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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Blacker ‘Puts His Heart And Soul’ Into Every Runner

How a trainer treats his stable stars is important, of course, but it's equally as important how he treats the racehorses that are not quite so talented.

Racehorse owner Rick Gold explains that's one of the qualities he most respects about up-and-coming trainer Dan Blacker. The English-born horseman, now based in Southern California, earned his first graded stakes victory last weekend in Santa Anita's Grade 3 Thunder Road Stakes with Hit The Road, a 4-year-old Gold co-owns.

“It's easy to talk about Hit the Road, right,” Gold mused. “It's one thing to train a horse like Hit the Road who has the mental and physical ability… Meanwhile, a horse like Sir Eddie had none of those things.”

A California-bred gelding by Square Eddie, Sir Eddie required 13 tries to break his maiden. The $35,000 yearling purchase wound up earning over $130,000 on the track, but he definitely did it the hard way. From 18 starts, Sir Eddie entered the winner's circle just once.

“He had six seconds and three thirds, and he was the favorite eight times, and he just couldn't do the job,” Gold said, laughing.

“He was an absolute oil painting of a Thoroughbred, but he just didn't want to try very hard,” Blacker remembered. “He kept running second or third, but he just didn't really care to win. I think most of it is in the genes. People talk about what makes a good stallion, and physically what they see, what attributes are passed down. But I think the great stallions, the most important thing they pass down is that mental toughness, that will to win, that attribute that they just want to try hard.”

Sir Eddie may not have had a strong will to win, but that didn't mean Blacker treated him any differently than the rest of the racehorses in his barn.

“Dan tried everything with Eddie, short, long, turf, dirt; he was committed to getting that horse over the wire first,” said Gold. “I was so impressed, because the horse kept paying his bills because Dan kept him sound. The horse was a happy, healthy horse, he retired sound, and he has a great second career. Dan put his heart and his soul into Sir Eddie just the way he's doing Hit The Road. We, as owners, we loved Sir Eddie. I was as happy when he broke his maiden as any time I've been at the racetrack. That's what it's all about.”

“That's really why we're here, for the owners,” echoed Blacker. “The more you're part of the process, the more enjoyable it is.”

Blacker's regular communication with his owners includes weekly voice notes on each horse's progress, as well as video footage and reports on each workout, and recent photographs whenever possible.

“I think when people hear my voice it's easy to get my point across how the horse is doing,” said Blacker. “It's much easier for me to record a one-minute voice note on how the horse is doing than to write all that down… Emails and text messages are easily misconstrued when you read them, but when I send out a voice note, you can hear in my voice when the horse is really doing well.”

“I get so much more color; it's kind of taken the communication to the next level,” Gold said. “it's so gratifying to me to see that the last couple years he's really started to come into his own, and the results have started to catch up with the hard work I've seen.”

Gold and Blacker were introduced via the Bourbon Lane Stables partnership group in the early 2010s, and Gold was immediately impressed by the young horseman.

“I was a limited partner at the time, but I got to know him and I really got to just admire the way he dealt with horses, the way he dealt with people,” said Gold. “He's got an analytical mind in addition to being an intuitive horseman. I've never ridden a horse faster than a trot, so when a trainer tells me, 'I feel it,' it's hard for me to understand that. But he can explain things in a way that I can understand.”

Blacker's father is the famed equine sculptor and former jockey Phillip Blacker, so perhaps that's where he got his analytical mind. The horsemanship, however, Blacker credits mostly to his two year stint working for Hall of Famer Richard Mandella.

The Blacker family often revolved around horses, from his father's time at the racetracks to Dan's hours in a show jumping saddle. After attending university for environmental science, the younger Blacker was selected as part of the third intake for the very new Darley Flying Start Program.

“I think it was a case of mistaken identity,” Blacker joked. “They were still experimenting with the curriculum, and it was just an incredible experience. I'm so thankful to Sheikh Mohammed for his foresight to create a program like that, and for the chance to be with a group of people who were like-minded.

“One thing in particular, the lightbulb for me was when we went to the Kentucky Derby with the whole group, and Barbaro won that year. That was one of the moments when I really felt like I wanted to be an American and train horses in America.”

