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!). 

We expect July – September to be very busy and exciting for Kenwood Racing, with a lot of action for our horses at Monmouth Park (and elsewhere, but particularly at Monmouth) and so far, July has lived up to its billing! It took a little while to come up with the claims we wanted and two year olds need time to train before they can make their debuts, but the reward for our patience should be a lot of runners for the heart of the summer racing season. We have a nice group of older horses to race in NJ-NY who have been pointed and primed for these months, plus seven two year olds stabled at Monmouth. Trainer Steve DiMauro has tentatively scheduled Aug. 5-7 as possible debut dates for several of the two year olds.

A fine day at the office on July 17th at Monmouth Park, with two horses running. When the dust had cleared, we had an impressive win and a good third. First up was Dance N Denae, who was coming off a game 2^nd in her Kenwood debut on June 26^th. The race was taken off the turf due to heavy rains the night before and we were a bit concerned, as even though she’d been training very well and had shown decent past dirt form, she is 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 for most of the race. It didn't look good, but jockey Jose Ferrer had a lot of horse all the way and when Awesome Challenge began to tire turning for home, he made a dramatic move to grab the lead from the inside. She quickly opened up a large lead and coasted to the wire almost 2 lengths to the good of a late closing runner, far ahead of the remainder of the field. She may not have looked like a good buy 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, and that was proven once again here. This is a nice filly who runs on both dirt and turf and we think the best is yet to come here. A hearty congratulations to all the members of our NJ based active racing group. With this filly and Little Cherie who we claimed recently and the NJ bred Silver Bouquet we have a lot to look forward to in the weeks and months to come.

Then it was Scuba Sue’s turn, 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 active racing group in New York. 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 24^th), and Mark did his usual fine job to get her back on track. We decided to run her at Monmouth, the site of many of her best previous efforts and were pleased to see her finish a game 3rd after running hard and well every step of the way.

Kenwood’s record so far for the Monmouth meet is 2 wins, 1 second and 1 third in four starts. Obviously a limited number of runners but there’s a LOT more action to come the 2^nd half of the meet and we are certainly off to a red hot start!

Previously, a really nice workout for El Botas as he readies for his Kenwood debut, which should come shortly at Saratoga. He worked fast without being asked

El Botas (5-Year-Old Gelding)

Date: July 16, 2016
Track: BELMONT PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 47:85 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt training
Rank: 3/73

Recent claim Little Cherie is expected to make her Kenwood debut July 23^rd at Monmouth Park.

On Thursday, July 7^th America’s Best Racing visited Kenwood’s barn at Monmouth Park to follow the story of our two year old filly Pink Cashmere, who we purchased at the OBS April sale this year. This lovely filly by the hot young sire Eskendereya was bred by the international model Esther de Jong at her farm in New Jersey. Take a look at this must see 3 minute video.

Pink Cashmere is training very well. Trainer Steve DiMauro feels she’s advanced quickly and if her next two works are as good as her previous ones, she’ll be ready to run in a race at Monmouth on August 5^th . As mentioned so many times previously, selecting two year olds is like trying to decide who the future NBA or NFL all-star will be from a group of 14 year old high school kids. Bobby Blue Eyes trained very poorly the first couple weeks at Gulfstream and has been training really well for the last month (see work eblow). Until they run a few races, it’s a guessing game!

Bobby Blue Eyes (2-Year-Old Colt)

Date: July 13, 2016
Track: GULFSTREAM PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:05 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 8/22

On July 9^th, one race away from retirement, kept in training and brought back on 8 days rest on the advice of trainer Mark Salvaggio, Huamantla woke up with a vengeance at Penn National, flying from near last turning for home after being bumped at the break to finish 2^nd by a long nose in a photo finish. While it was a lower level race, it was also a 12 horse field, she had to make up a ton of ground from far back in a very short race, and they finished in a super-quick time for the level, 57.30. While she’s still not about to become a good horse, we are in a totally different situation than we had been off her horrible race the previous week, when it appeared giving her away to a good home was our only option. Mark insisted she just couldn’t handle the dirt; we agreed to take one last shot on grass with the right spot sitting there 8 days away, and it worked.

The final seminar of the year at our office on Saturday, July 9^th was as always our most popular subject. “Purses & Claiming” had an overflow crowd in attendance in person and online via GoToMeeting. Look for our seminar series next year!

The following day, July 10^th,  our 2^nd “Business of Thoroughbreds” seminar of the year in conjunction with Monmouth Park was another sold out affair. Guests enjoyed morning training, followed by an afternoon of racing in a private Parterre Suite, along with visits to the paddock and the racing office. Our final tow seminars of 2016 are August 7^th and September 10^th, both are nearly sold out.

Our annual meeting for partners and co-owners will be Saturday morning, August 6^th at 10am, please mark the date in your calendars.

