General News

Closing day for the 2020 Monmouth Park meet is Saturday, our horses have started shipping out for New York, Pennsylvania, and Florida. If you didn’t see the list we sent Sunday please let us know and we’ll send you another copy

Horse by Horse News

Lots of exciting entry news, the weather gets cooler in the fall and the races fewer but for Kenwood Racing the action remains hot…

  • New Found Treasure was scratched from her scheduled start at Laurel Park Sunday when it came off the grass, then was on the also eligible list for a race at Laurel this week needing several scratches to draw in, so we entered her at Presque Isle Downs and she got in. She’ll run tomorrow at Presque Isle on Polytrack. Hard to say how she’ll do on a new track-surface in a large, competitive field. Most turf horses run well on Polytrack, with no other good options for her it’s worth a try. She continues to train great.
  • Highwaytwentyseven didn’t get to run in what would have been an ideal spot for him when racing was cancelled last week at Monmouth Park but he gets in for closing day (Oct. 24th) and will be our final starter of the year for what has been a truly exceptional meet for us at our home track. Hoping to go out on a high note for 2020 here.
  • It had just not gone the right way for Itsgottabemyway. She’s been ready to run for weeks; we’ve been looking for a spot at Monmouth Park before the season ends and when that didn’t work out we entered her at multiple tracks and finally after (seriously) 9 entries at 3 different tracks, she got in at Parx next Tuesday. There are 16 horses entered, only 10 can run so it’s fortunate she drew in this time, a little long overdue luck. Won’t be easy but she’ll get a shot. After the race she’ll ship to Penn National to train with trainer Mark Salvaggio.
  • Tracy Ann's Legacy was entered yet again (after many previous entries) for the final day of racing at Monmouth Park and once again the race did not go for her. Fortunately, there is a good spot to enter her in tomorrow for Sunday at Laurel Park, which would be perfect as we could run her once more before she ships to Palm Meadows in Florida next week. Fingers crossed!

Just to give newer owners a little education on entries, a lot of the above horses are turf runners and as grass racing winds down in the entire region for the season opportunities become few and far between and almost every race becomes super-competitive and overfills. We’ve had exceptional success with turf horses this year (and in past years); Tracy Ann’s Legacy, Pango, New Found Treasure, Life On the Edge, etc. have won a ton of races and money for us on the grass, more than 50% of our wins and purses actually in 2020, but there’s no free lunch in the racing game and that’s the challenge with turf horses at this time of year.

Workouts and shipping

  • Blu Candy had a really nice work Sunday at Monmouth Park. She went head to head with a colt Kelly thinks has talent and kept right with him in a very quick time (see below). She shipped to Belmont Park Monday and trained there twice now with no issues. The brief time off at the farm really did her a world of good, she’s bred to be better as she matures and it looks like she’s making genuine progress. She’s on track to make her debut well before the end of the year, perhaps even by the end of November.

Horse Workout Notification
October 18, 2020
Blu Candy (2-Year-Old Filly)
Your comments for this horse were: FT May 2yo purchase
Date: October 18, 2020
Track: MONMOUTH PARK
Distance: Three Furlongs
Time: 36:20 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 2/20

  • Adhwaa excellent out of her Kenwood Racing debut at Monmouth Park. Rider said she tried every step of the way and felt perfect. This race should set her up nicely for a better spot next time. She shipped to Belmont Park with Blu Candy and trained there twice already with no issues. Kelly’s asst. John took the attached photo of her at Belmont Park this morning. Not the most flattering pose but you can see she arrived safely and is doing well.
  • Fire's Finale has been nominated to the Pa. Nursery Stakes at Parx Dec. 7th for his final start of the year. It’s an $80,000 stake restricted to Pa. bred 2 year olds going 7 furlongs, which should be an ideal distance for him. Having broken his maiden on the same track and come out of the race really sharp and totally sound, we feel to quote trainer Kelly Breen it is “the perfect move”. He’ll ship to Belmont Park in the next couple of days. If another ideal spot comes up somewhere else we won’t rule that out, but our goal is the Pa. Nursery Stakes to end the season. Right after that race, we plan to send him down to Ocala for some richly deserved R&R. Timing should be perfect to have him ready for a big three year old season next year after a brief layoff.
  • Rapstorerocks training very well, there’s a nice spot for him sprinting, enter Friday for next week at Penn National, he’s ready.
  • Giuliana Vee good out of her race at Penn National where she ran an excellent fast closing 2nd, coming from dead last in the early going with a huge stretch run to miss by less than a length in a very game effort. This is a nice filly and she’s run well for us all year long. There’s a couple of spots for her to run back in the first week of November.
  • Pango doing well out of his 2nd impressive win in a row. Unfortunately turf racing is coming to an end in the northeast for the season but we might be able to get one more race for him at Laurel shortly and then we’ll evaluate our options.
  • Life On the Edge enjoying a well-deserved bit of R&R at Sunset Meadow farm. She had 2 wins and two seconds for us this year, earning nearly $50,000. A little turnout while the weather is still good and back in training before the end of the year.
  • Seven Seven enjoying his R&R at Sunset Meadow farm also, all good. Here’s a bit of good news, his freshman sire, Laoban, is a sensation. Hopefully Seven Seven will add to his sire’s blossoming reputation next year!
  • Lisa Limon and weanling by Liam’s Map both very well in Kentucky.