Richard Mandella with Omaha Beach at Churchill Downs in 2019

One of his placements through the Flying Start program was in Mandella's barn, and Blacker was immediately struck by the immaculate nature of the trainer's program.

“He's just one of the greatest horsemen I've ever been around,” Blacker summarized. “When I started working for him I felt confident that i was ready to start training, but after a few months of working for him I realized that I had so much more to learn. He taught me a level of horsemanship that is way beyond what I expected to know, a way of connecting with each racehorses, and achieving what you hope to achieve with each horse. He has a program, and his way is very thorough with everything you do, so that you ultimately get the best out of each horse.”

(Mandella's barn also happens to be where Blacker met his wife, Christina Olivares, daughter of former jockey Frank Olivares and now an analyst for TVG. She came to the backside to interview the Hall of Fame trainer but met Blacker instead, and somehow that particular interview didn't happen.)

Mandella's most unique quality, Blacker explained, is that he's constantly training his horses.

“I'm not talking about working it faster,” Blacker said. “[Mandella is] training the horses around the barn, when he puts the rider up, etc. He's thinking about how to make that horse behave better, and how to get the best performance out of it. Everything about the morning is designed to try to educate the horse, to make it more calm about its day-to-day routine. He likes the horses to behave a certain way, and the employees to be a certain way. This is 'The Mandella Way,' and you fall into line when you work for him.

“He'll have horses come in that are wild, and by the time they come ready for the race they are like a show pony. He's a thinker and a problem solver. From a handicapping point of view, I'm not a particularly avid one, but when I see a Mandella horse at the races, I know that horse is ready to roll. That's something that I took from him and try to emulate. Whenever I walk a horse over, I want to make sure it's ready to fire its A-game.”

Hit the Road was certainly ready to fire his A-game in the Thunder Road, galloping to a 3 ¾-length victory to clock a mile over firm turf in 1:33.35.

Hit the Road and Umberto Rispoli winning the Thunder Road

“He ran even better than I was hoping for,” Blacker admitted. “He met every hurdle, everything we asked of him.”

The Thunder Road was also Hit the Road's first start without Lasix, since graded stakes in California are being run without the race-day medication this year.

“I'm not really for or against Lasix; I'm pro-a level playing field,” said Blacker. “I just want to walk my horse over knowing I'm on a level playing field with all the other trainers. If we have to take away Lasix to do that, so be it. It has its place and it's a useful training tool. I understand the arguments on both sides, like how it would be long-term beneficial for the breed to take it away. On the flip side, if you get a great horse, you've spent all this money, and it's got tons of talent and can really run, but it bleeds, that's really hard to explain to an owner.”

Hit the Road won a listed stakes as a 2-year-old, then ran a bang-up race in the 2019 Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf only to be disqualified to last for interference in the stretch. It was a bit of a disappointing result, co-owner Gold admitted, but the horse hadn't been disgraced in crossing the wire seventh, beaten just 2 ½ lengths in total.

“I won't say we were happy just to be there, because he really made a great run and it was encouraging,” Gold remembered. “He came back strong last year and he's off to an even better start this year.”

After a vacation from his strong juvenile campaign, Hit the Road returned to win an allowance race at Santa Anita and the Oceanside Stakes on the opening day of the Del Mar summer season. The colt came out of the Oceanside with a minor issue, and Blacker immediately told his owners he'd need some time.

That decision was rewarded when Hit the Road returned seven months later to win the G3 Thunder Road. Up next, the son of More Than Ready is expected to tackle the G1 Kilroe Mile on March 6.

“Hit the Road has such a great mind, he's very calm and collected, so when he goes over to race I don't have to worry about anything,” Blacker said. “He came out of this race in good shape, carrying good weight. He's got three works between now and then, and he needs to be doing well, but we'd like to take a shot in that race.”

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Memories Of Mom En Route To Kentucky Oaks

The son of a butcher and a baker growing up in Bloomington, Minn., Thoroughbred owner Bob Lothenbach knows how important family is on the road to success. His latest stakes winner, a 3-year-old filly on the Kentucky Oaks trail, is named in honor of his mom, Lorraine, who passed away seven years ago.

Charlie's Penny was named by Lothenbach's daughter, who remembers her grandmother exclaiming “Come on, Charlie!” while playing cards for pennies around the kitchen table.