Exchanging Fire is still IN-FOAL at Daydream Farm and her yearling filly is lovely!

It was a while coming and it was hardly the level of race we were looking for but Sonny’s Pharoah is a maiden no more as she won the first race of her career on June 30^th at Penn National. While it was against a field of lower level claiming fillies, she won easily, wire to wire without being asked much in a very decent time for the level, beating the heavy favorite in the race.  With this one under her hoofs, perhaps she’ll have a little confidence now and can get back to the winner’s circle again shortly. Congrats. to group #23 as both of their horses have now reached the winner’s circle.

Saratoga is just around the corner, opening week is July 22^nd. Several of the Kenwood partners have rented a house for the entire meet and we plan to run several horses there this summer!  

We begin our stable notes this week with the happy news that Wise Honor, who Kenwood helped rescue from a kill pen a few weeks ago, is doing great at War Horses farm. Everyone who helped come to his rescue with a contribution has reason to feel very proud. Kenwood puts the welfare of the horses first, even those not in our care. Needless to say, the work Barbara Luna is doing (and many others like her) is the most important thing, but they need all the help they can get! The letter below from Barbara speaks for itself….

From: Barbara Luna [mailto:warhorsesottbs@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, June 23, 2016 12:43 PM
Subject: To all of my favorite (and only) board members

You have probably heard of War Horses' situation with saving a 10yo gelding from slaughter 3 weeks ago. If not, instrumental in his saving was the generosity of Kenwood Racing (Robb Levinsky) and partners donating over $2,000 for his "bail" and shipping, with plenty left over for the blacksmith and his upcoming dental work (oh, and of course the 100 pounds of carrots he seems to consume).Kenwood partners did not know the horse, never had anything to do with him (registered name is Wide Honor, but now he's our little "Buddy.")  I asked for help, and in 24 hours they had pledged more than I ever could have asked for. All checks and Paypal donations were in my hands/computer within 3 days! Amazing! I am attaching what I hoped would be an appropriate letter to them for their generosity (Hermosillo, shown in the letter also, is their Champion Eddie Broome-bred NJ-bred from a few years back, who Robb and his partners also sponsor so he can live his life out with me in VA. If you ever see Robb at Monmouth where he currently has horses with Steve DiMauro, please thank him as well as the partners for us. You'll find them in the winners' circle, I am sure! You all will understand that there is always a horse out there that pulls at your heartstrings--Buddy is a sweet boy, and well deserved the ability to break out of the kill buyer's lot (after running through the New Holland auction) and retiring here. Upon first examinations, he seems fully adoptable and someone will be lucky to get him!Best to all of you. We all have buddies like our Buddy. Barbara

Turning to racing news, on June 5^th Kenwood claimed the three year old filly Dance N Denae at Monmouth Park. When she stopped badly to finish a well-beaten 8^th, some people might have understandably wondered if we had made an unwise move in claiming her, but as explained many times, it’s how they come back to the barn much more than where they finish that matters the most. On June 26^th this was proven again in her Kenwood debut as she broke slowly, rushed up to battle for the lead and finished a good second, beaten about 1&1/2 lengths for the win while picking up over $3,000 for her effort. Having lost by 12 lengths the day we claimed her, it was an obvious turnaround, made even more impressive by the fact she was running on the dirt, not her preferred surface (it was our only option to run when a grass race failed to fill three times). Now we can look for a race on the grass next time and have reason to expect this filly to be a nice horse for us the rest of the season at Monmouth and beyond.

There was a full house on hand for our 3^rd free seminar at our office and online via GoToMeeting on Saturday, June 25^th on reading the Condition Book. Our final seminar of the year, Purses & Claiming, is July 9^th and space is very limited.  

June 25^th featured a fine morning of workouts at Monmouth, with 5 horses all making really good progress. Note that High Five Cotton, by far the quickest horse (not necessarily the best horse when all is said and done, but the fastest at 3 furlongs for sure) is shown as having one of the slower works. He worked in company (side by side) with Lead Investor and we kept them together and wanted them to go slow to teach High Five Cotton to harness his speed. Someone looking at work times would assume he’s one of the slowest of the horses below; if all five lined up together for 3 furlongs and went as fast as they can, right now at least he’d easily outrun all the others. A good lesson in what workout times do and do not mean.  What matters most with young, unraced horses is that they make steady progress and learn how to be a racehorse. If you compare the times just below for June 25^th with the times from the previous week listed further below, you’ll see these horses are doing just that.

