by Kimberly French, USTA Web Newsroom Senior Correspondent

Kimberly French

Louisville, KY — He’s traveled many miles and been a resident of many barns, but Boffin may have just finally discovered where he belongs.

“It is so hard to tell when a horse has an abscess,” said Tyler Tinch, the horse’s conditioner. “This horse was sent to me just days after he popped several of them in his hind foot, so it took some work to get him right, but I really think we can get him back to the level where he went 1:52.1, which is his mark.”

A son of Donato Hanover and the Tagliabue mare Trace Anthem, Boffin, on a three race win streak with a track record performance of 1:53.4 at Miami Valley Raceway included in those triumphs, will take on the likes of Lady Blitz and her stablemate Natural Herbie in a $21,000 Invitational at Hoosier Park on Saturday (April 25). The gelding will have his regular pilot Tyler Smith in the bike and will leave from post position seven.

Conrad photo

Boffin and Tyler Smith will compete this Saturday in the Invitational Trot at Hoosier Park.

“I’ve only had him for about six weeks,” Tinch said. “He was delivered to me from Northfield Park and Miami Valley is only 12 minutes away, so I have not had to haul him, but generally he is a very quiet horse.”

Boffin was selected by former conditioner Charlie Norris and was purchased for $20,000 at the 2011 Standardbred Horse Sale for Jason and Doug Allen. He has collected the most purse money from his dam’s seven foals with $213,767 in the bank, but also has a yearling full brother, Pompen Hapenstance, whose future career has yet to be determined.

Although Trace Anthem only earned $30,278 in her racing career, her dam Astraea Hanover, by Valley Victory, was a top stakes-performer and winner. Astraea Hanover’s older full sister, Accent On Victory, was a $100,000 yearling and black type is present in Boffin’s female line all the way to Kimberly Kid, who was tops in his division for three consecutive years in the 1950s.

The gelding only raced twice at age two, winning on both occasions, as he had to be put on the shelf after a knee injection caused an infection. Norris thought enough of him as a 3-year-old that he was staked to all the major races, including the Hambletonian. Although he did not compete in that contest, he was third in his Yonkers Trot elimination but had to be scratched from the $450,000 final. From 18 starts that year, Boffin accrued a record of 3-1-4 and earned $71,949. He was second in a $65,750 Old Oaken Bucket division at the Delaware County Fairgrounds and third in the $50,000 Earl Beal Consolation.

In November of that year, the gelding was transferred to the barn of Julie Miller where he remained until January of 2014. That is when he took up residence in Kevin Lare’s barn at Dover Downs after being purchased by Angela Coombs of Harwood, Md. Boffin was under Lare’s care until September 2014 and then was moved to Julianne Bobby’s shedrow. Racing primarily on the Pennsylvania and Delaware circuits, the horse won ten of his 27 starts, was second three times and collected just under $80,000.

He began this season still with Bobby, but was sent to Kevin Ehrhardt to compete at Northfield Park in February. Ehrhardt was also the trainer of record for Boffin’s first start, which was a victory, at Miami Valley Raceway in an $11,000 non-winners contest on March 15. Shortly after that he arrived in Tinch’s barn.

“He’s not the biggest horse, but he is put together well and compact,” Tinch said. “In my experience with trotters that is how you want them to be. I heard when he was at Delaware and Northfield that he would pull himself up and out in the middle races. Sometimes he would just come to a stop. They could not quite figure out what do with him and it had to be because his feet were bothering him.

“We’ve been poulticing him and to be quite honest, I’ve never seen a horse pop gravels like that in his back feet. It normally happens in the front. We could tell when he started feeling good as he ran off on the guy that helps me one morning. He does like his own way. It wasn’t too bad, as they only went about 20 seconds faster than I wanted him to go, but after that I train him myself now. Believe it or not, that was the week he set the track record. I guess he was letting us know he was ready to trot.”

In 2015, Boffin has amassed $37,947 in earnings and his resume stands at 10-6-0-0. After Saturday evening’s race, the gelding will return to Miami Valley before transitioning to Scioto Downs.

“I think he’ll really like the track at Scioto,” Tinch said. “I’m also very happy to have him. He’s a horse with a lot of class that just had bad luck. Now that we have him healthy, I think he’s going to be very competitive with this group. My girlfriend just loves him and has all kinds of pictures of him because she thinks he is so handsome. As long as we can keep the abcesses away so he is happy, that will be the key, but I think if that happens he will reward us throughout the year.”