The filly's 3 ¼-length victory in the Fair Grounds' Jan. 16 Silverbulletday Stakes came as a slight surprise to bettors (she was 9-1) and Lothenbach alike.

“We didn't expect it, that's for sure,” he said. “We didn't know if she would go two turns, but she made it look easy.”

Prior to the Silverbulletday Charlie's Penny had only started in one-turn races, and she had a record of two wins from four starts. While the daughter of Race Day will be tested once again in the Feb. 13 Rachel Alexandra Stakes, trainer Chris Block is optimistic about her talent level moving forward.

“(Jockey) Brian (Hernandez, Jr.) did a fantastic job around the first turn (in the Silverbulletday) getting her out and settled in there behind what was a slow pace, which I think benefited us to a degree,” Block said. “In the middle of the turn, I could see that he had a ton of horse. She ranged up there on the outside turning for home, and I've seen her level off really well going short. I thought if she could do that going long, we're going to be ok.”

Charlie's Penny is out of the unraced Warrior's Reward mare Sweet Lorraine, also named in honor of his mother. Her full sister, cheekily named Mom's Red Lipstick, is also a stakes winner trained by Block, but was foaled in Kentucky. Conversely, Charlie's Penny was foaled in Minnesota as one of Lothenbach's first crop of Thoroughbreds born in his home state.

Charlie's Penny winning the Silverbulletday Stakes at Fair Grounds

“That's where I live most of the time, so it just made sense to support my home program,” Lothenbach said. “It's always been a passion of mine, horses, and then the horse racing itself is just fantastic. There's nothing better than spending the day at the track.”

In fact, Lothenbach has been supporting Minnesota horse racing since Canterbury Park in Shakopee first opened in 1985. The longtime racing fan called on three of his friends, each of whom put in $1,000 to claim a horse. The partners made money with that first claim, and Lothenbach was hooked.

Before long, he was purchasing racehorses all on his own.

“That's probably part of the reason I went out on my own, to be able to hear the trainer,” Lothenbach explained, laughing. “I've got four different trainers that say I'm their best client because I never call them. They call me, and we'll cover stuff then. They've got their job to do, and I don't want the communication unless I need it.”

He trusts his trainers and gives them the space they need to do their jobs. That trust has become increasingly important as Lothenbach's racing and breeding stable has grown to over 150 horses.

Block, for example, is especially good at developing younger horses, Lothenbach said.

“Chris is a great developer of horses,” said Lothenbach. “He takes really good care of them. There's a lot of guys that push the babies, and Chris doesn't do that. If they really do show that they have the ability to run at 2, he'll do it, but otherwise he's patient with them.”

Another quality Lothenbach particularly respects in a trainer is a strong work ethic. It was something his own parents instilled in him early in life.

“I never heard college mentioned in our household, it was all about work ethic,” he said. “My dad always said, 'If I teach you a good work ethic, I'll never have to worry about you being able to take care of yourself.'”

That mantra of hard work paid off for Lothenbach, from working 40-hour weeks during his senior year of high school to building his own major printing company from the ground up.

“I started 30 years ago out of my garage with $1,800 to my name,” said Lothenbach. “Back then, the printing industry was pretty old school, and it could take several weeks to process an order. With my company, I told people, 'When you need it, I'll get it for you.' It single-handedly changed the printing industry in Minnesota.

“It was all about service. If I got an order that would normally take 2-4 weeks to finish, I literally would go pick up the paper. I signed a deal with the paper company that if I ordered the paper by 4 p.m., they'd deliver it that night, or I could go pick it up. I'd print overnight, do the binding in the mornings, and then deliver it.

“There were days when I'd sleep there, work 20 hours, get four hours of sleep, and be right back at it.”

The company grew to over 1,300 employees, and Lothenbach was inducted into the Printing Impressions/RIT Printing Industry Hall of Fame in 2013. He sold a majority share in 2016, and now focuses much of his time on other investment projects as well as his Lothenbach Family Foundation.

“I'm really big on literacy for kids, because when I was a kid I really struggled with school and reading, in fact I still do today,” Lothenbach said. “So the foundation supports literacy programs for kids, as well as veterans and a few other charities.

“People helped me get where I'm at, so I try to return the favor.”

