Time for a review of horses claimed from Kenwood Racing in 2015 as the year winds down. Most recently, one of our former two year old's, Sky Ace, was a dull 7^th, beaten over 17 lengths on November 13th in New York in his first start for his new owners. Back in September, both Sky Ace and Awesome Papa Al were claimed from Kenwood out of their debuts at Belmont Park for $40,000 each. Awesome Papa Al has not even had a published workout, while Sky Ace’s debut effort since being claimed speaks for itself. On November 8th our old friend Jersey Jules was entered at Aqueduct and scratched by the vet. She has not started since through the end of November. We had real success with Jules; she won two allowance races and nearly $100,000 for Kenwood. Since being claimed from us in August at Saratoga for $40,000 she’s run just once; a well beaten 4^th in October. Clearly thus far all three of the above horses have been a money pit for their new owners.

This year Kenwood has had a total of 10 horses claimed from us for a total of $247,500 through the end of November; My Little Darlings ($40,000), Scuba Sue ($25,000), Video Mov ($20,000), Boardwalk Run ($7,500), Selma Gayle ($5,000), JW Racer ($25,000), Proven Warrior ($5,000) and the above mentioned Jersey Jules ($40,000), Sky Ace ($40,000) and Awesome Papa Al ($40,000). To date they have collectively won exactly one race (Scuba Sue), and earned a tiny fraction of their training costs for their new owners. The form for My Little Darlings, Boardwalk Run, Jersey Jules and Selma Gayle have deteriorated dramatically since they were claimed from us. Scuba Sue (the only winner) and Video Mov have done about the same, JW Racer & Proven Warrior were just claimed from us recently, and the results for two year olds Sky Ace and Awesome Papa Al is detailed in the opening paragraph above.

Kenwood's trainers and management team know thier jobs and do it well. Several of these horses were claimed by some of the leading winning percentage trainers in the business; when a horse is claimed from us while it might feel emotionally disappointing, the vast majority of the time in the long run it turns out we didn't give away any bargains. We all get attached to horses but many have short racing careers or just lack real talent. We loved Jersey Jules (a personal favorite) but she had reached a point in her racing career where we knew she was highly likely never to be worth as much again as the $40,000 we received when we ran her at Saratoga in a spot where we expected and wanted her to be claimed (2 people shook for her). We really liked the two New York breds Sky Ace and Awesome Papa Al when we purchased them this spring, but after months of training it became clear that (notwithstanding the fact that young horses can and do improve dramatically sometimes) we were probably getting top dollar if someone claimed them from us for $40,000 each.

Any knowledgable buyer understands that just because you like a horse at a sale does not mean you can count on it to be good racehorse, which is why it’s essential not to fall in love with horses at auction! Open the Racing Form any day and you’ll see an array of horses still looking for their first win that people with too much money, too much ego and too little knowledge paid $300,000 - $3,000,000+ for at various elite sales. People who understand the game know that just as with human athletes, only a few will make it to the big leagues. It’s a long term game that requires patience, perseverance and perspective. When you purchase one that looks like it’s not going to be a good racehorse you need to play the odds and let the chips fall where they may. Is it possible one or two of the 10 horses claimed from us this year will ultimately go on to be a money maker for their new owners? Of course. Nobody will be right all the time. The question is, looking at the $247,500 we received for the 10 horses claimed from us this year and their results since the claims, would you rather have the money or the horses? Knowing when to sell and not falling in love with the horses (while always having thier best welfare and safely at heart!) is one key to a successful operation. Another key is to focus on long term results when evaluating the performance of your trainers (and management team overall). Perhaps the best way to judge if they are over or under performing is to see if the horses who leave your barn do better or worse collectively for thier new connections. In our case, the statistics above speak for themselves.