The Connector set up nicely for the Rainbow Heir
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You won’t find too many trainer records like Mark Hoffman’s.
Hoffman first shows up in Daily Racing Form’s database as a trainer in 1980. In 1981, he ran 141 horses, easily the most of his training career. Between 1986 and 2003, Hoffman had no starts as a head trainer, with gaps between 2005 and 2011 and between 2012 and 2019.
Hoffman, even during these breaks, stayed closely involved in racing. You might remember him from the 2009 renewal of the Grade 1 Ashland Stakes at Keeneland, won by 24-1 shot Hooh Why. Hoffman co-owned her, hauled her around the country in his horse trailer, and oversaw the training of a mare who had racked up more than $1.2 million in career earnings when she was retired in 2013.
Hoffman tends to think outside the box, one reason a horse he owns and trains, The Connector, wound up at Colonial Downs on Aug. 4. The Connector, purely a sprinter most of his career, qualified for a $6,250 starter-allowance race over one mile on grass. The distance might have been a stretch, but the class level suited The Connector, who picked up a $15,000 win check for Hoffman’s troubles.
Now, The Connector is back doing what he prefers, sprinting on turf, and on the heels of that Colonial mile he can win the $100,000 Rainbow Heir Stakes over 5 1/2 furlongs on grass Sunday at Monmouth Park.
The Connector lost all chance June 19 at Monmouth when he stumbled at the start of the Get Serious Stakes, and on July 17 he put up a good fight in the Wolf Hill Stakes, finishing a close second to the top Monmouth-based grass sprinter this summer, The Critical Way. The Critical Way isn’t part of the Rainbow Heir field, and The Connector, drawn on the rail, should race prominently from start to finish.
Hoffman owns and trains a second entrant, Fox Rox, who looks less competitive than other key contenders like Backtohisroots, Shekky Shebaz, and Grateful Bred.
Grateful Bred has the Rainbow Heir’s gaudiest record, four wins from his six turf sprints. He won open maiden and first-level turf-sprint allowance races but his last two victories have come in statebred-restricted competition, and Grateful Bred never has raced at Monmouth.
The other players are far from flawless, too. Backtohisroots was developing nicely through his 2020 campaign but stumbled at the start of the Belmont Turf Sprint on Oct. 4, losing his rider and subsequently heading to the sidelines. Backtohisroots, based in New York with trainer John Terranova, hasn’t started since and returns to action Sunday racing as a first-time gelding.
Shekky Shebaz finished third in the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Santa Anita but hasn’t been the same horse the last two years. He was claimed for $80,000 out of a second-place Saratoga finish on Aug. 13 by trainer Wayne Potts for owner Thaddeus Wier Jr. and brings a healthy dose of early speed to the Rainbow Heir.