Lothenbach admitted that his challenges with reading may be one of the reasons he worked so hard to build his company, and still tries to stay just as busy today.

“Because I had learning disabilities, and because I was a little hellion, I always tried to prove myself,” he said. “I always wanted to be the best at whatever I was doing, since I wasn't the best at school.”

One of his greatest rewards, then, was being able to take his parents out of town to the horse races in Chicago for the first time in 1992. That afternoon, a horse he co-owned, Saint Ballado, won the Grade 2 Arlington Classic. His parents joined him in the winner's circle.

“They just loved it,” Lothenbach said, his voice choking up with emotion. “It was pretty neat.”

Horse racing still brings his family together. Before the pandemic, Lothenbach and his brothers made time to take their 89-year-old father to the races at Canterbury a few times a year.

“He can barely walk, but to be with us and go to the races, he'll do it,” Lothenbach said.

Last year that tradition had to be adjusted a bit, but the family still connects by watching Lothenbach's horses race on television. A trip to this year's Kentucky Oaks with Charlie's Penny would definitely involve the whole family, if at all possible.

“It would be pretty special,” Lothenbach said.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Kimmel Acknowledges Bittersweet Start To 2021

The racing results from Jan. 23 were bittersweet for veteran trainer John Kimmel. He sent out Pacific Gale to the first graded stakes win of her career at the age of six, but Kimmel was unable to celebrate the mare's win with his close friend and her late owner, Mike Morton.

Morton passed away suddenly in December, collapsing in the middle of the night. He'd had horses in Kimmel's barn for over seven years, and the two grew particularly close after the death of Kimmel's own father in 2018.

“He was almost like a father figure for me in many ways,” said Kimmel, 66. “He had more experience than me in so many things, and he always had a story to tell. He loved talking, this guy, and we talked pretty much every day for the last seven years.

“You always knew it wasn't going to be a short call when the phone rang, but he was such an interesting man. He grew up in the Bronx with nothing, came from pretty much nothing. Each of our conversations usually came accompanied by some sort of story of something he did as a kid, like being a bat boy for the Yankees, or having polio.”

Morton had purchased Pacific Gale for $72,000 at the 2017 OBS 2-year-old sale, and it took several years for the filly's talent to show up on her resume. Racing under the name of Morton's wife, Tobey, Pacific Gale usually finished on the board in her races but had only three wins from 27 starts entering Saturday's contest at Gulfstream Park.

This time, however, the daughter of Flat Out stepped up to win the G2 Inside Information by 2 ¾ lengths.

“I'm sure he's looking down and I hope he had a big bet,” said Kimmel shortly after the race. “He loved to bet on his horses and it's a very generous price she has on the board (16-1). My congratulations to Tobey. I know it's a difficult time but hopefully this filly can put a smile on her face.”

Later in the same afternoon, Kimmel watched via simulcast as his assistant saddled Chester and Mary Broman's Mr. Buff for an easy win in the Jazil Stakes at Aqueduct. Now a 7-year-old gelding, Mr. Buff has won 16 of his 43 lifetime starts for earnings of nearly $1.3 million.

“He's probably the winningest horse I've ever trained,” said Kimmel. “It's a great story in its own right: I also trained his grandsire and sire, and for all the expensive stud fees Mr. Broman has paid in his breeding program, the fee to breed Mr. Buff was one dollar.”

Kimmel trained Friends Lake to win the 2004 Florida Derby, then his son, Friend or Foe, to win a trio of New York stakes races. Both were Broman homebreds, but the owner/breeder did not want to support another stallion in New York, so Friend or Foe was sent to a woman in Maryland to become a jumper on the condition that Broman could breed three mares a year to him for $1.

One of the first mares Broman sent to Friend or Foe was the graded stakes-placed Speightful Affair (Speightstown).

Mr. Buff was foaled in 2014, and while he's yet to add a graded stakes score to his tally, the gelding is regularly competitive in the older dirt division. Kimmel thinks it's just a matter of time before Mr. Buff wins his first graded race, but that it will require sticking to the race tactics that have worked for the horse.

“I think the main thing is that whoever's ridden him on those days has been so concerned about being on the lead, but really the most important factor with him is that when he breaks he needs to find his own rhythm, really drilled it into (jockey) Kendrick (Carmouche's) head. If you take him out of the comfort zone he seems to run out of gas, and he has a much harder time changing his leads.

