Kenwood Racing purchased a total of 9 two year olds in 2016 for just under $386,000, which is about half the price billionaire buyers spend for a single horse at many select sales. For an average price of about $43,000, we think we got good value, but how does their collective performances as two year olds stack up to the overall industry averages?  The March 19, 2016 Blood-Horse edition (pg. 45) has a table titled "2015 Performance & Earning Metrics, Sires of 2-Year-Olds", which lists the following:

Number of named 2yo registered foals; 21,572

Number of 2yo starters; 8,105 (37.6%)

Number of 2yo winners; 2,443 (11.4%)

Number of 2yo stakes winners; 258 (1.2%)

In other words, if you bought 9 two year olds randomly, you should expect to have 3 or 4 start, 1 win, and 5 or 6 not even make it to the races by the end of their two year old year. In 2016 Kenwood had six of our nine two year olds start, 66% (Pink Cashmere, High Five Cotton, Bobby Blue Eyes, Lead Investor, Authentic Kitten and To Honor Stephanie) and four win, 44% (Bobby Blue Eyes, High Five Cotton, To Honor Stephanie and Pink Cashmere), heads and tails beyond the averages shown above. Nobody really knows at a sale of unraced two year olds which ones will be tomorrow's star, but it's pretty clear who, by virtue of physical conformation, movement on the track and, to a lesser extent, pedigree, the horses which are unlikely to stand up to the rigors of training and make it to the starting gate. A skilled team at the sales, coupled with capable trainers at the racetrack, should be able to significantly improve on industry averages. We hold ourselves to that standard and we certainly lived up to it and more with our 2016 two year old crop, especially considering the bargain prices we paid for these horses.

Kenwood's record with ALL our two year old purchases in the last decade is indeed far better than industry averages. Through 2015, over 85% of our purchases started at 2 and 100% made it to the races by age 3. Over 50% of our two year olds won at age 2 and over 90% reached the winner's circle by age 3. From less than 50 horses purchased at the two year old sales, we've had two stakes horses (both graded stakes placed at age 3), especially impressive considering the bargain prices we pay for horses (overall our purchases cost under $40,000 per horse on average and the two stakes horses cost $40,000 and $57,000 respectively). An elite group of buyers that includes Kenwood exceed the industry averages on a regular basis, but looking at the above Blood-Horse statistics makes clear just how few two year olds actually make it on the racetrack.

Some horses are naturally precocious and come out running early, but few of those end up to be the stars of tomorrow. With most two year olds it's a waiting game. If you can get them safely to the starting gate, get a race or two into them and have them mentally and physically sound going into their three year old season, you are doing your job. We have a couple of two year olds who look like potentially nice horses (allowance or stakes quality) and we have reason to expect all nine of the two year olds we purchased in 2016 to ultimately make it to the races and most or all to reach the winner’s circle. Hard to fault our record with our two year old crop this year!