No luck on entries today at Santa Anita as none of our races went. As mentioned before, there are a lot of races to be filled after the nearly one month hiatus, so we’ll need a little patience to get these horses in the entries.  

We will be entering a number of horses Thursday & Friday for races this weekend at various tracks, including Exchanging Ember and others.

Bullion, Magic Musketier, Blue Eyed Beth, Run Macho Run, and Kochees all have races coming up shortly to enter in.  

Our first entry in a while, as Santa Anita re-opens comes with Red Shelby Friday, not a bad spot if she gets a good trip for her to take a step forward.

Thanks for a great response to our four groups from the OBS March sale. Group #52 is sold out, we are now down to four shares for 50 & the last two for group 51. Kenwood co-owner Mark Forney, who attended the OBS March sale with our team wrote a great Blog post for us about his experience, you can view it here (thank you Mark!)

We close with a video from trainer Kelly Breen of New Jersey-bred mare Diamond Play, with her first timed work since her return to training at Palm Meadows (in Florida near Gulfstream Park). She’s doing really well, happy and eager to train. On schedule to run early in the meet at Monmouth Park, with perhaps a prep at Gulfstream before.

Two works on two coasts today:  Blue Eyed Beth (“she went a little too fast, just real sharp, galloped out great” Ron Spatz) at Gulfstream Park and Starring John Wain (“went very nice, I think he can win the maiden special weight” Jerry Hollendorfer) at Santa Anita Park are both ready to roll (works below).

Thanks for a great response to our four groups from the OBS March sale. Group #52 is sold out, very few shares remain for groups 50 & 51. All four two-year olds are in training, came out of the sale well and going right on towards their debuts this spring – summer. THANK YOU for your support!

We will be entering a number of horses this week for races this weekend including Exchanging Ember, Taima The Hawk, and others. Bullion, Magic Musketier, Blue Eyed Beth, Run Macho Run, and Kochees all have races coming up shortly to enter in.  

Our first entry in a while as Santa Anita re-opens comes with Red Shelby Friday, not a bad spot if she gets a good trip for her to take a step forward.

Horse Workout Notification 
March 26, 2019

Blue Eyed Beth (3-Year-Old Filly)

Your comments for this horse were: OBS June sale purchase

Date: March 26, 2019
Track: GULFSTREAM PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:02 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 1/1

Horse Workout Notification 
March 26, 2019

Starring John Wain (3-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: Private purchase

Date: March 26, 2019
Track: GOLDEN GATE FIELDS
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 1/5

Our first entry in a while as Santa Anita re-opens comes with Red Shelby, who was one of many horses to work today and went really well. Red Shelby runs Friday, not a bad spot if she gets a good trip for her to take a step forward. More works to report this morning for More Ice, Magic Musketier, Bullion, Run Macho Run and Kochees (all below). The race for Bullion did not go today, after many days off at Santa Anita there are a ton of races they are trying to fill, so it’s going to be tough sledding for a while with entries but as you can see from the works we have a lot of horses doing well and ready for any suitable race that comes up. You can see a video of Kochees working today here.

Race for Exchanging Ember, enter Thursday for Saturday. Still looking for a spot for Blue Eyed Beth at Gulfstream Park, she’s ready to run. April 4^th is the next date in the book, maybe an extra will come up sooner.

You can see our recently updated list of possible entry dates here.

Diamond Play doing well at Palm Meadows training center; will be pointed either to a 2019 debut at Gulfstream next month or to a race at Monmouth Park in May.

Thanks for a great response from our current owners to our four groups from the OBS March sale. Group #52 is sold out, over 25 shares sold overall with these groups in less than one week. The three groups with shares still remaining will be released to our Kenwood Racing friends list Monday. All four two year olds are in training, came out of the sale well and going right on towards their debuts this spring – summer. THANK YOU for your support!

More works to report this morning for Annie’s Candy and Taima The Hawk (below) at Santa Anita. Both are doing well and ready to run.