“Last race he sat back, and his lead transition turning for home was perfect. I think in the future that if whoever's riding him will apply that concept, he certainly runs races that are fast enough that he can be competitive in graded stakes races.”

Of course, Kimmel has been in the racing game long enough to know that talent isn't always enough to win races. Still, he wouldn't change his decision to abandon his veterinary practice for a trainer's license 30 some-odd years ago.

“Unless you were actually involved in a specialty of some sort, like surgery or reproduction, working at the track as a vet just became extremely routine,” said Kimmel, who graduated from the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine in 1980. “I could train my assistant to do about 95 percent of the work; there was very little challenge and very little reward.

“As a trainer, every day is different. There may be lots of disappointment, but there are also lots of rewards, lots of positive things that keep you energized and involved.”

Telling his father, legendary Thoroughbred owner Caesar Kimmel, about his decision to step away from veterinary medicine was another matter entirely.

“Jimmy Toner was training my dad's horses then, and I think he wanted to test out my ability level before he even sent me a horse,” Kimmel remembered. “As time went on he got Jimmy to send me a horse he didn't think much of, Chachi Man, and I won with him first time out at Calder. Eventually he started to believe I knew what I was doing, and we had a really good run for quite some time.

“It was quite an enjoyable thing to work with your father; I couldn't get fired!”

Among the pair's best horses together were G2 Pennsylvania Derby winner Timber Reserve, G1 winner Flat Fleet Feet, G1 winner Hidden Lake, and G2 winner Miss Golden Circle.

“He really enjoyed the horse racing business; it was his favorite thing to do,” Kimmel said of his father. “He used to sit in his office at Rockefeller Plaza writing names down that he thought he could get by The Jockey Club. Ed Bowen was over there, and they always had a funny relationship.

“They interviewed him on television one time, and they wouldn't even let him say some of the names of his horses! It was a lot of fun back then, but it was a very different time, of course.”

One of the horses most often attributed to Kimmel's father's penchant for risque names is the filly Bodacious Tatas. In fact, she was actually owned by the younger Kimmel in partnership with Dennis Drazin.

“Dennis named that horse,” Kimmel said, laughing. “We put that name in at The Jockey Club for three consecutive years, and finally bingo, it went through.”

The 1985 filly was sired by Distinctive Pro, a son of Mr. Prospector in which the younger Kimmel and Drazin had purchased a share. The young partners had wanted to buy a share in Mr. Prospector himself several years earlier, but Kimmel had been unable to convince his father of the horse's stallion potential.

“You see how that worked out,” Kimmel quipped.

When the chance to have a share in one of his sons arrived, Kimmel and Drazin jumped on it with both hands. They bought a few mares to breed to him, including the dam of Bodacious Tatas, Key to Paree.

Bodacious Tatas won her debut at Monmouth Park, encouraging Drazin to bring in a couple of his friends. They paid $100,000 for half-interest in the promising, provocatively-named filly.

“The first time the two new owners come to the races, of course it's a rainy, horrible day,” Kimmel recalled. “Bodacious ran bad, and I remember jockey Craig Perret came back and said, right in front of the new owners, 'Nope, it's not the track, she's just a piece of sh*t.'

“She ran one bad race after another after that, and eventually the two owners wanted us to buy them out. We did, and then ended up sending her to New York for longer races with wider turns, and she must have won by 10 lengths the first time up there!”

The next year, Bodacious Tatas easily defeated the favored mount of Perret in Monmouth's G2 Molly Pitcher Handicap at odds of 13-1. The filly wound up earning over $430,000 on the track.

These days, Kimmel's numbers are down from the 100-plus horses he had in the barn 20 years ago, but he still maintains an active group of approximately 40 horses split between New York and South Florida over the winter months.

“I've done a little bit of everything, from breeder to pinhooker, vet, bloodstock agent, consignor, and even hotwalked back when I was a kid,” Kimmel said. “I like to be really hands on, and I think I have past performances that are not paralleled by too many people in the business, with 10 Grade 1 winners I developed.”

Perhaps part of Kimmel's longevity in the Thoroughbred business can be attributed to his commitment to physical activity. His alarm goes off at 4:15 a.m. each morning, and he spends most of the day at the barn or riding the stable pony on the track. Still, Kimmel finds time to go biking or swimming several afternoons each week.

