Unique Bella, youngsters lead way for Hollendorfer

DEL MAR, Calif. – With champion Unique Bella and what appears to be a bumper crop of 2-year-olds, trainer Jerry Hollendorfer comes into this meet at Del Mar looking as though he’s loaded for one of his best summer seasons ever. But he’s ever wary.

“There’s lots of folks that have potential before the first day,” he said with a smile while watching his horses train here Sunday morning.

Hollendorfer is circumspect because, as much as anyone, he knows that this meet can go south. He was the winningest trainer during the 2015 summer meet with 22 victories, but in both 2016 and 2017 he struggled, winning 10 races. That’s combined over those two summers. He was 5 for 75 in 2015, and 5 for 80 a year ago, during a meet in which he finished second or third 31 times.

“We weren’t happy, for sure,” Hollendorfer said. “But it wasn’t like we got kicked in the butt.”

It’s not as though both summers were complete meltdowns. Hollendorfer in 2016 sent the two-time champion Songbird east for two victories in Grade 1 races at Saratoga, and last summer It Tiz Well was second in the Alabama. Both could have been major forces in races at Del Mar, but the lucrative prizes out of town were the better options.

Per usual, Hollendorfer just puts his head down and marches forward. Having done this for so long, and made his way to the Hall of Fame, Hollendorfer understands the cyclical nature of training.

“Our policy is we try to do the best we can, every day,” he said.

Hollendorfer has been a mainstay in Northern California for decades, and though he won major national races such as the Kentucky Oaks during that time, it wasn’t until he had a large, full-time string in Southern California that the overall quality of horses under his care began to significantly trend upward. He still likes to play the claiming game – an action guy, he has runners in six of the 10 races on Wednesday’s opening-day card – but Hollendorfer is getting better, younger horses all the time, and the requirements of developing them, which can pay off down the line, might impact a win percentage in the short term. But the tradeoff is worth it.

“If you’re going to attempt to get younger horses, you’re going to have some numbers that sometimes don’t look so good,” Hollendorfer said. “But our goal is to get good horses and try to do some good with them. I still like the claimers, but our focus is more on younger horses.”

To that point, Hollendorfer has arrived at Del Mar with what appears to be his strongest contingent of 2-year-olds since he’s been training. Many are owned by the OXO Equine of Larry Best, who has placed several expensive purchases with Hollendorfer the past two years.

This year’s group is headed by the Into Mischief colt Instagrand, a $1.2 million auction buy who romped by 10 lengths in his debut June 29 at Los Alamitos and is ticketed for the Grade 2, $200,000 Best Pal Stakes on Aug. 11, a prep for the Grade 1, $300,000 Del Mar Futurity on closing day, Sept. 3. Another Into Mischief colt owned by Best, Rowayton, as well as the colts Dueling (by Violence) and Gunmetal Gray (Exchange Rate) all should run early in the meet.

Hollendorfer is also high on the Medaglia d’Oro filly Brill, who is set to debut Wednesday and for whom Best spent $1 million as a yearling.

“We think she’s pretty good,” he said.

The marquee name at the barn, though, is Unique Bella, who was last year’s champion female sprinter and who has won twice in three starts this year, most recently in the Grade 1 Beholder Mile. She is set for the Grade 1, $300,000 Clement Hirsch Stakes on July 29, and she is scaring away just about anyone who would run against her.

Hollendorfer’s barn also has been enhanced by the return of Battle of Midway, who is back in training after being found subfertile earlier this year. Battle of Midway, 4, won last year’s Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile before heading to the breeding shed. He had two three-furlong works at Santa Anita in early July before moving to Del Mar.

“He’s coming around well,” Hollendorfer said. “He’s ready to work a half. He got legged up for a month in Kentucky before he was sent back to me.”

Hollendorfer had a good first half of the year. Among trainers nationwide, he’s ninth in wins and 14th in purse earnings. With this lineup, he’s poised to move up the charts this summer.