Kenwood Racing's much beloved Carl’s Only Vice died on July 31st at the Mid Atlantic Equine Medical Center at 11:30pm, after falling gravely ill with Colitis a few days earlier. From the time we bought him at the OBS April 2012 sale, he was a pet and a barn favorite.  Colitis is a horrible illness that is difficult to treat, nobody is to blame, life does not come with guarantees for anyone. Carl’s loss is one that will be felt deeply by all of us, he was in our barn for 4 wonderful years and a pleasure to have as part of Kenwood Racing. Our hope and plan for him as a successful, sound New Jersey bred was to have him follow in the footsteps of our own Hermosillo, who retired at age 9 sound and happy and is having a great retirement at War Horse’s farm in Virginia under the loving care of a great horsewoman, Barbara Luna. Carl was doing great; our goal this year for him was the Hesse Handicap that Hermosillo won twice and Carl lost last year due to a horrible ride; then to keep racing as long as he was sound and happy and eventually retire and enjoy life on the farm with Hermosillo. Unfortunately, it was not to be. He was way too young to succumb to such a horrible illness. Life is tough and any loss is hard, especially the loss of one you love.

New Jersey bred warrior Carl's Only Vice had a fine career for Kenwood, with 4 wins, 5 seconds and 6 thirds and over $150,000 in lifetime earnings in 31 starts from age 2-5. A model of soundness with a thrilling come from behind style, Carl started off slowly, but matured with every start. He had his best season last year in 2014, with two memorable back to back wins. In an allowance event at Monmouth Park on August 16th, he went off at outrageously high odds and proved the so-called experts wrong with a picture perfect come from behind win. Sent off at 8 to 1, in a near duplicate of his previous victory he was well back off a hot pace and rallied stoutly in the stretch to win by just under a length against one of the best fields of allowance horses he faced in his career. On July 26th, Carl started off a huge Haskell weekend with the Kenwood team brimming with confidence. Sent off at a stunning 11 to 1 odds, he sat well back early, moved strongly when asked on the far turn, took over the lead inside the 1/8th pole, and drew away to a commanding 2 length win before one of the largest collection of Kenwood partners and co-owners ever to grace the Monmouth Park winner's circle. Carl had a unique personality; he learned to love mints from his older barnmate Hermosillo early on and like his barnmate, asked for them anytime you passed by his stall. He was a barn pet and will be long remembered by everyone who knew him.

Kenwood would like to take a moment to publicly thank the many people who were kind enough to offer their condolences. Particular mention should be made of Dr. Bernie Dowd of North Atlantic Equine Assoc. (our vet at Monmouth Park who cared for Carl since his 2 year old season) and Dr. Rodney Belgrave at the Mid-Atlantic Equine Medical Center (who cared for Carl in his terrible final hours), both of whom took the time to write warm, personal notes to us after his passing. These great people set a wonderful example of how much the many good people in our industry really care about the welfare of horses