For a track that boasts a splashy commercial profile, a million-dollar race, and an opening day to die for, Del Mar lately has been anything but the master of its own fate. Even before horses began arriving for the meet, the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club had to be concerned with the horrible incident that took the life of a child exposed to ecoli bacteria through animal contact at a petting zoo exhibit on the property during the Del Mar Fair, which concluded July 4. Barns in the area were thoroughly disinfected, but, as defending champion trainer Peter Miller noted, “We sprayed again just to play it extra safe.” Hovering over Del Mar’s opener on Wednesday is the pall that has descended upon West Coast racing in the wake of Santa Anita’s cluster of equine fatalities from earlier this year. The media feeding frenzy has been relentless, and deserved or not, the early days of the seven-week seaside meet that begins on Wednesday will be breathlessly monitored by headline writers who already have typed in the words “Another” and “Dead Horse” to save time. Never mind that it has been 7 1/2 months since there was either training or racing at Del Mar. Del Mar also is earning unwanted residuals from The Stronach Group’s unilateral decision to ban Jerry Hollendorfer from its California tracks, a decision handed down on June 22 by company boss Belinda Stronach in the wake of a fourth equine fatality from the Hollendorfer stable amid 26 other deaths for 25 other trainers during the Santa Anita meet. Reluctantly citing “optics,” Del Mar management fell in line with Stronach and denied Hollendorfer stalls for the meet. As of Monday morning, a group of horses trained by Hollendorfer at Los Alamitos was heading south to occupy stalls granted to Dan Ward, Hollendorfer’s assistant who will be operating a stable in his own name. As for Hollendorfer, he continues to be in good standing with the California Horse Racing Board, which, until the action taken by Santa Anita and Del Mar, was thought to be in charge of racing in the state. The treatment of Hollendorfer, a Hall of Famer and two-time Del Mar titlist, has had a chilling effect on local trainers, who have a right to wonder “who’s next?” There also has been an impact on out-of-state stables that might have been looking west this summer, only to see a house in disorder. In addition, horses running at the Del Mar meet will operate under the same revised medication and pre-race evaluation guidelines instituted during the besieged Santa Anita season, which, among other things, add layers of bureaucracy onto an already heightened atmosphere of dread at the spectre of the next equine fatality. From this morass of distractions will emerge the traditional opening-day festivities. Devoted fans of the big event will have spent Tuesday night sleeping upright against a wall to prevent the wrinkling of carefully assembled outfits, while the most serious competitors in the annual opening day hat contest were putting the finishing touches on headgear depicting everything from the Golden Gate Bridge to the birth of a Thoroughbred foal. If karma is on duty at all, the featured Oceanside Stakes at a mile on the turf will be won by More Ice, a son of More Than Ready who won a maiden and an allowance race on the Del Mar grass last year and has been stakes-placed several times since. The most serious competition should come from the former Europeans Jasikan and Legends of War, Cinema third-place finisher King of Speed, and the sharp maiden winner City Rage. More Ice is, or was, trained and owned by Jerry Hollendorfer, along with partners Richard Robertson and Kenwood Racing. However, Hollendorfer had to give up his percentage in the colt to comply with the rule that a licensed trainer may not own any piece of a horse trained by someone else. According to Robb Levinsky, Kenwood Racing’s founder and managing partner, Hollendorfer sold his share of More Ice to Robertson, and the colt is now officially trained by Ward. The need for such financial gymnastics has been one of the many unforeseen consequences of the Stronach/Del Mar action against Hollendorfer. “I think it is fair to note that unlike many other trainers, Jerry has his own money in these horses,” Levinsky said. “As investors, that was very appealing to us. You have to feel he has very much a self-interest in doing right by the horse. In that sense he is aligned with his owners in a way that’s not common in this game.” Levinsky sees the treatment of Hollendorfer as a painful distraction from more important issues. “When it comes to breakdowns, we don’t know how much is medication, how much is track surface, how much is the way people train,” Levinsky said. “Nothing I’ve seen should point the finger at Jerry more than at us as an industry that needs to get its act together. “Many horsemen I’ve spoken to say, ‘This could be us. Where do you draw the line?’ ” Levinsky added. “I think Jerry has been made the fall guy for larger industry problems. We need a national authority, with national policies administered by a national office instead of state-by-state policies, because clearly we’re not doing the right things in every state.”