Jerry Hollendorfer
At the time of his Hall of Fame induction in May of 2011, Jerry Hollendorfer ranked in the top 10 in all-time wins and purse earnings among North American trainers. Born in Akron, Ohio, Hollendorfer arrived in California in the late 1960s and began working as a groom at Bay Meadows. He later went to work for trainers Jerry Dutton and Jerry Fanning in various capacities before taking out his own training license in 1979. Success didn’t come overnight for Hollendorfer. He failed to win more than 16 races in any of his first six years as a licensed conditioner. However, things began to change for Hollendorfer when he won 56 races in 1985. The next year that total increased to 117 and he eclipsed $1 million in purse earnings for the first time. That same year, 1986, also marked the first time Hollendorfer won the training titles at the Northern California tracks Golden Gate Fields and Bay Meadows. Hollendorfer’s first stakes winner was Novel Sprite, a $16,000 claimer. Under Hollendorfer’s care, Novel Sprite went on to win more than $400,000 and was named Claimer of the Year in 1986. From 1986 through May of 2008, Hollendorfer won 37 consecutive training championships at Bay Meadows and 32 in a row at Golden Gate Fields. Hollendorfer won his 5,000th race in December 2007 at Hollywood Park. Through August 2013, he ranked third in all-time wins with 6,493 and seventh all-time in purse earnings with $142,027,093. Hollendorfer has also been in the top 10 in wins for the past 26 years (1987 through 2012) and has ranked in the top 10 in earnings 12 times in his career. In 2010, Hollendorfer won five Grade 1 races: The Kentucky Oaks, Alabama, Las Virgenes and the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. Hollendorfer shows no signs of slowing down. In 2012, he surpassed 200 wins and $5 million in purse earnings for the 16th consecutive year. He also registered 26 stakes wins in 2012, including nine graded events.
