Hofmans’ Touch: It’s Purest Gold : Low-Key Trainer Is Unlikely Hero of the 1997 Triple Crown Series

In the drama of the 1997 Triple Crown series, trainer David Hofmans was an unlikely hero. Amid many colorful personalities--such as Silver Charm’s glib, wisecracking trainer, Bob Baffert--the serious, thoughtful Hofmans looked more like an accountant who had somehow made a wrong turn into Belmont Park.

But few trainers have ever managed a 3-year-old better than Hofmans handled Touch Gold this spring. His work was a deft blend of caution and aggressiveness. His decisions and improvisations before last Saturday’s Belmont Stakes in Elmont, N.Y., were ultimately responsible for keeping Silver Charm from the Triple Crown.

Hofmans is so low-key that even after he trained Alphabet Soup to win the 1996 Breeders’ Cup Classic, most fans outside California were barely aware of his existence. But those who watch his day-to-day work in the West respect him as one of the best in the business.

When Touch Gold won the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland in a smashing performance, the colt was hailed as a potential Kentucky Derby contender. Yet Hofmans resisted temptation; Touch Gold wasn’t ready for such a tough race. He would give the youngster a little more time to develop, skip the Derby and wait for the Preakness.

Before the Pimlico race, I wrote that the colt was too unseasoned to win; he had raced only twice as a 3-year-old and now he was going against battle-tested rivals.

But racing people from California told me: If David Hofmans runs him, that means he’s ready. And, of course, this assessment was correct. Touch Gold should have won the Preakness.

He delivered a phenomenal performance, stumbling at the start, trailing the field, rushing into contention, getting caught in tight quarters and losing by only 1 1/2 lengths.

As he stumbled, Touch Gold cut himself and cracked a hoof, requiring the application of an acrylic patch before he could start training for the Belmont.

An even more serious concern was the colt’s immaturity and impetuousness. He wouldn’t settle down in his morning training. When he worked for the Belmont, he rocketed seven furlongs in 1:23 4/5--a workout Hofmans thought was too fast.

Handicapper Steve Davidowitz, in his daily commentaries on horses’ workouts for the National Racing Report, observed: “Not in my lifetime has a horse with this temperament won the Belmont Stakes.”

Hofmans had planned to give Touch Gold a final workout before the Belmont, but he canceled it, saying: “Working horses fast is tough on their legs and it puts them on edge. . . . For a mile-and-a-half race, you want your horse to be relaxed.”

This was the last straw for many handicappers who had been impressed by Touch Gold’s Preakness and planned to bet him in the Belmont. The colt had been hurt and now a workout was canceled; you don’t win the classics this way. There was only one good argument to counter this logic: When David Hofmans runs them, they’re ready.

In fact, the canceled workout might have been the crucial bit of fine-tuning, for in the Belmont, Touch Gold was never headstrong. Quite the contrary.

He took the early lead, setting a comfortable pace, but when Silver Charm and others surged to challenge after a half mile, he didn’t fight them. He dropped back to fourth place--and for a moment looked hopelessly beaten.

But what he was doing was running an even-paced race--which is the optimal way to negotiate the 1 1/2-mile distance.

He covered his final three quarter-miles in :24 4/5, :25 1/5 and :24 3/5. Hofmans had transformed this inexperienced, over-exuberant colt into a relaxed professional whose reserves of energy enabled him to out-kick Silver Charm in the final eighth of a mile.

The way that Touch Gold ran--from first to fourth to first--was one of many oddities in the Belmont. Even casual fans must have wondered what was going on, as the jockeys--notably Gary Stevens on Silver Charm and Kent Desormeaux on Free House--took their horses deliberately wide at the first turn and stayed wide all around the track, covering many extra lengths instead of trying to save ground. What were they doing?

Stevens explained: “We all knew that the rail was dead; it had been dead all week long and no one wanted to be down there where it was heavy going.” Was this judgment correct?

Few handicappers thought the rail was bad in the days leading up to the Belmont. In the second race on Belmont day, a colt named Cryptic Rascal broke from Post 1, battled for the lead on the inside and finished second. In the third race, Admiralty broke from Post 1, battled on the inside and held gamely for second.

Later in the day riders started steering outside, and the assumption that the rail was not the place to be became self-fulfilling.

Maybe going wide was the optimal strategy--Touch Gold wound up widest of all in the stretch--but we’ll never know what would have happened if one of the jockeys had chosen to buck the conventional wisdom and save several lengths by staying near the rail.

There is little question, however, that the Belmont was won by the best horse--and an exceptional horse.

Since Hofmans started training Touch Gold at the start of his 3-year-old season, the colt has looked more impressive with every race. After overcoming trouble to win an allowance race in California, he went into the Lexington Stakes and blew past the quickest 3-year-old in America, Smoke Glacken, as if he were standing still.

His Preakness performance was memorable, and his Belmont victory put him in the sport’s history books.

Yet even after these accomplishments, Hofmans said: “He’s still a baby and has a lot more growing up to do. He’s still developing. You’ll hear a lot more about this horse down the road.”

By now, the racing world should know to respect David Hofmans’s judgment.