Kenjisstorm returning after eventful layoff

ARCADIA, Calif. - Kenjisstorm chased home two winners trained by Phil D’Amato in graded stakes at Santa Anita and Del Mar last summer. Shortly after a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Eddie Read Stakes last July, Kenjisstorm was turned out.

When Kenjistorm resumed training last fall, he was transferred from Richard Baltas to D’Amato.

Thursday at Santa Anita, Kenjisstorm will have his first start for D’Amato in an allowance race with a $75,000 claiming option at a mile on turf. For a horse unraced since July, Kenjisstorm had an eventful rest period.

D’Amato said last weekend that Kenjisstorm was one of his horses based at the San Luis Rey Downs training center in Bonsall, Calif., when a devastating wildfire struck the property on Dec. 7. Some of the barns were destroyed, resulting in the loss of 46 horses.

Kenjisstorm was briefly loose on the property and was later found on an adjacent farm, D’Amato said.

“We found him across the street,” D’Amato said. “He was all right. We gave him extra time, like all the horses.”

Owned by a partnership that includes Head of Plains Partners and KM Racing Enterprise, Kenjisstorm has won 4 of 28 starts. D’Amato is the 6-year-old’s seventh trainer.

Kenjisstorm won an optional claimer at 1 1/8 miles on turf here last May before finishing sixth to Pee Wee Reese in the Grade 2 American Stakes here July 4 and behind Hunt in the Eddie Read.

“He’s trained well," D’Amato said. “He hasn’t missed a beat. I’ve never run him before. That’s an X factor. He’s a good-feeling kind of horse.”

D’Amato has two of the eight runners in Thursday’s optional claimer. The race will be the first start for Isotherm since a last-place finish of seven in the Grade 2 San Marcos Stakes at 1 1/4 miles on turf Feb. 3.

D’Amato is hopeful the shorter distance Thursday will work in favor of Isotherm, who raced near the front in the last half-mile before fading in the stretch in the San Marcos.

“I think he was taken out of his element in that race,” D’Amato said. “He shot to the front and faded. I adjusted tactics and gave him a break.

“I’ll see if he likes a mile. He trains like a miler. I want to see how he does at the distance.”

The optional claimer is a massive drop in class for Free Rose, who won the Grade 2 Del Mar Derby in 2016 but is winless in his last six starts, all Grade 1 or Grade 2 races. Free Rose was last of eighth in the Grade 1 Frank Kilroe Mile on March 10, his third start since undergoing colic surgery last summer.

“I want to get him back in the winner’s circle,” Baltas said. “Ever since he had colic surgery, it doesn’t seem like he has the fire. In fairness to the horse, I’ve had him in tough spots.”