Pressed by California Horse Racing Board commissioners to honor a 2019 contract with California Thoroughbred Trainers during the upcoming autumn meet at Santa Anita Park, track representatives eventually agreed to abide by the old agreement in the absence of a current one.
Several tracks in the state—Santa Anita, Golden Gate Fields, and Del Mar—and the CTT have consistently been at odds in recent years over such agreements, much to the frustration of commissioners, who have been left with limited options but to apply an expired contract or consider an application incomplete before deciding to grant race dates.
Sections five and six of the agreement, which CHRB vice chairman Oscar Gonzales stated deal with handling a "problem trainer," are the specific areas that have led to the impasse.
The differences between the CTT and tracks became apparent after The Stronach Group, which operates Santa Anita and Golden Gate in the state, barred Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer from participating at its tracks after he had a spate of equine deaths among his trainees at their properties in the winter and early spring of 2019.
Hollendorfer later sued, and a settlement agreement was reached this June. The terms of the agreement are confidential and have not been disclosed.
After CHRB commissioner Damascus Castellano sparred with TSG general counsel Eric Sindler during Wednesday's meeting, Nate Newby, general manager of Santa Anita, appeased commissioners by stating: "We will continue to act as we have for the last two years since 2019. So nothing has changed on our end."
Earlier, Sindler said the track had made progress in discussions with the CTT, and that their relationship with the organization was "very good." He stated the trainer organization and the track did not "have a mutual understanding of the terms" of the old contract.
The CHRB ultimately approved a motion during Wednesday's CHRB meeting to approve Santa Anita's autumn meet application with an amendment that the 2019 race-meet agreement between the parties would be in effect. Chair Dr. Greg Ferraro was the lone commissioner in attendance who voted against the motion.
CTT executive director Alan Balch did not speak during the meeting. Reached by telephone afterward, he declined to comment, citing the 2019 agreement between the CTT and Santa Anita that specifies the parties do not publicize their differences of opinion related to the agreement.
On next month's CHRB meeting agenda is Del Mar's fall dates application, and Gonzales expressed his hope that an agreement between Del Mar and the CTT could be reached, which would "provide us a template for The Stronach Group to look at."
"We have to make sure that there's a process in place to deal with any bad characters," he added.