During the winter he spends dark days fishing on his boat, and he takes special care to plan an annual vacation that includes skiing by helicopter.

“I'm in my mid-60's, but I think I have another trip or two left in my bones,” Kimmel said. “At a resort, you can ski fresh powder maybe one or two times before it gets all tracked up. When you're going into untouched country by helicopter, you can ski powder run after run after run.”

Age is just a number, after all.

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Breeders’ Cup Presents Connections: Veteran Hofmans Still Fishing For His Next Big One

It's been a few years since 77-year-old trainer David Hofmans has had a nice young horse in his barn, but that doesn't mean he's forgotten how to handle one.

Big Fish, a 3-year-old California-bred by Mr. Big, was already a stakes winner on the turf before entering the starting gate in last Saturday's $200,000 California Cup Derby, a 1 1/16 mile contest on the dirt course at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif. Despite a challenging trip, the colt pulled off a 1 1/2-length victory with ease.

“I thought he preferred the turf, but since he was a Cal-bred we thought we'd take advantage of that,” Hofmans said after the race. “He breezed well over (the dirt), the other day with Juan (Hernandez) and seemed to get over it well. He's just maturing. This horse is just now coming into himself. I think we have a better future going forward.

“I dream all the time, it's the only reason I get up in the morning. We'll see what happens, how he comes out of it and go from there.”

A week on from Big Fish's performance, Hofmans has found no reason to cut that dream short. The colt could head north next to run in the El Camino Real Derby at Golden Gate Fields, contested over nine furlongs on the synthetic surface.

With 10 points offered toward the Kentucky Derby, the El Camino Real Derby could be Big Fish's first step on the road to Churchill Downs.

“If he continues to improve, we'll consider it,” Hofmans said coyly.

Big Fish put in a big stretch run to win the California Cup Derby under Juan Hernandez

The veteran horseman knows better than to start counting his chickens this early. Hofmans' record speaks for itself: three Breeders' Cup wins, a Belmont Stakes, and a Queen's Plate are just the highlights of his 1,072 victories.

“When you start getting older people think you forget how to train horses,” Hofmans said, laughing. “I think I have a pretty good reputation, but maybe they don't like the old school trainers. Maybe they think I'm stubborn and opinionated!”

A Southern California mainstay since his first win there in 1973, Hofmans probably has a right to be a little bit opinionated. However, the fact that his newest employee has been with him eight years suggests he isn't either. In fact, Hofmans' barn foreman has been on the payroll for 30 years, and Big Fish's owner, Legacy Ranch, has been with Hofmans for nearly 50 years.

“These guys are horsemen,” Hofmans said of his staff. “I go to them sometimes to ask their opinions, and when they come to me for something I never disregard what they say. I think they respect that, and it makes them really want to be involved.”

Hofmans didn't grow up in racing, so his journey to the track was a bit circuitous. His father brought him to the track while he was growing up in Los Angeles, and he met future Hall of Fame trainer Gary Jones in one of his classes at Pasadena City College.

That led to a job with Jones' father, the legendary California trainer Farrell “Wild Horse” Jones. The elder Jones had been a Quarter Horse jockey in his youth, earning the nickname with his “do anything to win” tactics, like hooking his arm over other riders or hitting them with his whip. Farrell Jones also galloped Seabiscuit in the 1930s, and was the leading trainer in California for many years.

“That was a crazier time,” Hofmans said. “He had some innovative ideas, and some very out there ideas. The man was very particular about his details, to a fault, but it helped me learn that you're only as good as your weakest link.

“He and Gary a lot of times were in competition with each other about what to do with the horses, and I was the mediator. That didn't always work out too well for me!”

When Bobby Frankel moved out West, it gave Farrell Jones serious competition for the leading trainer titles he'd dominated for so long.

“They used to hook up and try to be leading trainer, because Farrell Jones was the king around here until Frankel showed up,” Hofmans recalled. “I think it affected Jones more because he was so competitive. I didn't think that was so important, the leading trainer thing. I didn't care about that other ego stuff. I just did what I was told. Well — sometimes. Not all the time!”