Race for Exchanging Ember did not go at Penn National today for next Friday but was carried over, enter Thursday for next Saturday. If that doesn’t go, there’s another option for her April 4^th at Penn. The good news is she’s made it back, is training well, and is ready to run.

We have a lot of scheduled races coming up at Santa Anita now that it’s set to re-open next Friday, as well as races above for Penn,

We are looking for a spot for Blue Eyed Beth at Gulfstream Park, she’s ready to run, April 4^th is the next date in the book, maybe an extra will come up sooner.. You can see our recently updated list of possible entry dates here.

Diamond Play has settled in nicely at Palm Meadows training center and will be pointed either to a 2019 debut at Gulfstream next month or to a race at Monmouth Park in May.

Last call for current co-owners before our four two year old groups from OBS March are released to our Kenwood Friends waiting list this Monday. All four two year olds are in training, came out of the sale well and going right on towards their debuts this spring – summer.

All horses well, ready to run, a lot of action coming up!

Horse Workout Notification 
March 23, 2019

Taima the Hawk (6-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: Claimed 11/22/18 at GGF, KRP Racehorse

Date: March 23, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.01:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 2/6

Annie's Candy (6-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 10-28-18 at GGF

Date: March 23, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:20 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/6

Good work for Starring John Wain. See below.

Exchanging Ember is ready to run at Penn also. Mark Salvaggio will give her one more light work this weekend, weather permitting, and then enter her for next week.

We have a lot of scheduled races coming up at Santa Anita now that it’s set to re-open, as well as races above for Penn National.

We are looking for a spot for Blue Eyed Beth at Gulfstream Park, she’s ready to run.

You can see our recently updated list of possible entry dates here.

Diamond Play has settled in nicely at Palm Meadows training center and will be pointed either to a 2019 debut at Gulfstream next month or to a race at Monmouth Park in May.

Our four new ownership groups just went out to Triple Crown Club members and will be released to all co-owners tomorrow. All four two year olds are in training, came out of the sale well and going right on towards their debuts this spring – summer.

All horses well, ready to run, a lot of action coming up!

Horse Workout Notification 
March 19, 2019

Starring John Wain (3-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: Private purchase

Date: March 19, 2019
Track: GOLDEN GATE FIELDS
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 50:00 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 3/13

Horse Workout Notification 
March 18, 2019

Blue Eyed Beth (3-Year-Old Filly)

Your comments for this horse were: OBS June sale purchase

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: GULFSTREAM PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.01:15 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 2/2

Run Macho Run (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11-9-18 at GGF

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 48:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/31

Red Shelby (5-Year-Old Mare)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 12-3-18

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 8/31

Horse Workout Notification 
March 17, 2019

Kochees (9-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11/11/18 at GGF

Date: March 17, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.01:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/9

Magic Musketier (4-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: Private purchase

Date: March 17, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 5/9

More works today for Blue Eyed Beth at Gulfstream Park and Run Macho Run and Red Shelby at Santa Anita, adding to Magic Musketier and Kochees in California yesterday (all below).

You can watch Red Shelby's work, posted by XBTV here.

Our four next groups will be released this week, watch for information posted here shortly!

All horses well, ready to run, a lot of action coming up!

Horse Workout Notification 
March 18, 2019

Blue Eyed Beth (3-Year-Old Filly)

Your comments for this horse were: OBS June sale purchase

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: GULFSTREAM PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.01:15 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 2/2

Run Macho Run (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11-9-18 at GGF

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 48:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/31

Red Shelby (5-Year-Old Mare)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 12-3-18

Date: March 18, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 8/31

Horse Workout Notification 
March 17, 2019

Kochees (9-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11/11/18 at GGF

Date: March 17, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.01:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/9

Magic Musketier (4-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: Private purchase

Date: March 17, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 5/9

This is especially for the owners of Start A Fire but the two minute video of morning training at T-Square Stud in Ocala on Wednesday, March 13th is useful for all to see the breaking-training process. You’ll see manager Adam Parker walking Start A Fire for us to see (note the comment about what a big horse he is, still growing!), then the rider getting on him, then training on the track with another horse, and finally returning to the barn and being unsaddled and walked. Along with previous videos we’ve sent of him being broken to a saddle in a stall, etc. this offers a sense of what’s involved in getting a horse from an unbroken yearling into training at a training center and finally to the racetrack.

