Veteran racing secretary Hammerle joins Oaklawn Park's team

Rick Hammerle, a highly respected racing official with more than 30 years of experience in the industry, has joined Oaklawn Park as Racing Coordinator, it was announced Thursday. He will work alongside Vice President of Racing Jed Doro and Racing Secretary Pat Pope during the 2020 live racing season that runs Jan. 24 through May 2.

Hammerle, who was most recently vice president of racing and racing secretary at Santa Anita Park, began his career as a racing official in 1987 at Golden Gate Fields. That led to positions at Gulfstream Park, Monmouth Park and Meadowlands before he returned to his home state of California in 2000 in the role of assistant racing secretary at Santa Anita.

He was promoted to racing secretary at Santa Anita in 2003 and also held the dual role of racing coordinator at Del Mar until 2011, when he was promoted again to vice president of racing at Santa Anita. In addition, he has been racing secretary for a record seven Breeders’ Cups and was a member of the Graded Stakes Committee as well as the Breeders’ Cup selection committee. 

“We are very excited to have Rick join the racing department team,” Doro said. “His experience and connections are going to be invaluable as we continue to grow our racing program. We have a lot great things happening at Oaklawn right now and we’re glad Rick is going to be part of it.

"We’re in the process of building six new barns, we’re anticipating record purses for the 12th straight year, and we’ll soon be releasing an exciting 2020 stakes schedule.”

“It’s a real privilege to be coming to a place that loves racing, loves the horses and loves the fans the way Oaklawn does,” Hammerle added. “It couldn’t have worked out better for me and I can’t wait to get started.”