Hofmans looks ahead with Home Run Kitten

ARCADIA, Calif. – Home Run Kitten provided one of the highlights of 2014 for trainer David Hofmans when the 3-year-old scored a dramatic come-from-behind win in the Grade 3 Eddie D Stakes on the Santa Anita hillside turf course in September.

When Home Run Kitten runs in the $200,000 Mathis Brothers Mile on turf on Dec. 26, Hofmans is hoping the colt can provide a fast start to the Santa Anita winter-spring meeting for his stable.

“Hopefully, we’ll have a better 2015 than 2014,” Hofmans said. “I’ve rested horses and we’re coming in fresh.”

Through Friday, Hofmans had seven wins in 2014.

Home Run Kitten races for Susan Osborne’s Tarabilla Farms and has won 4 of 10 starts and earned $217,800. The colt was 11th of 14 in the Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint here on Nov. 1, finishing four lengths behind winner Bobby’s Kitten.

Home Run Kitten has run nine times this year, and Hofmans said the colt is ready for more in the Grade 2 Mathis Brothers Mile, a race formerly known as the Sir Beaufort Stakes.

“He been running all year long, and he seems fresh and sharp,” Hofmans said. “He tries every time.”

The Mathis Brothers Mile is expected to draw a strong field, including Awesome Return, a three-time stakes winner this year; Long On Value, who won the Grade 2 Twilight Derby here on Oct. 31; and Red Outlaw, a four-time stakes winner this year who lost for the first time in his seven-race career at Del Mar last month.