Start A Fire is a large, powerful horse, as can be plainly be seen in the video. He towers over 95%+ of the horses offered for sale at OBS. Horses like this have a ton of potential, but they are rarely quick to get to the races. If you want a horse with size, scope and classic potential, you almost always wait longer. A compact filly like #224, the Into Mischief filly we just purchased, is almost certain to get to the races quicker and show more speed. It’s not a matter of one being ‘better’ than the other, they are just two very different types of horses. Ideally, you want to own some of each; smaller – quick athletic types and bigger – powerful distance types, they are an excellent compliment to each other.

A few catch up works back after the sale (see below). All doing well, more details to follow.

Here’s some Vimeo links for the horses we purchased at OBS this week taken by our social media team. Not perfect, but gives you an idea of the sale process and what the horses look like…

Hip 58

Hip 224

Hip 476 - Life on the Edge

Here’s a link to a video of Annie’s Candy & Taima The Hawk working together at Los Alamitos on March 9th.

Horse Workout Notification 
March 16, 2019

Annie's Candy (6-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 10-28-18 at GGF

Date: March 16, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 50:00 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 2/2

Horse Workout Notification 
March 16, 2019

Taima the Hawk (6-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: Claimed 11/22/18 at GGF, KRP Racehorse

Date: March 16, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 50:00 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 6/17

Horse Workout Notification 
March 12, 2019

Run Macho Run (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11-9-18 at GGF

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 53:20 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 11/11

Exchanging Ember (4-Year-Old Filly)

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: PENN NATIONAL
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:20 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 4/9

More Ice (3-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: GOLDEN GATE FIELDS
Distance: Six Furlongs
Time: 1.17:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 2/4

Another super successful day at OBS, with the purchase of two more horses. First, in partnership with trainer Jerry Hollendorfer Hip #431 named Preacher, a strapping colt by a promising new sire out of a young mare. A fine buy at $40,000, will train with Jerry in California.

Hip 431 - Preacher

From left to right: Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Ellen Gaynor, Mark Forney, Chris Driscoll, Jack Czajkowski

Then the absolute icing on the cake with the purchase of a special filly with the clever name of Life On the Edge, by Competitive Edge out of a really special mare who has 7 foals to race, 6 winners including two stakes horses with earnings over $400,000 and $300,000 to date. While we don’t focus on work times usually, she worked in a very fast 10.0 seconds, one of the faster works of the sale, and most importantly, did it easily and galloped out exceptionally fast, looking for more. We were exceptionally fortunate to purchase hip #476 for $72,000 from a one-horse consignment near the end of the final day of the sale.  It was a truly memorable ending to a very successful  sale, with two colts and two fillies added to our stable at true value prices.

Hip 476 - Life on the Edge

From left to right: Chris Driscoll, Ellen Gaynor, Mark Forney, Jack Czajkowski

Hard to ask for a better first day at OBS, after a ton of hard work we came home with two of the three horses we really wanted and got them at true value prices to boot.  We purchased Hip #224, a lovely filly by top sire Into Mischief from a great female family for just $40,000 & Hip #58 a powerful handsome Shakin It Up colt out of a stakes winning dam who has produced two stakes horses from her first three foals to race, also for $40,000.

Hip 224 (Into Mischief - Home Rule)

From left to right: Mark Forney, Carl D'Angelo, Chris Driscoll, Ellen Gaynor, George Katzenberger, Robb Levinsky

This was as anticipated, an incredibly bifurcated market. The sales topper was sold for an all time OBS record $2,000,000, another horse brought $1,200,000 and another $825,000, yet despite that, both the average and median prices were down (see article here). If a horse didn’t attract a bid from one of a tiny handful of billionaire buyers, it was hard sledding to get even good horses sold. A great opportunity for value buyers like us. We took full advantage of it today and hopefully will again tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Some works to report from coast to coast for More Ice, Magic Musketier, Red Shelby, Run Macho Run, Kochees and Exchanging Ember (below). All horses are doing well and ready to run as soon as we can find spots for them. Still looking at the Grade III $800,000 Sunland Derby March 24^th for More Ice as an option. Looking at a race 1^st week of April for Exchanging Ember, she’ll work a couple times more before she runs. 

