Hollendorfer contests Golden Gate ban in court

Jerry Hollendorfer has filed an action against Golden Gate Fields in Northern California contesting the track’s decision to ban him from racing at that track. The Hall of Fame trainer won a ruling last month that lifted a similar ban at Del Mar Thoroughbred Club.

The filing, which was first reported by Thoroughbred Daily News, seeks an emergency injunction against Golden Gate Fields that would prevent the track from enforcing the ban, which was first issued on June 22 by the track’s parent company, The Stronach Group, while Golden Gate was dark but the company’s other California track, Santa Anita Park, was running a live meet. Golden Gate was to begin a 28-day meet on Thursday.

Hollendorfer is being supported in the filing by the California Thoroughbred Trainers, which had also supported his plea for relief at Del Mar. As in the Del Mar filing, Hollendorfer argues that Golden Gate’s ban violates the terms of an agreement between the track and horsemen that states that a track may not act in a “capricious or arbitrary” way when taking action against a trainer without also granting the licensee an arbitration hearing if discussions on the ban cannot be resolved between the two parties.

Darrell Vienna, the attorney representing Hollendorfer and the CTT, said on Wednesday that a hearing has not yet been scheduled on the filing.

Late in July, a San Diego Superior Court Judge granted Hollendorfer’s request for a preliminary injunction to prevent Del Mar from enforcing a ban, nine days after the track had opened its popular summer meet. The filing against Golden Gate contains remarkably similar language and arguments to the Del Mar request.

The Golden Gate request was filed in Superior Court of California for the County of Alameda, where the track is located.

The Stronach Group abruptly banned Hollendorfer from its two California tracks after a horse he trained suffered a fatal breakdown during a workout at Santa Anita. In implementing the ban, the company said that four horses trained by Hollendorfer had suffered catastrophic injuries while racing or training at Santa Anita since the meet began on Dec. 26, and that Hollendorfer also had two fatal injuries at Golden Gate Fields, though those breakdowns occurred last year.

Hollendorfer has maintained a string of horses at Golden Gate for decades, and was the leading trainer at the track for 32 straight meets. The complaint claims that Hollendorfer has been granted 60 stalls at Golden Gate for the past “20+ years.” The complaint also states that prior to the ban, Golden Gate “vigorously and persistently” recruited him to race at the track at the upcoming meet, and that Golden Gate officials had informed him that he was a “good and safe horseman.”