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!