Start A Fire doing super in Ocala, will have photos after we visit to see him train tomorrow morning.

Horse Workout Notification 
March 12, 2019

Run Macho Run (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11-9-18 at GGF

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 53:20 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 11/11

Red Shelby (5-Year-Old Mare)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 12-3-18

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 51:00 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 7/11

Magic Musketier (4-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: Private purchase

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Five Furlongs
Time: 1.02:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 11/28

More Ice (3-Year-Old Colt)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: GOLDEN GATE FIELDS
Distance: Six Furlongs
Time: 1.17:60 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: All Weather Track
Rank: 2/4

Exchanging Ember (4-Year-Old Filly)

Date: March 12, 2019
Track: PENN NATIONAL
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:20 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 4/9

Horse Workout Notification 
March 11, 2019

Kochees (9-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 11/11/18 at GGF

Date: March 11, 2019
Track: SANTA ANITA PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:40 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 9/53

Diamond Play shipped into Kelly Breen at Palm Meadows this afternoon and arrived just fine. Looking forward to Monmouth Park and New Jersey bred races for her.

All our horses are totally fine at Santa Anita. Extensive investigation has found no obvious problems with the track surface. Racing is expected to resume in about 10 days.

A few quick updates as a busy sale is in full swing….

We were expecting good efforts from both Harbour Way and Starring John Wain today (Sunday, March 10th) and got one out of two. First up, in race 7 at Laurel Park, Harbour Way sat a perfect trip in 4^th on the outside, made a move to the lead at the top of the stretch and plain flattened out with no visible excuse at all to finish 5^th. We had been looking for a much better race here, coming off 4 straight in-the-money finishes and just didn’t get it. She deserves one clunker after running so well this year, hopefully she’ll return to form next time.

Next in race 7 at Golden Gate Fields, Starring John Wain made his Kenwood debut in a huge 11 horse field, was shuffled back early, in tight when trying to make a move on the turn and again in the stretch, but came with a solid run when he finally got room to get up in time for 3^rd. The winner was a very impressive 1^st time starter (“they were offered $100,000 for him before the race, Jerry Hollendorfer”), and was simply much the best today, but our horse would have been easily 2^nd with a good trip and clearly wanted more distance than the 5.5 furlongs today. Our options were limited with Santa Anita closed this week, so we ran here in a less than ideal spot and he did very well in his debut for us (”you made a very good buy with him”, Jerry Hollendorfer).

Some works to report at Los Al this weekend for Annie’s Candy and Taima The Hawk (below). You can view the XBTV video of Annie's Candy and Taima The Hawk working in company here. Both are doing well and ready to run as soon as we can find a spot for them.

Still looking at the stake in New Mexico for More Ice as an option.

Looking at a race 1^st week of April for Exchanging Ember, she’ll work Wednesday from the gate.

Start A Fire is doing super at T-Square Stud in Ocala. We will have photos this week when we visit to see him train.

Diamond Play will ship into Kelly Breen at Palm Meadows Monday or Tuesday.

The OBS March sale under tack show is over, we spent all of this weekend viewing prospects. We have about 30 horses on our “re-check list” to view again tomorrow. The sale is next Tuesday & Wednesday. Stay tuned for updates.

While we are of course watching the situation at Santa Anita closely and with concern, all our horses are totally fine and extensive investigation has found no obvious problems with the track surface. Racing is expected to resume in about 10 days.

Horse Workout Notification
March 9, 2019

Annie's Candy (6-Year-Old Gelding)

Your comments for this horse were: KRP Racehorse, claimed 10-28-18 at GGF

Date: March 9, 2019
Track: LOS ALAMITOS
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 46:20 Handily
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 1/6