The end of the year is typically a quiet time for Kenwood, with a number of our better horses off to the farm for some winter R&R. This year while we had as usual a limited number of starters, there was a lot of action and a great end to the year for our runners. Overall we had 13 starters for November – December with an excellent record of 3 wins, 3 seconds, and 2 thirds, outstanding winning and in-the-money percentages.

Things started off in November 6^th with a disappointing 5^th for High Five Cotton, but he redeemed himself with an impressive maiden-breaking win in December (see below). Then on November 9^th, running after a longer than expected layoff, Patton Proud was a solid 2nd in his Kenwood debut at Aqueduct and was claimed from us. While we obviously would have preferred to run sooner and have had more starts with this horse, we feel we did well to get a good race from him and focus on other-better horses, so this was not a bad outcome at all.

High Five Cotton rebounded from a disappointing 5^th place finish with a good 2^nd  at Parx on November 28^th, battling hard to re-gain the place after taking the lead early and dropping back to 4^th in the stretch. It proved to be a sign this talented but erratic horse was finally coming to hand for us, as he started off a big week with a big win in his next start on December 17th, going wire to wire victory in a maiden special weight at Penn National. He was game as could be, as he broke well, made the lead, and held off the two favorites the entire way to win by 1&1/2 lengths in a fast time. Cotton was Kenwood's third two year old winner of the year. We were extremely high on this horse and our team all expected him to win early, rather than be our 3rd winner of the year, at the end of December in his 6th lifetime start. But they are racehorses, not race cars! Some horses just take more time to come around than you'd think, while others win at first asking. To win a maiden special weight with a horse that cost just $35,000 is an achievement. Having 4 of our 9 two year olds hit the winner's circle (average purchase price $43,000) when just 11% of all two year olds (including those selling for $200,000+++) win a single race at two is grossly over-performing. A Hearty congratulations to all our Group #30 co-owners and trainer Ben Perkins! We hope and think the best is yet to come here (and High Five Cotton is not the only promising runner in our co-owner group #30)!

Nominal Dollars finished a game 2^nd on December 10th at Aqueduct, beaten just over 1 length for the win by the other logical horse in the race (they were co-favorites), who dropped down in class and went wire to wire. Last in the early going after a bobble at the break, he made a big wide move on the far turn, drew alongside the leader at the top of the stretch and just couldn’t get by him. He was claimed from us out of the race, as expected, and while our hope was to win here and come out with a large profit, even with 2^nd money, we did well with him. Nominal Dollars made five starts for us and never ran a bad race, with a 4^th, three 3rds, and the 2^nd. With the generous purses in New York, even without a win that more than paid the training bills with positive cash flow, to boot. In a tough game like this, if they all came out this way, we’d have no complaints. Just as a brief teachable moment here, if this horse had run in the exact same races at Gulfstream with less than half the purses, we’d have lost a considerable amount of money. Keep that firmly in mind the next time you think how “fun” it is to race in Florida. Kudos to trainer Gary Gullo for a job well done with this horse for us.

Three Arch Bay was a closing 3^rd on December 21^st, missing 2^nd by a nostril in a photo and beaten 3 lengths for the win. This filly is coming around for us again after a summer layoff and should be productive in lower-level races at Penn this winter.

December 22nd was proof of the saying ‘the truth is stranger than fiction’, or as Kenwood Racing co-owner George Katzenberger put it, “you can’t make this up”. Kenwood had two runners (one at Gulfstream Park, the other at Penn National). Both horses ran well, both finished a close second, and in both races the winner was disqualified and our horse was placed 1^st. About 1 in 200 horses are disqualified each year in a race, so statistically the odds of two horses being disqualified in any two back to back races you run in, are 200 to 1 x 200 to 1, or 40,000 to 1. The odds of your horses finishing 2^nd in both of these races and being placed 1st is literally beyond calculation. Suffice it to say, it’s something we can safely wager nobody reading this will ever see in their lifetime again.

Lost in the unusualness of the day’s uniquely good fortune was how well both horses ran. First up, Bobby Blue Eyes ran a super race at Gulfstream Park. He broke sharply, was sent to the lead, as instructed by jockey Nik Juarez, led all the way and got caught right before the wire to finish 2^nd, beaten just under 1 length for the win. He was placed 1^st when the favorite was disqualified for impeding the 3^rd finisher in the stretch (nothing to do with our horse so we were simply lucky here). Bobby ran absolutely super; he deserved a break and he (and we) got it today. 

At Penn National, a few hours later To Honor Stephanie broke well, but was outrun to the first turn and shuffled back to 4^th in the early going. He rallied between horses to take over 2^nddown the backstretch, set sights on the early leader, drew alongside him in mid-stretch, but just couldn’t get by, losing by a head in a photo. Trainer Mark Salvaggio could see from his vantage point on the track that the reason Stephanie failed to pass the other horse was because the tiring leader was bearing out on him the entire length of the stretch, bumping him right before the wire, and immediately claimed foul. The Penn National stewards simply couldn’t ignore what they saw on the video replay and placed Stephanie first. He would clearly have won going away, if he wasn’t impeded and the stewards fortunately did their job properly.

Kenwood ends the year on a tear with three wins, two seconds and a third from 7 starts in December. Bobby Blue Eyes won for the 2^nd time as a two year old, while To Honor Stephanie’s win gives us 4 two year old winners from our 9 two year old purchases in 2016. That’s 44% two year old winners, almost exactly 4 times the national average of 11.4% of two year olds who hit the winner’s circle at age two last year. In other words, if you bought 9 two year olds randomly, you should expect to have 1 winner (11%) and 5 or 6 not even make it to the races by the end of their two year old year. In 2016, six of our nine two year olds started (66% compared to the national average of 37.6% starters) and four won. Not to mention that the three who have yet to start are just a few weeks away from their debuts. Hard to fault our record with our two year old crop in 2016 and we look forward to enjoying their progress as three year olds in 2017.

Our best wishes to all the Kenwood family for a safe, healthy, happy and prosperous new year