santa Anita for most of the last 35 years. Thirty horses were euthanized there as a result of injuries sustained in training or racing from late December to late June.

A lifelong resident of Southern California, Hendricks, 60, recorded his biggest win when Brother Derek won the Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby in 2006 and was later fourth behind winner Barbaro in the Kentucky Derby as the 7-1 third choice. Brother Derek won the Grade 1 Hollywood Futurity in 2005.

Hendricks also trained the graded stakes winners Daytona, Om, Private Persuasion, Rigoletta, Runaway Dancer, and Smooth Player. He began training in 1985 and won 734 races. Hendricks was paralyzed from the waist down in a motorcycle accident in the summer of 2004 and had some of his greatest wins in the following years.

Sunday, Hendricks said he brought eight horses to Del Mar and that two of those will be transferred to George Papaprodromou. He has had some claimed, and a few have been turned out, he said.

He said Sunday that he has no immediate plans and could work in the sport from an advisory role on bloodstock.

“I’m not going to rule anything out,” he said. “I’ve been thinking about it for a year. It will be good to get away for a while.

“I have no regrets. The horses have treated me great and provided me a great income for many years. The friends I have made are irreplaceable.”