Here’s some links to videos-photos of these workouts on our Vimeo and Instagram pages;

Kenwood Instagram Page:

https://www.instagram.com/kenwoodracing/

Kenwood's Vimeo Page:
https://vimeo.com/user7224967

If you want to link directly to the videos from recent training dates, here are the direct links:

Authentic Kitten/Win Money My Honey (Saturday, June 25, 2016)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHFCpjbBLtF/ 

Pink Cashmere (Saturday, June 25, 2016)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHE-KznhObC/ 

Lead Investor/High Cotton (Saturday, June 25, 2016)
https://www.instagram.com/p/BHE9sGtBByU/ 

Pink Cashmere (Friday, June 24, 2016)​

https://vimeo.com/172222147

 Win Money My Honey Gate Training (Thursday, June 23, 2016)

https://vimeo.com/172221734

On June 24^th, Scuba Sue broke nicely, made the lead easily, and simply had nothing left in the stretch, tiring to finish 5^th. While it was a solid group and a fast run race and she was ½ length from 3^rd, she was favored in here and should have run much better once she made the lead by herself. She’ll stay at Penn with Mark Salvaggio now and we’ll make a plan together to get her back to the winner’s circle.

June 19^th featured a super morning of workouts as all the horses went well and in hand.  Just FYI, High Five Cotton had a sizzling fast work, best of the day. We’ll leave it to you to decide why that work doesn’t appear here….. Note that Lead Investor and Win Money My Honey worked together, side by side the entire way, head and head at the finish, and the different workout times below. Workouts and what matters is very different than the public perception folks!

June 18^th was the date of our first “Business of Thoroughbreds” seminar at Monmouth for 2016, another sold out event. 12 lucky guests began their day viewing morning training, then headed to a private Parterre Suite for an afternoon of racing, food, drink and a visit to the paddock and the racing office. Our 2nd seminar in July is sold out, a very few spaces remain for the seminars in August and September.

June was a busy and exciting month, and July should be even better! Thanks to all our partners, co-owners and friends for your support.

Lots of action as spring comes to an end, summer begins, and Monmouth Park gets into full swing….

On May 18^th, Scuba Sue was a dull and disappointing 6^th at Belmont Park, showed none of her usual speed in a race where we had expected much better. Seemed to come out of the race just fine. We're hoping for better results next time out.

A different story on May 21^st, when Long May You Run won easily and impressively at Penn National on a sloppy surface he relished, running away with the race in a very fast time. He’s won at age 2,3,4 and now 5 for us, living up to his name. This was a textbook example of how all high-percentage stables win races, by running horses where they belong, rather than over their heads. When you do that, you are making it easy on the horse and helping him do right by you. Congratulations to all LMYR’s group #15 owners as he closes in on the $200,000 mark in career earnings and to trainer Mark Salvaggio, who has done an outstanding job with him!

Huamantla was 6^th on May 27^th at Pimlico, beaten just over 2 lengths for the win and 1 length for 2^nd, in a blanket finish. She made a nice move on the inside turning for home and flattened out in the final strides a bit. It was her first time going long this year and only her 2^nd race since her layoff. Off this race, she should be ready for her best. There’s a race at Penn National on June 11^th that’s a perfect fit. That will tell us where we are with her, as long as it stays on the grass.

On June 1^st, Sonny’s Pharoah was 4^th at Penn National in a 1 mile grass event. Well placed early, she moved into 2^nd turning for home behind the runaway winner and heavy favorite, but flattened out in the stretch and was passed by two other runners late. This filly has been 4^th all three times in her brief career at different distances-surfaces. While none of them were bad races, she’s just not made the move forward we are looking for.

A potentially terrible story had a very happy end to it on June 2^nd, as the Kenwood Racing family stepped in to help a horse in need. Kenwood founder H. Robb Levinsky received a plea for help from Barbara Luna of War Horses at Rose Bower farm to help rescue the thoroughbred gelding Wise Honor, who was found in a killer pen in distress and on his way to a horrible ending. Kenwood got the word out to our partners, co-owners and friends (in addition to making an immediate contribution from Kenwood itself) and more than enough money was raised in a few hours to save this horse and get him safely on a van to War Horses farm, where he’ll enjoy a wonderful, happy life. Barbara was ecstatic saying, “Thanks so much. The outpouring of support for this horse from Kenwood Racing is unbelievable! Actually, I do believe it knowing Robb. Horse is arriving this evening, and like I do with all of my incoming retirees, I'll document it with photos and share with everyone so you can see what you have so kindly helped to accomplish. Just amazing!”. Kudos to the many wonderful, caring, generous members of the Kenwood family for stepping up to the plate!

Kenwood offered two seminars at our office, “Buying Horses at Auction” on May 28^th and “Analyzing Pedigrees” on June 4^th. Both were well attended both in person, and online via a GoToMeeting link. The final two seminars for this season will be “Understanding the Condition Book” on June 2th, and “Purses & Claiming” on July 9^th.

Also on June 4^th, we added a new horse to our barn, Dance N Denae, she’ll be running at Monmouth all summer, part of the active racing group #33 with Silver Bouquet.

