Kenneally getting some well-deserved attention

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Eddie Kenneally barn at Churchill Downs is sometimes surrounded by sightseers and media during morning training hours, at least during peak times. After all, Bob Baffert is on one side and Bill Mott is on the other.

But Kenneally warrants attention, too, at least from everyday horseplayers. As the final three-day stretch of the Churchill spring meet begins Thursday, Kenneally had sent out 16 winners, second only to Steve Asmussen.

“It’s been an excellent meet for us,” Kenneally said. “We’ve won with every kind of horse – maidens, allowances, claiming horses. We had a lot of horses with conditions ready to run. We didn’t run quite as many as we normally do at Gulfstream and Fair Grounds over the winter, so we really focused on the Churchill meet and had some fresh horses ready to go. We got off to a pretty good start, and it just snowballed from there.”

Kenneally, a 53-year-old native of County Waterford, Ireland, has been training in the United States since 1993, and like anyone else, he’s had his share of highs and lows. But his statistics say he’s “Steady Eddie,” as stable earnings have ranged between $2 million and $3.3 million each of the last 11 years.

For nearly 10 years, Kenneally had a split stable from spring to fall in New York, but he consolidated everything in Kentucky starting in 2016. He said he’ll send “eight or 10” horses to the upcoming meet at Saratoga, where he has won at least one race every summer since 2008.

“The purses are at an all-time high now in Kentucky, so that’s our main focus,” he said. “We’ll be running some down at Ellis Park this summer, just like a lot of the other guys here.”

Among the Kenneally winners at this meet were Hop Kat and By Your Side, 2-year-olds who likely will make their next start in stakes. Older horses Boxwood and Parlor also will be back in stakes soon, with Parlor probably starting once at Saratoga with an eye toward the Kentucky Downs meet, which starts Aug. 31.