At 79 and nearly five years removed from his last stakes win at Del Mar, Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer may produce an upset with Bodi Zafa in Friday’s $100,000 Oceanside Stakes on the opening day of the famous track’s summer meeting.
Bodi Zafa was second at 15-1 after a wide trip in his California debut in the Cinema Stakes for 3-year-olds at a mile on turf at Santa Anita on May 11. At the time, Bodi Zafa was trained by John Sadler, and was subsequently transferred to Hollendorfer by owner George Todaro.
Hollendorfer and Todaro have been a team for decades, or as Hollendorfer said on Thursday “for so many years I can’t count them.”
They are not always able to work together these days.
Hollendorfer is based for most of the year at Los Alamitos, and races only there and at Del Mar.
Hollendorfer no longer has runners at Santa Anita. Track management ordered him to vacate his stalls in June 2019 after four horses in his care were euthanized as a result of injuries sustained during racing or training in the early months of that year.
At the time, Santa Anita was under international scrutiny for a series of fatal injuries in racing or training sustained by several stables. The injuries led to widespread changes in regulatory policies for all California tracks regarding enhanced safety and veterinary oversight of horses entered to race or undergoing workouts.
In June of 2022, Hollendorfer and 1/ST Racing, the parent company of Santa Anita, reached a confidential settlement in a lawsuit Hollendorfer filed pertaining to the company’s summary banishment of his stable from Santa Anita.
Since the summer of 2019, Hollendorfer has had stables at Monmouth Park and Oaklawn Park and has raced at Los Alamitos and Del Mar.
In July 2023, Hollendorfer relinquished control of his 29-horse stable at Monmouth Park to his longtime assistant Dan Ward.
This summer at Del Mar, Hollendorfer has a 10-horse stable, and said he is eager to be involved at the 31-day meeting that runs through Sept. 7.
“I’m going to do what I can to help the program,” he said. “Whatever I have here, I’ll try to run.
“I’m just happy to participate and try to win something.”
This year, Hollendorfer has won five races at the Los Alamitos evening meeting, including three 1,000-yard races with All the Greats, a 3-year-old colt by Candy Ride. All the Greats is under consideration for an allowance race at five furlongs on turf at Del Mar on July 25, Hollendorfer said.
At the recently concluded Los Alamitos daytime Thoroughbred meeting, Hollendorfer was winless with four runners, three of which finished third, including All the Greats in an allowance race on June 20.
Two of the recent runners at Los Alamitos – Red Cross Knight and Supermax – are owned by Todaro and were trained by Sadler earlier this year.
Hollendorfer last won a race on the daytime Thoroughbred circuit in Southern California at Los Alamitos in December, and last won at Del Mar when Warrior’s Moon won an allowance race in September 2022. His most recent stakes win in California was Sneaking Out in the Grade 3 Rancho Bernardo Stakes at Del Mar in August 2020.
Bodi Zafa has won 4 of 7 starts, including two minor stakes at Turf Paradise earlier this year for trainer Wade Rarick – the Luke Kruytbosch Stakes at 7 1/2 furlongs on turf on Feb. 19, and the Turf Paradise Derby at 1 1/16 miles on dirt on March 22.
For the Oceanside, a one-mile race for 3-year-olds on turf, Bodi Zafa is listed at 15-1 on the morning line, starting from the outside post in a field of 10.
The Cinema was Bodi Zafa’s first loss in a race around two turns. Last Saturday, Hollendorfer gave Bodi Zafa a five-furlong workout from the gate in 100:80 at Los Alamitos.
“It was a way to sharpen him up,” Hollendorfer said. “The horse has been training really good.”
In the Oceanside, Bodi Zafa will need a clean start to save ground in the first turn. The gelding often races as a stalker.
“He’ll have to get away from the gate,” Hollendorfer said.
Kazushi Kimura, who was aboard in the Cinema Stakes, has the mount.
Should Bodi Zafa produce an upset in the Oceanside, he will be Hollendorfer’s 41st stakes win at the track, all since 1997.
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