And finally on a busy June 4^th, Kenwood’s highest priced two year old purchase of the year, Win Money My Honey, had a nice ¼ mile breeze in about 25 seconds, did it easily and well. She was the first horse to breeze of this year’s two year old crop, the others will start their timed works shortly. We’re on the way to lots of debuts this summer! Speaking of workouts and workout times, an excerpt from an article about Stradivari in the Daily Racing Form , one of the entrants for the Belmont Stakes next weekend, highlights our oft-repeated explanations about what workouts, and workout times, really mean (read below). Note his work times were really slow, a $5,000 claimer usually works faster than 50.51 seconds for 4 furlongs, but the trainer talks about what really matters, how he did it, how he moved, how he galloped out, etc.

People love fast work times, they mean little or nothing. Hard to get your head around this I know, but really valuable in understanding how the game really works (which is why we repeat it again and again!).

:: BELMONT STAKES: News updates, field, and videos

Stradivari worked a half-mile in 50.51 seconds, according to Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch. But the key to the workout, which was done in company with the stakes winner Decorated Soldier, was how well Stradivari galloped out under John Velazquez. Though a head shy of Decorated Soldier on the wire, he pulled away from his workmate while going five furlongs in 1:03.28, six furlongs in 1:15.46, and seven-eighths in 1:29.69.

“He was well in hand throughout, seemed to be moving well, galloped out strongly,” Pletcher said.

Back with more stable notes after a brief break during a very busy sales season.

Let’s start with a great opening weekend, at our summer home base of Monmouth Park. Over 20 Kenwood partners and co-owners enjoyed opening day on Saturday May 14th from our two finish line Clubhouse boxes (this year we added a 2^nd box to accommodate all our new co-owners) and a parterre suite. It was a beautiful day and the racing was fun, but for Kenwood the best was yet to come the following day, when a large crowd came out to see our first horse of the meet run Sunday. We were treated to a truly thrilling race, as Awesome Challenge started the season off on the right hoof with a win by the shortest possible nose, after a head to head duel. Sent off a surprising 7 to 5 favorite, she engaged the leader and strong 2^nd choice early. The two favorites separated themselves from the rest of the field on the far turn and were heads apart the entire length of the stretch. The runner up was bearing out and brushed our horse several times in the run to the wire, had we lost the head bob the other filly might well have been disqualified, but Awesome Challenge made a final lunge right at the wire to prevail by the shortest possible nose.

A profitable group #26 ended with both of their horses winning races and making money. Congratulations to all the happy co-owners!

We are pleased to announce the dates for four educational seminars this season. We first offered these seminars two years ago at the suggestion of people at our annual meeting and there was a fantastic response. All of them were oversubscribed last year, and we expect these will be as well. Here’s the schedule:

1. “Buying horses at auction”, Saturday May 28th
2. “Analyzing pedigrees”, Saturday June 4th
3. “Understanding the condition book”, Saturday June 25th
4. “Purses and claiming”, Saturday July 9th

All seminars will begin promptly at 10am and last for 90-120 minutes. These will be informal events, combining a PowerPoint presentation with conversation in a casual setting and are totally free of charge. Light food and drink will be served. Friends and guests are welcome, but space will be limited and priority given to current Kenwood partners & co-owners.

Sonny’s Pharoah was 4^th in her 2016 debut on May 5th at Penn National, ran evenly, never far back, but made no big move either. Trainer Mark Salvaggio said she was a bit nervous in the warm-up (normal for 5 months off), we think the race under her should help, it was not a horrible return but honestly we’d been expecting better.

Also on May 5^th, Three Arch Bay was a closing 3^rd at Penn National, just up from last in the final just to hit the board, well back of the top two. On April 16^th, this hard trying filly finally broke her maiden after four straight third place finishes. She’s been on the board in every one of her 6 starts for 2016 so far.

Long May You Run was 6^th in his 2016 debut on April 29^th, also at Penn National, but it was a really good effort against a super competitive field. Sent off over 20 to 1, he led almost the entire race before tiring in the final yards to be beaten just over 2 lengths for the win. He needed the race and looks primed for a win next time.

Scuba Sue was 5^th on April 29^th at Laurel Park, beaten less than three lengths after a horrible trip that saw her bumped and left at the start and in tight in the stretch. She never quit and with a better trip is sitting on a big race next time.

Huamantla was 6^th on April 22^nd at Penn National, in her 2016 debut, but she too ran well in what was a prep on the dirt for a turf horse. Hoping for a good year with her this season.

On April 14^th, Title Fight was a dull 5^th at Penn National, this off of two straight good efforts (2^nd and 3^rd) at Penn. We decided a very brief rest might freshen him up and sent him to the farm; went back in training three weeks later looking good and expected to run in early June.

