A less active time for our runners last couple of weeks, but action is heating up fast on the racetrack and at the sales.

In racing news, threes were wild, as we had three starters and all three were third. On February 18¹⁸, Awesome Challenge was 3^rd at Gulfstream Park, not a bad race, but we had been expecting even better from her in this spot. She came out of the race well and we are looking for another race at Gulfstream for her.

On February 20^th, Three Arch Bay was a well beaten 3^rd at Penn National, despite posting the best speed figure of her brief career. Two horses shipped into the race from New York, making it one of the most competitive maiden races for the level seen in quite some time at Penn. When the dust cleared, the two shippers ran 1^st and 2^nd, well ahead of the rest of the field, with Three Arch Bay rallying in the stretch to best the local runners. We think off this race, she’s ready for the winner’s circle. We’ll find out on March 10^th, as she’s entered in a similar spot at Penn as this is being written. There’s one shipper from Parx that looks tough, but no New York shippers and she fits well in here.

Finally on March 4^th, facing a super tough field for the level, Title Fight responded with an improved 3^rd in his debut at Penn National. A bit fractious in the gate, he broke well enough and was nicely placed just off the early speed, made a decent 4 wide move at the top of the stretch to gain contention, then flattened out a bit. He managed to gain 3^rd, beaten about 5 lengths for the win and about 2 lengths for 2^nd money. It was an obvious step forward over his last two at Gulfstream, where he was 5^th by 15 lengths and 8^th by 22 lengths, a good example of how much the class-competition level matters. Many people will recall last year we had a horse named Selma Gayle who ran equally poorly in Florida and after a 3^rd in her Penn debut, ran off three easy wins in a row. Hopefully with this one under his belt and a little more normal kind of competition for the level, Title Fight make it to the winner’s circle and have similar success for us. There’s a good spot for him back in a couple of weeks at Penn.

March begins the two year old in training sales season, always an exciting and important period for Kenwood Racing and the entire thoroughbred industry. This year, with the stock market and economy not as robust as in the last couple of years perhaps, if the thoroughbred market follows the stock market as it has in years past, there will be some real soft spots and buying opportunities for the exact kind of runners, quality horses at value prices, we look to purchase. To kick off the season, please take a moment and look at our most recent blog, which offers an overview of the upcoming two year old sales. We hope you enjoy it!

The OBS March sale begins with the under tack show (workouts) March 9-11^th, you can view them here . The sale dates are March 15^th & 16^th and you know we’ll be there in force at the sale, where we’ve purchased the bargain priced (and profitable!) runners, Michael With Us, The Truth & KG (both graded stakes placed), Long May You Run, Jersey Jules and Titanium Jo.