By 1972, Hofmans was ready to start thinking about going out on his own. Instead, Frankel offered him a job taking a small group of horses up north on the California fair circuit, and Hofmans jumped at the chance. It would only be a five-month gig, but with eight horses and basically carte blanche over where to place them, Hofmans knew it was too good an opportunity to pass up.

“I won with every horse,” Hofmans said. “It was a really good way to start out, because I had someone looking over my shoulder who was a tremendous horseman, yet I was still on my own, sort of like a father thing. I knew he had my back if I needed advice, but he mostly left me alone to make the decisions.”

When Hofmans came back to Southern California he started training under his own name, and won his first race in 1973.

While he's saddled plenty of good horses since then, his favorite will probably always be the namesake of Legacy Ranch, His Legacy. The 1985 gelding won 14 of his 47 career starts, racing through his 9-year-old season and earning $420,925.

“He was just a little cheap Cal-bred, and we'd run him for $25,000 or $30,000, but he was part of my life for six or seven years here at the track,” Hofmans said. “He won the Cal Cup Starter Handicap three times. The last time, we knew we were going to retire him after, and he was coming down the stretch and he grabbed the lead. My son and I were standing next to each other and looked over, and we were both crying. He was just a wonderful horse who tried every single time.”

One of Hofmans' other training highlights was saddling Alphabet Soup to win the 1996 Breeders' Cup Classic.

“He wasn't the best horse, but he tried every single time, and I knew one day he was gonna win a big race or two because he tried so hard,” Hofmans said. “I remember the San Pasqual, with Chris Antley riding. They turned into the stretch and Alphabet Soup was in front. Soul of the Matter took the lead, passed him by about a half-length, maybe three-quarters, then all of a sudden at the wire there's Alphabet Soup's head. Antley comes back and he's crying, he was sort of an emotional guy anyway, but he said, 'Dave, I didn't do this. That horse got a half a length on us and this guy just threw himself at the wire.'

“Chris and I talked at the Breeders' Cup, he said, 'You know, if I can just get his head just in front at the 3/16ths pole, he may be gutsy enough not to let anybody pass him. And that's exactly how it happened that day, he just sticks his head down and digs in. He had Louis Quatorze on the inside, Cigar on outside; they were better horses but he just would not give in. He had a heart bigger than his body.”

Alphabet Soup (left) and Louis Quatorze battle to the wire, along with Cigar, in the '96 Classic (Breeders' Cup photo)

Perhaps slightly less well-known is the story of Dramatic Gold, owned by John Mabee. The 17-hand son of Slew o' Gold was extremely pigeon-toed and crooked-legged, and could easily have been overlooked as a top racehorse prospect.

“Mr. Mabee sent him to me, and said, 'Now I don't want an argument, you run him for a tag,'” Hofmans recalled. “I told him I'd give him $50,000 for the horse before he'd even started. Mr. Mabee thought about it for a minute, then said, 'Well, if you like him for fifty, maybe I'll just keep him.'

“Dramatic Gold made over $3 million in his career, and personality-wise was the coolest horse I ever trained. Wherever he would go everyone fell in love with him. One of the times Mr. Mabee fired me, he gave him to another trainer, and that trainer called me just to tell me how much he liked the horse.”

Hofmans' most recent Grade 1 winner was Melatonin, who took the Santa Anita Handicap and the Gold Cup at Santa Anita in 2016.

“That was a gratifying career he had for me,” the trainer said. “When he won the 1 1/16-mile race at Del Mar in 41 and something, and did it so easily, I went down there and Joe Talamo was on him talking to my assistant. They both looked at me and said, 'We want to run in the Santa Anita Handicap!'

“I may have thought they were crazy, but I have a pic of Talamo in the Big 'Cap turning into the stretch on Melatonin 3-4 lengths in front. He had just looked back and had a big smile on his face because he hadn't let the horse run yet.”

Hofmans was nominated for the Hall of Fame in 2006, and while his list of accomplishments is long and distinguished, the trainer isn't ready to retire anytime soon. He has 17 horses in the barn these days, and he's still having too much fun to walk away.

“I love training horses, the getting out here early in the morning and interacting with the other horsemen, but mostly the horses,” Hofmans said. “Today's 70 is yesterday's 50, especially when you get a good one in the barn!”

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