Our premier two year olds from a successful March OBS sale, Win Money My Honey and To Honor Stephanie both arrived at Monmouth Park on May 2^nd and have both trained forwardly since. Looking forward to their debuts this summer.

We followed up our March sale success, with the purchase of five two year olds at OBS in April and announced three groups, numbers 30, 31 & 32.

Group #30 features three two year old colts, including a High Cotton colt, High Five Cotton, who had the co-fastest work time, 9.4 of the entire sale. We don’t focus as much on times at these sales, but rather on HOW the horse moved, and he did it easily. It’s very rare indeed to be able to buy one of the best and fastest moving horses at the sale at an affordable price, let alone for $35,000. He’ll be trained by Steve DiMauro at Monmouth Park, and as a Florida-bred is eligible for the Florida stallion stakes series this summer-fall . We also bought a colt, Wandagonenotastray, by a promising young 2nd crop sire, Gone Astray, out of a very nice female family, and a colt, Lead Investor, by the highly-regarded 2nd crop sire Tizway, out of a Grade I stakes winning and graded stakes producing mare from an outstanding South American female family (many horses from Argentina have come to the U.S. and been great champions here).  

Group #31 is a single horse offering of a filly by the very hot young sire Eskendereya named Pink Cashmere, who was bred and named by the world famous international model Esther de Jong. You can see a great 5 minute video that profiles Esther and this filly. We consider it a special opportunity to have a horse with this kind of potential in our barn, who in addition to everything else is a New Jersey bred eligible for substantial bonus money when she races at Monmouth Park and The Meadowlands. She’ll be trained by Steve DiMauro and will be based at Monmouth Park, where she hopefully will make her debut this summer.

Group #32 is also a single horse offering of a powerful filly, Authentic Kitten, by one of the premier sires in North America, Kitten’s Joy, who stands for a $100,000 stud fee and has been the leading sire in North America. Kitten’s Joy is the sire of over 60 stakes winners and his foals have been particularly good at classic distances on both turf and dirt. This filly’s young dam is a sister to three stakes winners including Brother Derek, who won the Santa Anita Derby and over $1,600,000 in his career. We bought this horse on the final day of a long four day sale with 1000 horses offered. We loved her and expected to pay more, but when she failed to reach her $50,000 reserve, we went to the seller and purchased her post sale for just $45,000. She’ll be trained by Steve DiMauro at Monmouth Park, where she’ll hopefully make her debut this summer.

Groups 31 & 32 both were closed and overfilled with 16 new co-owners in less than 2 weeks. Group 30 is overfilled as well, but we’re going to leave it open for a couple more people to participate.

Kenwood continues to have a fine year with our runners to date with 16% wins and 60% in-the-money for 2016. The summer season is just beginning and the best is yet to come!

Another good week for Kenwood Racing on the track, in the breeding shed and with our newest two year old groups…

Awesome Challenge took a big step forward with a very game 2nd at Gulfstream Park on March 25th. Caught up in a 3 horse speed battle for most of the race, she never quit. She was passed in deep stretch by a horse sitting just off the pace, who clearly benefited from the battle in front of her, but still fought to the end to finish ahead of both horses she'd been battling with and the rest of the field. This is a nice filly who is coming around well for us and should be a lot of fun all year long. After a poor debut for us with a big excuse behind the gate on January 28^th and a well beaten if decent 3rd on February 18th at Gulfstream, this race shows she’s really coming around. Hopefully she’ll run once more at Gulfstream before we ship to Monmouth Park at the end of April. She should fit very well up north off this good effort.

In terms of racing results, Kenwood is having a very fine start to the year, with 7 in-the-money finishes from 11 starts at the prime winter Gulfstream Park meet (Dec. 6^th – April 3^rd) and 10 in-the-money finishes from 15 starts overall so far in 2016, Our last 7 starters have hit the board; in fact, the last time a Kenwood horse was worse than 3^rd was back on February 4^th. Gulfstream is a very tough place to race in the winter and while we’ve obviously had a limited number of starters, it’s hard to do much better there than we have so far this season.

Tom Petty is right...waiting is the hardest part, but in this game patience is usually rewarded and we think it will be next Wednesday (3/30) as Three Arch Bay gets in just the right spot in the 3^rd race. Recall she was in a similar spot twice this winter and racing was cancelled due to weather, we entered her three times this week and races didn’t go, but finally it looks like she’s in the right race, right distance, just a 6 horse field with several early speed types in there to set up her late run. After three straight thirds, this is a perfect race for her to break through with a win. Fingers crossed!

More good news on March 25th, as Exchanging Fire has been pronounced IN foal on the first cover to Jump Start on an early March 8^th cover date.  That would give her an early February baby next season.

