Another great month for Kenwood Racing, with impressive wins by different runners and exciting new additions to the stable.

July 31^st was Haskell Day at Monmouth Park, a great way to end a great month. Early showers turned to pleasant weather and it was a fantastic day of racing. A large and enthusiastic group of Kenwood partners, co-owners and friends filled six prime box seats and shared a memorable day, highlighted by Exaggerator’s impressive win and the thrill of seeing New Jersey bred Sunny Ridge nose out Champion Nyquist for 3^rd money for our friend Dennis Drazin, who is the heart and soul of Monmouth Park. It’s a dream for any local owner to run in the Haskell. To see a horse bred in New Jersey run a super race at 31 to 1 off a 5 month layoff against the best 3 year olds in the country for someone who has devoted much of his professional career to keeping Monmouth Park running was for many of us, as much or more satisfying than Exaggerator’s impressive and well deserved Haskell victory.  

The day ended on a super note for Kenwood too, as less than 1 hour after the Haskell we claimed the three year old Nominal Dollars at Saratoga. He won by almost 4 lengths going away, and we won a 5 way shake at the claim box to get him. This is a lightly raced, rapidly improving horse and we are thrilled to have him in our stable. 

Kenwood Racing welcomes Patton Proud to stable

Kenwood Racing added another horse to our growing stable, with the purchase via claim, of the three year old colt Patton Proud on July 25th at Saratoga. He'll be trained by Gary Gullo and we expect him to make his Kenwood debut at Saratoga in August.

Little Cherie good 2nd in Kenwood debut

Kenwood Racing was pleased to have added the three year old filly Little Cherie to the stable via claim at Monmouth Park in early July and our confidence was rewarded with a fine 2^nd  in her Kenwood debut at Monmouth Park on July 23rd. Jumping from claiming to allowance, probably the toughest jump in the business, she did everything right, couldn’t catch the winner but was drawing away from the rest of a small but very competitive field at the wire. She ran hard and well and looks like yet another very good claim and a horse with a future. This super consistent filly sports an overall lifetime record of 4 wins, 4 seconds and a third from 13 lifetime starts.  The effort by Little Cherie gave Kenwood 2 wins, 2 seconds and 1 third in five starts at the Monmouth meet so far this year.

Sonny's Pharoah wins 2nd in a row to honor Darren Nebel & family

Sonny’s Pharoah ran on July 20th at Penn National to honor the memory of longtime Kenwood co-owner Darren Nebel (who named her last year as a two year old in loving memory of his late father). Darren died in a tragic auto accident on July 16th, leaving behind his devoted wife Barbara, his two boys Paul & Bryan, and a large group of loving family and friends, including everyone in the Kenwood Racing family. Darren's spirit had to be guiding Sonny when she blew away the field to win by 11+ widening lengths. Trainer Mark Salvaggio and Robb Levinsky prepared a tribute to Darren which the Penn announcer was kind enough to read before the race. He said among other things “I’m sure the entire Kenwood family is watching and cheering her on here and all over the country” and of that there was no doubt.

Nothing can take away the sadness we all feel at Darren’s loss, but hopefully this beautiful moment gave his family just a tiny bit of peace. Sonny has now won two in a row for us (for Darren & his family!). If ever there was a fitting time for a horse to win, it was this. Darren would have absolutely loved the tribute and the moment, and the filly did him proud. We all miss him and hope for her to keep safe, healthy and make many more visits to the winner’s circle in his and his family’s honor. “

Kenwood Racing welcomes Lady Tutu to stable

Kenwood Racing welcomed the three year old filly Lady Tutu to the stable on July 19^th via private purchase. By the fine Florida sire, Awesome of Course, she was owned by an estate that was selling their entire thoroughbred interests following the recent passing of the owner. "It was an opportunity to buy a nice filly at a value price" explained Kenwood racing manager H. Robb Levinsky. "We think she'll be a lot of fun for us this year and hopefully will make a number of visits to the winner's circle". Lady Tutu joined trainer Steve DiMauro’s barn at Monmouth Park and is expected to make her debut around the end of August.

Scuba Sue 3rd, claimed, in Monmouth return

Scuba Sue, a horse we purchased in Ocala in April of 2014 who did well for us as a three year old, returned to Kenwood again via (re)claim on March 10th, 2016, this time for our new active racing group #27. Claimed out of an impressive winning effort at Gulfstream Park, she ran very poorly for us under the care of Jeremiah Englehart in three starts. We moved to her trainer Mark Salvaggio after her last race, a tired 5th at Penn National on June 24th, and Mark did his usual fine job to get her back on track. We decided to run her at Monmouth Park, the site of many of her best previous efforts, on July 17th, feeling she'd run much better and she did, finishing a game 3rd after running hard and well every step of the way. She was claimed from us out of the race and while really like this filly and would have been glad to have her longer, it was good to see her return to form and to come out with some $ from what was not looking like a promising situation with the previous trainer.

Dance N Denae wins impressively at Monmouth

She may not have looked like a good claim when she finished a dull 8th the day we claimed her, but we always say it's not how they run nearly as much as how they come back to the barn. That was proven once again with Dance N Denae, who followed up a good 2nd in her Kenwood Racing debut on June 26th, with an impressive win on July 17th at Monmouth Park. The race had originally been scheduled for the grass and we were a bit concerned when it was taken off the turf due to heavy rains the night before. She had been training well and had decent past dirt form, but she appears to be a better grass horse. When old friend Awesome Challenge (claimed from us off a thrilling win opening weekend at Monmouth) made the lead on her early and Dance N Denae found herself in tight on the rail it didn't look good, but jockey Jose Ferrer had a lot of horse all the way. When Awesome Challenge began to tire turning for home, he made a dramatic move from the inside. She quickly opening up a large lead and coasted to the wire almost 2 lengths to the good of a late closing runner and far ahead of the remainder of the field.

This is a nice filly who runs on both dirt and turf. She's turned into a fine claim and we think the best is yet to come here. A hearty congratulations to all the members of our active racing group. With this filly and Little Cherie who was a fine 2^nd in her Kenwood debut off the claim (see above), we have a lot to look forward the rest of the racing season at Monmouth.

The Pink Cashmere Story continues: After the Sale Ring (ABR video)

America's Best Racing followed up their 2015 series "After the Runway", featuring Pink Cashmere, bred by international model Esther de Jong with a new video "After the Sale Ring". The new video follows Kenwood Racing's Pink Cashmere's progress in training for her racing career. You can view the video here.  

Our barns in NY and NJ are loaded with really promising claims (Nominal Dollars, Patton Proud, El Botas, Dance N Denae, Little Cherie), along with 9 exciting two year olds, which should make for a very exciting second half of the year for us (building on an excellent first half!).