For the
past two decades, local trainers Jerry Hollendorfer and Jeff Bonde (left) have been
among the best at Golden Gate Fields, each having made a name for themselves in
different ways. Hollendorfer,
for his domination of the local racing scene, and Bonde, for his penchant for
picking out top 2-year-olds.While each
have been well established on the national level, this May could bring each of
them to a brand new level of success.
Last week,
Hollendorfer was named a finalist for the National Thoroughbred Hall of Fame
for the first time. He, along with trainers Gary Jones and Robert Wheeler,
jockeys Calvin Borel, Garrett Gomez, John Velazquez and Alex Solis and horses
Open Mind, Safely Kept and Sky Beauty will all be eligible for one of the four
spots that will be inducted this year. The four highest vote getters of the
group will become hall of famers.
Bonde on
the other hand, is getting close to having a horse in the Kentucky Derby for
the first time in his career.
The ‘Dorf
has the numbers to merit inclusion. On the local angle, between 1986 and 2008 he won 37 straight
training titles at Bay Meadows and 32 straight at GGF. Nationally, he has been
in the top 10 in wins 24 straight years and in the top 10 in earnings 12 times.
Heading into 2011, he ranked fourth all time in wins (5,863) and eighth in all
time earnings $119,141,280 among North American trainers.
“No one can
ever expect to be honored like this, so it was a real nice feeling when I got
nominated as a finalist,” Hollendorfer said. “Being nominated is special in
itself, but getting in would be extra special. I’m very humbled to be
nominated.”
The king of
the bay area has had his share of top caliber horses such as Blind Luck, King
Glorious, Lite Light, Pike Place Dancer, Chocolate Candy and Hystericalady just
to name a few. It is no mistake he has been as successful as he has. He is
usually the first one at the track and the last one to leave.
“My folks
taught me early in life, that you have to work hard and do the best you can at
every endeavor,” Hollendorfer said. “I’ve tried to follow that and it’s worked
pretty well.”
On May13th,
we will find out if Jerry makes it to the hall of fame. Seeing the long hours
he puts in at the track, and the success it has led to, I have to think the
‘Dorf will be getting a congratulatory call.
Bonde, a
Pleasanton native, thought a few months ago that he was on the fast track to
the Derby this year with his stand out Sway Away. But after a disappointing
sixth place finish in the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park, positiveness turned to
doubt.
However
eight days later, another Bonde horse, Twice the Appeal, pulled off a 25-1
shocker in the Sunland Derby, once again leading the Bonde camp to smell roses.
The $400,000 earned in the win, gives the son of Successful Appeal enough in
graded earnings to make the Kentucky Derby Field.
The result
surprised many, but not Bonde.
“I thought
i had a chance. To say I thought I was going to win, nobody can say that. It
was a large field, Steve Asmussen had a
real nice horse (Astrology) coming off a long layoff and he ran well, he
ran second, but I was very happy with my horses’ race,’ Bonde said. “His races
on dirt have been have been much better than on synthetic there’s no question
about it. But I think the biggest thing for this horse is, he’s catching up now
in age and maturing and that’s the big factor.”
Bonde has
been in breeders cup races (finishing fourth in the 1999 Breeders Cup Juvenile
Fillies with Spain), the Kentucky Oaks and Preakness. He recently won his first
ever Grade 1 race when Smiling Tiger won the 2010 Ancient Title Stakes at Oak
Tree.
So a horse
in the Derby would be the ultimate. Or dare I say horses in the Derby.
Sway Away
is also still in the derby picture but according to Bonde, he will need to
“come with a big race” in the Arkansas Derby on April 16th to stick on the
derby trail.
“I’ve been
to the Derby week and it’s a mad house,” Bonde said. “But this sport this sport
is like any other, it’s survival of the fittest. Things have to go your way.”
If all goes
well, the first two weekends in May could put Golden Gate back on the national
map.