The response to our first two co-owner groups for 2016 was excellent as groups #28 & 29 both over filled in just 72 hours. The four horses we purchased at OBS March are all doing well with the usual 30 days of R&R on the farm before heading to the track to begin training. Three horses are at Daydream Farm in Hamburg, Pa. and the other one is at T-Square Stud in Ocala, Fl. We thank our co-owners for their support. Now it’s on to OBS April in just three weeks.

For those who didn’t notice, Unspoken Quality was dead last 3-23 in his first race for his new owners since being claimed from us (see chart ). He was over 40 to 1 off a good 2^nd for us when claimed, not the spot we’d have run him in. He’s a nice, solid, hard trying horse, we ran him in the right spots, made money with him, and feel he was claimed at the right time.

It's an exciting time of the year, with four new horses purchased at OBS March and racing action heating up. The market at OBS March, while not down a lot from last year’s record numbers, was clearly soft as we had predicted, especially in the middle “commercial” market. Take out the top 20 Hips sold to billionaires with play money, and almost everyone agreed it was a buyer’s market (which we took great advantage of!) To quote the article from The Blood-Horse, “Following a robust day of trading Wednesday, OBS reported an overall two-day gross of $51,650,000 for 325 head sold, down from the $55,432,000 total in 2015 for the same number sold. The two-day average fell from $170,560 to $158,923 and the median price declined slightly to $100,000 from $105,000. The RNA rate, which will change as OBS reports private sales, was 25%, compared with 23% a year ago”. Shows that the horse market continues to follow the stock market and the economy in general. Hey, racehorses are bought with leisure money, when people in the oil patch who love horses are struggling to keep their rigs operating (to cite just one example), they don’t show up at OBS, at least not with the usual amount of money to spend.

For Kenwood Racing, it was a very intense and busy and interesting 3 days, long and tough but exciting, and it all paid off with the purchase of four exceptional horses at true value prices, including one of the best bred, most attractive, best moving horses we have ever purchased, a filly, by the top sire Awesome Again. We spent $100,000 for her, the most ever for a two year old for our co-owner program, and we think she was worth every penny. Time will tell on that, but the kicker was she’s a New York-Bred on top of her great looks, pedigree and way of moving. A video is worth a million words about her, take a look at her video.

The next day we struck again with the purchase of our top rated colt, by the hot young sire To Honor and Serve, a horse we valued at $75,000+ who sold for just $50,000. He’s stunning too, take a look at his video.

Add to that two more colts purchased for bargain prices by two great young sires, The Factor and Gone Astray, and we went home with 4 horses we loved, for a lot less than we planned to spend. We came with a budget of $300,000 and spent just over $200,000 for the horses we really wanted. Enough said!

A large group of partners and co-owners were with us from the start at the sale and can attest to the work done and the process that produced these results. This elite sale this year, just as we predicted in our blog post, Two Year Old Sales - A look at the market, with a slightly less robust stock market, and a decline in participation from owners tied to the oil industry, offered a rare opportunity to buy really good horses at unusually affordable prices and we think we did just that.

Turning to racing news, Title Fight ran a much improved race March 19th at Penn National, finishing a closing 2^nd while coming on fast at the end. He was a well beaten 3^rd against weaker in his debut at Penn last time and he beat the horse who finished 2^nd ahead of him last time easily this time, so he’s heading in the right direction and we think we’re in a position to win some races with him this year.

Huamantla, Sonny’s Pharoah and Long May You Run all worked really well at Penn National this week. Huamantla is super sharp, we are thinking she might be ready to run in early April. Long May You Run as good as ever, looks like late April for him. Mark worked Sonny’s Pharoah against a tough older horse who has won $300,000 in his career. He is older and coming off a layoff, but the fact she stayed with him easily every step of the way says a lot, 3 year old fillies rarely do that. She had a world of talent last year and appears to have really matured. She should be ready by end of April also, while it’s too soon to get really high on her after a few works, we’ll admit we are eager to see her run.

April sale at OBS is next!

A less active time for our runners last couple of weeks, but action is heating up fast on the racetrack and at the sales.

In racing news, threes were wild, as we had three starters and all three were third. On February 18¹⁸, Awesome Challenge was 3^rd at Gulfstream Park, not a bad race, but we had been expecting even better from her in this spot. She came out of the race well and we are looking for another race at Gulfstream for her.

On February 20^th, Three Arch Bay was a well beaten 3^rd at Penn National, despite posting the best speed figure of her brief career. Two horses shipped into the race from New York, making it one of the most competitive maiden races for the level seen in quite some time at Penn. When the dust cleared, the two shippers ran 1^st and 2^nd, well ahead of the rest of the field, with Three Arch Bay rallying in the stretch to best the local runners. We think off this race, she’s ready for the winner’s circle. We’ll find out on March 10^th, as she’s entered in a similar spot at Penn as this is being written. There’s one shipper from Parx that looks tough, but no New York shippers and she fits well in here.

