A relatively quiet week, typical for November, with three starters, but the big race of the month looms…

On November 5th, Big Apple Brit ran his usual honest race, to finish a fast closing 3^rd, beaten just over 2 lengths for the win, coming from dead last with a flying finish at Penn National. It was shorter than his preferred distance and they ran very fast for the level. This horse almost always comes up with a good effort. Off this race, he should be tough to beat if we can get a similar spot in a route race next time. Brit has been with us over 2 years now and what he lacks in racing ability, he makes up for in soundness and heart.

The next day, Unspoken Quality got a good ride and a good trip and ran a good race, finishing 3^rd, just one jump short of catching the 2^nd horse, in a photo finish at Gulfstream Park West. He handled the turf ok, after running a bit greenly on it in the first part of the race, but it didn’t seem to move him up as we had hoped for. This horse appears to be exactly what we expected when we purchased him privately for a bargain price a few weeks ago, a sound, honest runner who tries hard on a variety of surfaces-distances. He’s had a 2^nd and a 3^rd for us in two starts so far, both at considerably higher levels than what we paid for him. We don’t think he’ll make us famous, but we do think he’ll win money and get us in the winner’s circle. We’ll look for a similar spot, probably on dirt for his next start, either right at the end of the month at Gulfstream West or right at the beginning of December when Gulfstream opens for the winter season.

A race for JW Racer finally went at Laurel Park on November 8^th to end the week, after 6 previous races failed to fill at various tracks. We can’t say it was worth the wait, as he had a rough trip and finished a well beaten 5^th. He was between horses much of the way, dropped back to dead last, rallied slightly in the stretch, but did not run the race we had expected, so we were not sorry to see him claimed from us here. We liked this horse, but after winning his debut he’s had two really poor races in a row, so the claim probably came at a good time.

A little education here about entries; to quote racing secretary Georganne Hale at Laurel Park, when we called to ask her to use the race for JW Racer she said “we haven’t had a two year old winner’s race go all year”. In other words, once a two year old won their maiden race, there has been no place to run them in Maryland during all of 2015. We entered this horse at multiple tracks for weeks with no luck. As explained in previous blogs and emails, most races you see each day at any track are for maidens or cheap claimers. When you have a good upper level claiming or allowance horse, the opportunities can be few and far between, especially with two year olds, since (as also mentioned detailed previously) only 40% of horses win a single race at age two. In other words, there’s not a lot of two year old winners to draw from. If you have one, you’ve beaten the odds with that horse! Just like there are hundreds of thousands of people each year who want to play pro basketball or football or tennis, and only a handful make it. There are roughly 25,000 horses born each year; only a few hundred become stakes horses, perhaps a couple thousand become allowance horses, and the rest are (mostly very cheap) claimers. That’s why there are lots of cheap claiming races and much few races for the better horses.

Chuck Peery reports that Proven Warrior came out of his win last week excellent. He’s pointing him for a race November 19^th at Churchill Downs.

Long May You Run and Mackinaw Pharoah arrived safely at War Horses farm in Virginia, on November 6^th for a little R&R. No problems with either horse and no long down time expected. LMYR just needs a little freshening after a long season and Mackinaw needs a little time to mature into hopefully a much better three year old grass horse.

Title Fight is doing well and ready to run. There’s a race for him in about 10 days at Gulfstream Park West.

The past performances for the horses nominated for the Safely Kept Stakes at Laurel Park on November 14^th are out and Titanium Jo is as ready as we can get her, for this important opportunity for a $100,000 purse and black type, which would mean a lot to her future value when she is sold as a broodmare prospect, besides the purse money.

Don’t forget the 2^nd annual national owners conference at Gulfstream Park in January, with Kenwood Racing’s own Robb Levinsky speaking on one of the featured panels, "Acquiring Your Racehorse". Sign up now at www.ownerview.com/event/conference. Of course, the Kenwood team will be attending the conference, which will include live racing at Gulfstream Park with prime seating, dinners, tours, and the opportunity to attend the Eclipse Awards dinner. You’ll meet the leading people in the thoroughbred industry, attend unique social events, and see the races in style. January is the perfect time to escape the cold and see some outstanding racing in South Florida. Plan to stay through the following weekend and enjoy the races!  We’ll make space in our finish-line box for Kenwood people attending the conference on a first come, first served basis.