We're fond of frequently repeating a couple of quotes that together explain a great deal of how the racehorse business works in a very few words; “Keep yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst company” and “they’re racehorses, not racecars”. The unfortunate example of the filly Selma Gayle illustrates the wisdom of these sayings to a tee and offers a valuable lesson for everyone who works with these magnificant and fragile animals.

Kenwood Racing purchased Selma Gayle privately in January of 2015 from her breeder in Ocala, Florida. A three year old maiden, she had shown some ability in two lifetime starts and upon inspection appeared sound and worth the money. Her owners were reputable people in the business of selling horses; after some negotiation they ultimately agreed to sell her for what seemed like an attractive price, $15,000. We felt at that level, the downside was minimal for a young sound filly with potential. We sent her to trainer Steve DiMauro at Gulfstream Park, where she trained on well enough with no physical issues to be found. However, her first two races for us at Gulfstream were to say the least, horrible, as she was 7th and last, beaten 20 lengths in her debut for us on February 15th, and 13th of 14 runners, beaten 39 lengths on February 26th. Since we could find no physical issues before or after these two races, we felt she was telling us that she simply couldn't compete at this level (even maiden claiming horses are, relatively, tough at Gulfstream Park in the winter!). Our solution was to listen to the horse, so we moved her to Penn National to face vastly softer competition (keep yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst company!). We ran her in the softest spots we could find and with patient handling and a great job by our Penn National trainer Mark Salvaggio after a much improved 3rd on March 25th, she proceeded to reel off three straight easy and impressive wins, all against $5,000 lower level horses, on May 1st, May 14th, and June 4th. While she didn't turn out to be the horse we were hoping for when we purchased her, we found a level where she was comfortable and competitive and could give us purse money, winners circle photos, and a lot of fun. The 3^rd time she won on June 4th she was finally claimed from us. At that point, she was a happy, confident horse, clearly capable of winning races around the same level.

Unfortunately, her new owners apparently decided that rather than having claimed a solid $5,000 runner, they had stolen a star in the making. First they ran her in an allowance race at Penn, where she went off over 30 to 1. When you are coming off three straight 5+ length wins and are 30 to 1, you know you are running the horse way over their head! Not surprisingly, she finished dead last, beaten over 20 lengths. Bad as the decision to run in that allowance event was, it probably wasn’t too late to salvage things by running her back where she belonged. Instead, they decided to ship her to West Virginia for her next start, a $100,000 stake at Mountaineer Park on August 1st, West Virginia Derby day, where she finished dead last again, eased in the stretch. Not only did they cost themselves literally thousands of dollars in nomination and entry fees and vanning charges, they managed to ruin a perfectly sound lower level claiming horse who had proven herself capable of winning races and making money when placed properly.

Finally, they got religion and ran her in a more realistic spot, a $7,500 claiming race at Preaque Isle Downs on August 23rd, a race at least reasonably similar to the level we had been running her when they claimed her from us at Penn National. Probably her connections felt that now that she was back at the level where she had won easily for us, they were on thier way to the winners circle. But once a horse loses confidence by being asked to do something it’s not faintly capable of, you can’t just go back to an easier race, put your foot on the gas, and end up with a win. Selma Gayle finished 7th of 8 horses on August 23rd, beaten 20 lengths for the win while never in the hunt. You can see her chart here…  http://www.equibase.com/static/chart/pdf/PID082315USA5.pdf   .

At this point, the decent and proper thing to do would be to retire Selma Gayle before she gets hurt. She's a nice filly who would make an excellent pleasure horse for a caring person. For the record, Kenwood has attempted to reach out to her current owners and offered to find her a good, safe retirement home at our expense. That's actually her current owner's responsibility, but we care about any horse that spends time in our barn, and we're willing to foot the bill to do right by the horse.

There's some value to be found here for all owners, for the benefit of your wallet and your horses! The takeaway from this example of gross mis-management is;

1. Run horses where they are competitive, don’t worry about them being claimed (keep yourself in the best company and your horses in the worst company).
2. Once a horse loses confidence by being asked to do something it’s not even faintly capable of a few times, you can’t just go back to the right spot, put your foot on the gas, and go back to the winner’s circle. These are living creatures with feelings, (raceHORSES, not racecars).