Finally on March 4^th, facing a super tough field for the level, Title Fight responded with an improved 3^rd in his debut at Penn National. A bit fractious in the gate, he broke well enough and was nicely placed just off the early speed, made a decent 4 wide move at the top of the stretch to gain contention, then flattened out a bit. He managed to gain 3^rd, beaten about 5 lengths for the win and about 2 lengths for 2^nd money. It was an obvious step forward over his last two at Gulfstream, where he was 5^th by 15 lengths and 8^th by 22 lengths, a good example of how much the class-competition level matters. Many people will recall last year we had a horse named Selma Gayle who ran equally poorly in Florida and after a 3^rd in her Penn debut, ran off three easy wins in a row. Hopefully with this one under his belt and a little more normal kind of competition for the level, Title Fight make it to the winner’s circle and have similar success for us. There’s a good spot for him back in a couple of weeks at Penn.

March begins the two year old in training sales season, always an exciting and important period for Kenwood Racing and the entire thoroughbred industry. This year, with the stock market and economy not as robust as in the last couple of years perhaps, if the thoroughbred market follows the stock market as it has in years past, there will be some real soft spots and buying opportunities for the exact kind of runners, quality horses at value prices, we look to purchase. To kick off the season, please take a moment and look at our most recent blog, which offers an overview of the upcoming two year old sales. We hope you enjoy it!

The OBS March sale begins with the under tack show (workouts) March 9-11^th, you can view them here . The sale dates are March 15^th & 16^th and you know we’ll be there in force at the sale, where we’ve purchased the bargain priced (and profitable!) runners, Michael With Us, The Truth & KG (both graded stakes placed), Long May You Run, Jersey Jules and Titanium Jo.

A very happy Valentine’s Day with lots of love to horses everywhere!

Some big news to start the month; it wasn’t at the racetrack, but rather at the sales. When Titanium Jo finally got into a race, just a week before her sale date at the Fasig-Tipton mixed sale in Lexington, Ky., we were hoping to head to the sale with another win under Kenwood Racing silks. Jo got the perfect trip, stalking the leader on a slow pace in the feature race at Laurel Pak on February 1st, made a bold move on the far turn, but flattened out in the stretch to finish 4^th. Jockey Tyler Connor rode her perfectly and said she tried every step of the way as she always does. A ton of rain came down just before the race and it was a wet and tiring track, not her favorite surface, but tracks aren’t made to order so no excuse.

We were disappointed, thinking if she had won she’d have gone into the sale with a shot to bring a real premium price. That said, with the 4^th place money she went over $100,000 in lifetime earnings, which is something people look at with broodmare prospects and with her pedigree and looks we felt she still could sell well; worst case we planned to race her ourselves this year and sell her in November. We felt she should sell in the $70,000 - $90,000 range and were not surprised to see he get plenty of attention in pre-sale showings. When the bidding started, she quickly flew past our reserve and brought an excellent final bid of $95,000, one of the top prices for the opening day of the two day mixed sale. She was purchased by a top Kentucky breeding farm, who will likely retire and breed her this year. By the top Storm Cat sire Bernstein, out of the outstanding producer Kings Lynn by Mt. Livermore, Titanium Jo broke her maiden impressively in her 2^nd start, in a maiden special weight event at Monmouth Park, as a two year old in 2014.  She went on to win multiple allowance races and earn over $100,000 in her fine racing career.

“Titanium Jo was good to us on the racetrack and brought a fine price at the sale today” explained Kenwood founder and co-managing partner H. Robb Levinsky. “While we’d have loved to get 3rd and black type in one of the three stakes she was 4th in as it would have been a huge home run at the sale given her exceptional pedigree, it’s hard to be anything but happy with these results. We stretched and paid $77,000 for her at OBS March 2 years ago in 2014, our top price paid in the last few years because we knew with her pedigree if she was any kind of racehorse she had considerable residual breeding value. In the end, even without winning a stake she earned over $100,000 for us at the track after winning two allowance races and running sound and well for 18 months. We received $95,000 for her today, a fun and profitable outcome. We appreciate the good work our consignor Hidden Brook Farm and the people at Fasig-Tipton did for us at the sale. We know she’s going to have a good life and be a successful broodmare for her new owners. It’s a win-win for everyone”.

Kenwood is pointing for the upcoming Fasig-Tipton and OBS two year old sales in March and April in Florida, where the company has enjoyed great success purchasing bargain priced horses in the last few years, including the stakes horses Michael With Us and The Truth & KG, purchased as two year olds by Kenwood for $57,000 and $40,000 respectively. Both horses went on to be stakes winners and graded stakes placed. Overall from 2011-2014, all 28 of Kenwood’s 2 year old purchases have raced, 27 have won, and 20+ have already earned more than their purchase prices. These 28 horses were purchased for $999,800 and have earned over $2,500,000 through January 2016. As for Titanium Jo, we were very fortunate to have owned and raced her for her entire career and wish her new owners much success with her in the breeding shed. 

