Rainbow Heir brings pedigree and talent to New Jersey Breeders Handicap

Eb and Nancy Novak have been married 60 years, and a big part of their bond has been horses. The couple raced Forest Wildcat and Wildcat Heir, and has the latest from the notable line, Rainbow Heir, in action Sunday in one of three New Jersey-bred stakes being run at Monmouth Park.

Rainbow Heir is the 127-pound highweight for the $60,000 New Jersey Breeders Handicap, a 5 1/2-furlong turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up. The other New Jersey-bred stakes on Saturday are the $60,000 Eleven North Handicap, which drew last year’s winner, Bustin Out, and the $60,000 Charles Hesse III Handicap, which marks a rare two turn appearance by Chublicious.

The Novaks own New Farm in Marlton, N.J. Wildcat Heir, was a Grade 1-winning homebred for their operation, which also bred Grade 1 winner D’wildcat and raced Grade 1 winner Delaware Township. The couple met as teenagers, both having grown up in Camden, N.J.

“I got a horse when I was 13 and I kept it at a hack stable, and she was horse-crazy and she used to come out to rent horses by the hour to go riding,” Eb Novak said. “That’s how we met. We met at 13, 14 years old.

“We just like horses.”

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There’s a lot to like about Rainbow Heir on Sunday. The son of Wildcat Heir is a Grade 3 winner of $585,405, and two starts ago he defeated Grade 2 winner Delta Bluesman in the Wolf Hill Stakes at Monmouth. Rainbow Heir, who is trained by Jason Servis, enters Sunday’s race off a third-place finish in the Pennsylvania Governor’s Cup on June 3 at Penn National. His number was elevated to second following the disqualification of first-place finisher Bold Thunder.

“He got shut off,” Novak said. “He ended up third, maybe by a neck – not even. I thought he was going to win the race.”

Following the Governor’s Cup, Rainbow Heir was given a nice amount of recovery time.

“He got bumped and knocked sideways [in the race] and we said, ‘You know what, let’s give him some time and let him come out of it,’” Novak said. “Our horse is doing good.”

Rainbow Heir, 7, has put up half of his six triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures on turf. His latest came Jan. 28, when he was second by a nose in the $125,000 Gulfstream Park Turf Sprint, won by Power Alert. Rainbow Heir earned a Beyer of 103.

“This will be the last year we’ll race him,” Novak said. “We’re going to look to get him to maybe someone in Florida to stand him at stud. He’s done enough.”

Antonio Gallardo has the mount from post 8 in the field of 11.

◗ Chublicious enters the Charles Hesse, for 3-year-olds and up over 1 1/16 miles, off a head win in the John J. Reilly Handicap on July 30 at Monmouth. He covered six furlongs in a rapid 1:08.37, and could control the pace on the stretchout Sunday or track Brother Chub. Gallardo has the mount on Chublicious, who won last year’s New Jersey Breeders Handicap for trainer Jorge Navarro. Servis trainee Fuzzy Muzzle was the runner-up in last year’s Charles Hesse and is the 125-pound highweight on Sunday.

◗ Bustin Out was a three-length winner of last year’s Eleven North, a six-furlong handicap for fillies and mares, and tries to win it for a second straight year on Saturday. She will start as the 125-pound highweight under Jose Ferrer.