No, we're not talking about the presidency. It's much more serious than that. The injustice I speak of is that Jerry Hollendorfer is not in the Racing Hall of Fame. Hollendorfer has over 5200 wins. He's 4th all time in wins.
Perhaps because he only wins cheap races in northern California?
He's won the Big 'Cap and Coaching Club American Oaks. He beat the boys in the California Derby with the filly Pike Place Dancer. That filly also won the Kentucky Oaks. But that was his 2nd Kentucky Oaks victory, as he won it with Lite Light 5 years earlier. Remember that horse Event of the Year? Yeah, he trained him. He has also won the Hollywood Futurity and the Haskell Invitational. The Jim Beam, too. This year alone he's won two stakes with million dollar purses.
Maybe you saw another horse he trained on the cover of today's Form. That's Hystericalady. She won the Humana Distaff and the Molly Pitcher in a fabulous career before being the first day sale topper at the most recent Keeneland sale.
So, he doesn't just win cheap races in the comfort of NoCal, where he's won the last 982743 training titles. (factcheck.org has informed me From 1986 though May 2008, he won the training championship at every major Bay Area meeting, recording 37 straight titles at Bay Meadows and 32 consecutive crowns at Golden Gate Fields)
But, could he really compete on a bigger circuit day-in and day-out? Dorf took the training title from perennial Arlington king Wayne Catalano in 2001. He only competed at the meet twice, coming in a close 2nd to Catalano the following year when Dorf halved his Arlington string in the final weeks of the meet.
Quite frankly, that Jerry Hollendorfer is not in the Hall of Fame does not detract from his accomplishments in anyway. This fact does, however, speak to the extreme malfeasance on the part of Hall of Fame voters. In 2009 perhaps they will address this black mark on their record.
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3 comments:
Brad,
Well said. He'd have my vote.
Can you please throw a bone to King Leatherbury, too, while you're at it? The Great Man is No. 3 on the all-time list and has meet titles at more tracks than Hollendorfer has ever been to. I'm an Eclipse voter, but I have no idea who resides in the star chamber that votes for the Hall of Fame. -- J.S.
i'm with you on king l. back in the day, he one all the big races in maryland, and took the title every year there, not to mentio national titles for wins nationwide.
also, how 'bout the fella that has'm both smoked, dale baird. if not for his untimely death in that car accident, he'd still be plowing away.
i know the crack on baird. he's not won big races at marquee tracks. he wins claiming races at lesser tracks.
but that is exactly what russell baze's detractors always said, and we seem to have gotten past that in the sport now. we accept that winning 10,000 races, even in norcal, is a huge feat. well, winning 10,000 races many at mountaineer as a trainer, and throughout the midwest and everywhere else, is also a feat. dale baird deserves to be in the hall, as well.
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