Unspoken Quality ran hard and well despite finishing 6^th at Gulfstream Park on February 4th. Beaten just four lengths for the win despite the far outside post and a very slow early pace, with a better post and some pace in front of him next time as jockey Juan Leyva said “he can definitely compete with these”.

Three Arch Bay was in two excellent spots and both times racing at Penn National was cancelled due to weather conditions. She’s back in again in the 2^nd race on Wed. Feb. 17^th. Not as favorable a setup as the races that were cancelled but still a good spot. Let’s hope after two cancellations, the 3^rd time is the charm and she gets to run!

Title Fight, Long May You Run, Huamantla and Mackinaw Pharoah all settled in well at Penn National. Title Fight should run in early March, while the others, just in from some R&R at the farm, should be ready by early spring.

Final call for Belmont Stakes seats and for anyone interested in Saratoga housing this year. It’s cold now but think summer!

With most of our better runners on the farm for a little R&R as we point for the spring - summer at our home base of Monmouth Park, the winter is rarely our best part of the season, but Kenwood Racing is off to an excellent start in 2016, with two wins in January. 

First up, a great 2^nd annual Ownerview National Owners Conference at Gulfstream Park came to an end on a perfect note on January 14th , as Unspoken Quality overcame being forced terribly wide on the first turn from an outside post, to win going away. Cheered on by a large crowd of Kenwood Partners, Co-Owners and Friends, Unspoken Quality showed heart and courage under a very heady ride by jockey Juan Leyva, who kept his head after the rough start and put the horse in a position to win. Congratulations to group #26 who owns Unspoken Quality with Kenwood. We were able to purchase him at a bargain price and he has now posted a win, a second and three thirds in five starts for us.

Kenwood had a real impact at the National Owners Conference and received many accolades. It’s going to be a busy season at the sales for us with all the interest from many new and current co-owners. You can see a video of Kenwood founder and co-managing partner H. Robb Levinsky speaking on one of the featured panels of the conference here.

Just two days later on January 16th, Big Apple Brit got an absolutely picture perfect ride by jockey Taylor Connor and took full advantage of it, scooting through a big hole on the rail at the top of the stretch to win in hand at 8 to 1 odds at Penn National in his final start for Kenwood, before being sold at the Fasig-Tipton sale in Maryland on January 31st. Kudos to trainer Mark Salvaggio for having him fit and ready off a 7 week layoff. Brit beat a solid group for the level, with Kenwood co-owner David Lowrey, who he is named to honor, on hand to cheer him into the winner’s circle.  In over two years of racing, all under Kenwood silks since being purchased at the OBS April sale in 2014, Big Apple Brit gave us many thrills and winner's circle photos, with a lifetime record of 36 starts, 6 wins, 7 seconds and 5 thirds and earnings over $82,000 to date. He competed mostly in lower level claiming races, but was one of our soundest and most hard trying runners, who gave it his all every time and was as solid as they come. We wish his new owners great luck with him and we have told them he always has a safe home with us, when his racing days are over. 

And on January 18th, following up on the successful private purchase of Unspoken Quality (see above), Kenwood Racing celebrated the start of an exciting new year with the private purchase of another horse, as the three year old filly Awesome Challenge (by the fine Florida sire Awesome of Course) joined Kenwood and co-owner group #26. "We were very fortunate to be able to purchase Unspoken Quality recently, for what has proven to be a bargain price and we think this filly, coming off an impressive win in her last start at the always super competitive Gulfstrean Park meet, has the potential to be another good buy," explained Kenwood founder and managing partner H. Robb Levinsky.  Awesome Challenge will remain with trainer Steve DiMauro at Gulfstream Park. A compact, well-balanced filly, we feel Awesome Challenge is just starting to show her best form now and has a bright future ahead of her. 

On one of the few down notes for the month, Title Fight turned in a real clunker on January 27th, finishing last of 8 horses at Gulfstream Park, with no excuse. He's shown he can't compete at the tough Gulfstream winter meet and will now head to trainer Mark Salvaggio at Penn National where we hope, as has proven to be the case with so many other horses, a little class relief and a new setting will get him back in form and into the winner's circle. 

Kenwood's fine filly Titanium Jo is entered in the Fasig-Tipton Winter sale in Kentucky on February 8th, as a racing or broodmare prospect and was assigned hip #245. We expect her to run again prior to the sale, and if she doesn't bring our price at the sale she will stay with us and run the rest of 2016. She would make an awfully nice broodmare - racing prospect for someone willing to pay the price. You can see her catalog page here. It’s impressive.