In a day, a week, a month, a year of racing that will long remembered the highlight of Kenwood Racing's three wins from three starts to begin December featured Fire’s Finale winning the Pa. Nursery stakes at Parx. Sent off at 11 to 1 odds in a race where every one of the better horses nominated was entered, literally could not have been a tougher spot for the level. Last out of the gate and last for the first half of the race, he commenced an inside rally at the 3/8 pole under Mychel Sanchez, a terrific and personable young rider, who gave him a picture perfect trip. Mychel swung him into the middle of the track turning for home, took dead aim on the four runners still in front of him and mowed them down in the stretch to win by a length, going away (“I had a ton of horse from the start, he was just starting to run at the end” Mychel). A large crowd of Kenwood Racing owners celebrated a tremendous victory together with this very special runner. You can see a great video one of the owners, Mike Russell, put together here. You can also read a great article about the race here. With his win, for the second time in less than a week, Kenwood Racing was the leading money winning owner in North America for the day (see below), just as we were last week when Tracy Ann’s Legacy won the feature race on opening day of Gulfstream Park’s elite winter meet.
Bred by Kenwood Racing from our great stakes winning mare Exchanging Fire and sold to the Kenwood Racing co-ownership group priced at just $40,000, with this win Fire’s Finale went over the $100,000 mark in career earnings after a terrific two year old season in which he made seven career starts with 2 wins, 2 seconds, a third and 2 fourths. He came out of the race perfect this morning and tomorrow he will head down to Ocala for a little R&R to have him fresh and fit for a big three year old campaign next year. The Pa. Nursery stakes has a great history, horses who have won it in the past include the legendary Derby & Preakness winner Smarty Jones, and while we aren’t comparing Fire’s Finale to that level of runner, he’s clearly a horse with a very promising future ahead of him. This was an especially emotional victory with a very unique horse. Kenwood Racing raced his mother, Exchanging Fire, who we claimed at Gulfstream Park and developed into a three time stakes winner of nearly $250,000. She was the horse who put our New Jersey-based program on the map and was like a member of our family so we kept and bred her. Fire’s Finale was her final foal (thus his name) as she tragically died of colic one month after he was born. He was raised by a nurse mare named Warm Country who was very devoted to him and despite that horrible start in life was a strong, healthy foal who developed into an impressive youngster, showing obvious talent from almost day one of his training. To see him turn into this kind of super sound and talented runner is what makes this frequently challenging business so worthwhile. This race was like a gathering of old friends, as Parx based trainer Ron Dandy who saddled the horse for trainer Kelly Breen yesterday is a friend of 30+ years who used to be a neighbor at Kenwood Farm in Georgetown, Ma in the 1980s. Meanwhile jockey Mychel Sanchez’s agent was none other than former rider and long time friend Joe Hampshire, who rode Exchanging Fire when she ran at Parx about 14 years ago. Exchanging Fire was based at Parx for most of her career with us; now her final foal returns to break his maiden and then win the first of what we hope will be many stakes at the same track for a talented young rider whose agent rode his mother when he was a jockey. Can’t get better than that.
#Resultados | Fire’s Finale (2yo) (Jump Start) gana el Pennsylvania Nursery Stakes $80,000 en @parxracing conducido por @SanchezMychel y el entrenamiento de @Kellyjohnbreen.
Foto: Nikki Sherman/EQUI-PHOTO. pic.twitter.com/rRZDK3tVSo
— DRFenEspanol (@DRFenEspanol) December 7, 2020
2 year old Fire’s Finale & jockey Mychel Sanchez win the PA Nursery Stakes for trainer Kelly Breen & owner/breeder Kenwood Racing LLC paying $25.80 to win. #PTHA #ParxRacing #PABred @PA_PHBA @SanchezMychel pic.twitter.com/G8ejnInUSx
— PTHA (@PTHA17) December 7, 2020
For information on our program and future groups, please contact us:
phone: (732)-775-1930
email: info@kenwoodracing.com
or by filling out this form.