Hi All,
We hope that all of the Kenwood family and friends in Florida are safe from the devastation of Hurricane Milton that occurred last week and will be fully recovered soon. Some good news with long anticipated entry tonight and nice results from our runners on Saturday October 5th.
Red Head Italian will make her long-awaited comeback race after almost a year lay off due to some health issues. We have been very patient with her recovery and hopefully this pays off with a long and successful racing career. She is in race four at the Meadowlands tonight leaving from post 6 in a field of eight going five furlongs on the turf (see pp’s attached above and race details and latest work below). Scott’s pre-race comments are below.
Finally! Some entry news to report for RED HEAD ITALIAN, as she is entered Friday night at the Meadowlands in Race 4; Post Time at 8:24 PM! A 5-furlong turf sprint, RHI is coming off an almost 1-year layoff – 51 weeks and 2 days to be exact – and will be trying the turf for the first time on Friday night. She gets one of the up-and-coming riders in the sport, Luis Rivera Jr who Kelly has teamed up with twice already at the Meadowlands Meet to get their picture taken! It’s a shorter field of eight NJ Breds, with all but #8-Starview Twinkle (4YO) being 3YO fillies. RHI has always flashed speed since we picked her out at the OBS April Sale last year on the synthetic surface, and she’s continued to show that speed throughout her return to training on the dirt which hopefully translates to the grass also! All the early speed on Friday night looks to be to her inside, with #5-One Fine Wine, #3-Lady Marleen and #1-Fancy Rosebud all pushing the early pace with quick fractions in past races. With the addition of blinkers, RHI has shown more control in the mornings and will hopefully be prompting that early pace from her outside post, while being able to setup in a stalking position and not get caught too wide. The early speed does appear to be quicker than what RHI showed us last year, so not sure she’ll be able to clear and get the lead out of the gate. With that said, we’ll be in capable hands to read and react accordingly. Fingers crossed for a clean break, a safe trip. Good luck to our partner RJR Racing, all Group 91 Members and Kenwood Racing Partners; let’s get lucky!
Please let us know if you’ll be able to join us Friday night at the Meadowlands. The setup is a little funky for Thoroughbred Racing, and the Paddock/Winner’s Circle is on the “backside”; so we need to take a trackside van from the grandstand to the backside right after Race 3, in order to experience those parts of it.
Red Head Italian (3-Year-Old Filly)
Date: October 6, 2024
Track: MONMOUTH PARK
Distance: Four Furlongs
Time: 49:00 Breezing
Track Condition: Fast
Surface: Dirt
Rank: 19/54
Miti Fast Flower ran a hard trying 2nd on Saturday October 5th at Delaware Park. Post race report by Scott is below.
MITI FAST FLOWER ran her race again yesterday, coming up just short at the wire of getting back-to-back wins! She broke cleanly from the inside, and saved ground around both turns while chasing a slow pace up front. She got boxed in on the far turn and had to drop back a few lengths, before coming back down the stretch to lose by less than a length at the wire. A thrilling stretch drive that unfortunately came up just short in the end. In what can be the tougher part of this game sometimes, She was claimed away from us out the race and will run for new connections next out. Always a possibility when you’re running in claiming races, we were running her where she could have success and win races. She racked up an 8:1-2-3 running line for Kenwood Racing, and $18,300 in earnings since purchase at the June 2023 OBS.
Vino Limone was our middle runner of three last Saturday in a seven furlong race at Laurel Park in Maryland. She tried hard but just couldn’t catch up to the leaders after a slow break from the gate finishing fourth. See Scott’s post-race comments below.
VINO LIMONE tried her heart out the entire way, but it just wasn’t enough to get an ITM finish against this tough group of 2YO fillies. The winner was much the best in going gate-to-wire to win by 8 lengths in just her second career start, and while Vino Limone was passing horses late, she was a bit outmatched at no fault of hers! She tries hard every time she is on the track, and yesterday was no different. While we would have liked to have that Starter Allowance race go instead of this open Allowance, we’ll get Vino Limone back amongst easier competition next out as we look to get her back in the Winner’s Circle after two TOUGH races. She came out of the race great, and seems no worse for the wear, so we’ll regroup with her down in Florida, and possibly even look for a turf/synthetic race. The current plan is to ship down to Palm Meadows in a couple weeks, and we’ll keep you posted as plans get finalized.
Outlaw Country completed the Saturday Triple-header in Race six at the Meadowlands on October 5th finishing a driving third and missing second by a nose at the wire. The time of the race was 55.75 seconds for the five furlongs and the track record is 55.34 seconds. Scott’s post- race comments are below.
OUTLAW COUNTRY raced his race last night against a very strong group of Starter Allowance horses, coming up a nose short of 2nd place and just a couple lengths short of the gate-to-wire winner. They went fast up front early, and Outlaw Country came with his late kick, but just couldn’t get to the winner and was just shy of getting his nose down at the wire for second place. While it doesn’t mean anything at the end of the day, OC galloped out much the best through the wire and looked like he could have gotten there if the race was 5.5-furlongs instead of 5-furlongs! Outlaw Country has heading to Sunset Meadows Farm for a much-deserved break from the races and we couldn’t be more excited for his future as he heads into his 5YO season. He came out of the race doing great, and while we have no timetable for his time off, we are expecting 2-3 months of R&R and just being a horse! We’ll keep you posted along the way, and we’ll plan a farm visit for the locals at some point over the next few weeks.
Calming Sea is training well, and we will be looking at an entry for her at the Meadowlands on Friday October 18th. The draw will occur next Tuesday with details to follow if the race goes.
Cali Heat is training well for Mark Salvaggio at Penn National and we are pointing him towards a race at Penn on Thursday October 24th (see work details below)
Lisa’s Palace is back in training at Monmouth Park after a short freshening at Sunset Meadow and will ship to Mark Salvaggio at Penn National sometime next week to prep for her next race later this fall.
Our Connect / Lisa Limon filly is well at Hidden Brook Farm in Kentucky. She will be vanning to a farm in Delaware in mid-October to become Delaware certified for additional race purses when she is eligible next year.