Hollendorfer to have 20-horse stable at Belmont Park

ELMONT, N.Y. – The Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, based primarily on the West Coast for his career, will have an East Coast presence this summer, sending approximately 20 horses to New York for the summer.

“A couple of clients expressed an interest in having some horses on the East Coast this summer,” Hollendorfer said Tuesday by phone from California. “I’m glad to have customers who are giving me the opportunity to work with good horses on the East and West coast. I don’t think people should pass up an opportunity if you can still do things.”

One of those clients who wanted Hollendorfer on the East Coast is Larry Best, who races under the OXO Equine banner. Best has already sent 3-year-old males Rowayton and Oggonis and the 3-year-old filly Brill to Belmont. They arrived early Saturday morning. Rowayton, second in last year’s Grade 1 Del Mar Futurity, and Oggonis, a first-out winner at Santa Anita, worked five furlongs in 59.87 seconds together Wednesday morning over Belmont’s main track. Brill is coming off a fourth-place finish in last Friday’s Black-Eyed Susan.

Both Rowayton and Oggonis are eligible for a first-level allowance race. Oggonis, a son of Animal Kingdom, will likely target a turf race.

Best is also expected to send several 2-year-olds to New York, including Vegas Strong, the $850,000 Colonel John colt he purchased Tuesday at the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic sale.

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John Dowd, a bloodstock advisor to Best, was at Belmont Wednesday. While acknowledging that issues with Santa Anita’s track that led to 25 fatalities was “obviously a part of” Best’s decision, so was the fact there are more opportunities on the East Coast for 3-year-olds during the summer.

Last year, Best sent Instilled Regard to trainer Chad Brown in New York following his fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby.

“A lot of people, after the Derby, whether it be 3-year-old fillies or 3-year-old colts, they move east,” Dowd said. “There are some opportunities at Del Mar, but there are more opportunities on the East Coast this time of year than there are on the West, so it made sense.”

Don Chatlos, a former trainer and former assistant to John Sadler, will oversee Hollendorfer’s New York string. Chatlos has worked for Hollendorfer for four years.

“We’re glad to be here, we’ll see what happens,” Chatlos said. “Hopefully, we’ll have some 2-year-olds that will make some noise at Saratoga and go into the fall races here before we go back to California.”