Jelm Plays Supporting Role, Leading Lady

Behind every Hall of Fame operation is a team of talented, dedicated horsemen and women. One of the people who makes Jerry Hollendorfer’s stable tick is Christina Jelm, a Kentucky-based bloodstock agent who does a little bit of everything for the renowned trainer. At September, that’s meant short-listing and purchasing horses for Hollendorfer and his clients, as well as for clients of her own. Yesterday, she landed a filly by Bellamy Road–Ormolu (Indian Charlie) for $170,000. Brereton Jones’s Airdrie Stud consigned the filly, from a half-sister to GSW Duveen (Horse Chestnut {SAf}), as hip 1249. 

“She’s a big, beautiful dark bay–nearly black,” said Jelm. “She has great conformation and just looks like she has wings. She’s gorgeous.” 

In all, Jelm has signed for nine head for $1,785,000, an average of nearly $200,000 per. Her top-priced purchased came during Book 1’s second session, a $375,000 Tapit half-brother to the stakes winners Shampoo (Gulch), Stopshoppingdebbie (Curlin) and Smarty Deb (Smart Strike). 

“He’s just an outstanding individual,” said Jelm of the Tapit colt. 

Unlike many people in the business, Jelm didn’t get her start in Kentucky, or near a major racing jurisdiction. She was raised a horse-crazy girl in Bath, Ohio, a small town between Cleveland and Akron. 

“I had a Hackney pony that I showed when I was five, and I grew up fox hunting and doing things like that,” she said. Jelm began riding Saddlebreds, and was accomplished enough to work with top Saddlebred trainers like Lonnie Lavery, Paul St. Charles and Bill Becker. 

“I’ve just always been a horse freak, always riding, always in the saddle,” she said. 
When she was 19, Jelm decided to focus on Thoroughbreds. She came to Kentucky and took out her trainer’s license, saddling her first horse at Churchill Downs. “I was really just training off a farm I leased,” said Jelm. “I didn’t really want to be at the race track, per se, but I really liked developing young horses and breaking.”

Her first winner came at Mountaineer Park in 1996, when Epic Dancer, a gelding by Nijinsky’s Secret, won a $2,500 claiming race. 

“I thought winning a race was just the easiest thing ever,” Jelm laughed. 

Decided to step away from the track life for a while, Jelm went to work at the Breeders’ Cup and NTRA, where she managed sponsorship accounts. “I was there for a while, but I missed the horses, so I leased the training barn over at Domino Stud for about a year,” she said. “Then I realized, again, that training just wasn’t the way to go for me.” 
Jelm focused on facilitating private sales. She began working with clients in Hong Kong, Dubai and Singapore, importing American horses. One day, Jelm was on the on the phone with her father, who suggested she reach out to a classmate of his at the University of Akron, and another Bath native: Jerry Hollendorfer. 

The two hit it off, and Jelm starting assisting Hollendorfer at yearling and juvenile sales. They had immediate success. Jelm bought Nonios (Pleasantly Perfect) for $73,000 at the 2011 OBSAPR sale for her client Green Smith, and a year later Hollendorfer sent the colt out to four runner-up finishes in graded company, including in the GI Haskell Invitational and GI Awesome Again S. 

Other good ones followed. There was GSP Macha (Majestic Warrior), an $85,000 OBSAPR buy; GSW & MGISP Scarlet Strike (Smart Strike), a $220,000 OBSMAR pick-up; and Wild Dude (Wildcat Heir), winner of the GII Palos Verdes S. this year. 

Along the way, Jelm learned what types of horses Hollendorfer prefers, and what flaws he can live with. 
“Wild Dude is a good a good example,” she said. “I loved him at the 2-year-old sales [2012 OBSAPR], and so when Jerry came into town I had him on my short list. But he had two gigantic splints on the inside of both his cannon bones. For me, I was fine with it. They had been pin-fired, and were hard and fine. But some trainers would be put off by it. Jerry had no problem. We paid $42,000 for him, and now he’s made over $320,000.” 

When selecting prospects, Jelm draws on the lessons learned while plying her trade with low-level claimers. 

“Working at tracks like Thistledown, Beulah Park, and Mountaineer, you learn legs, and you learn what lasts and what doesn’t last,” she said. “You learn the effects of different conformational defects. And then I also rode a lot. So when I see a horse I want to ride myself, that I want to compete with, that’s the kind of horse I’m looking for. Horses come in all shapes and sizes, and run with all sorts of conformational flaws. As a buyer, we have the luxury to be choosey. We’re trying to buy good racehorses–good physicals. We’re also looking for value. We don’t want to overpay.” 

In addition to her bloodstock work, Jelm acts as Hollendorfer’s assistant trainer when he ships to the East Coast. “I was there with Sweet Lulu when she won the [GI] Test S.; I was with Sahara Sky when he won the [GI] Met Mile,” she explained. Jelm also manages racing stables for clients. 

Despite her own considerable experience, Jelm says she is constantly learning under Hollendorfer. “Jerry is all horses–he’s totally blinkers-on,” she laughed. “There’s a good bond there. We’re from the same town. We have a lot in common. I love his wife Janet–she’s amazing–and he’s a great horseman.” -LM