Can Chocolate wear roses?
Hollendorfer, the Bay Area-based trainer of Chocolate Candy, could throw some serious drama into this race. He could say he wants to win the Derby for his wife, Janet, who is recovering from recent brain-tumor surgery. Janet will watch the race from their Point Richmond home, with her old cat Annie, who is dying of kidney failure. Hollendorfer could say he wants to win for the horse’s owner, Jenny Craig, whose husband Sid died last summer. “If we get lucky and if Chocolate Candy is in the Kentucky Derby,” Jenny Craig said not long ago, “I know Sid will be riding that horse along with the jockey.” Hollendorfer could say he wants to win this one to earn the Northern California racing community the respect it deserves. Or he could say he wants to win this Derby for himself. He’s been training horses for 30 years, has been enormously successful, has literally worked his ass off, but he has had five shots at the Derby and no sniff of roses. Alas, Hollendorfer is as dramatic as a bucket of o
