Kennedy takes a shot at the big time

DEL MAR, Calif. – Jockey Ty Kennedy needed little coaxing to relocate at the end of the summer.

The 21-year-old apprentice had just arrived at Remington Park from Prairie Meadows for the late-summer and fall meeting when agent Mark North suggested a move to California. Not long after that, Kennedy was headed west.

“I consider this the land of opportunity,” Kennedy said on a recent morning. “I figured why not? At home, you watch these races on TV, and you want to be here.”

Kennedy, who had his first Thoroughbred winner at Prairie Meadows in April, is the latest apprentice jockey to arrive on this circuit, one of the nation’s toughest for riders. His goal is simple – benefit from the weight break in his apprentice allowance before the term expires in May and earn a permanent spot in the region.

Since arriving in late August, Kennedy has won eight races – two at Los Alamitos in September and six at Santa Anita in the autumn meeting. He is starting to gain attention from a variety of stables. On Friday at Del Mar, Kennedy has three mounts on the eight-race program, including Racing for Chasen, a contender in the second race for $16,000 claimers.

On Friday, Kennedy has mounts for Barry Abrams, Carla Gaines, and Hector Palma. In recent weeks, he has ridden occasionally for Art Sherman, the trainer of California Chrome.

To date, Kennedy has won 23 Thoroughbred races. He will claim seven pounds until his 35th win, when the apprentice allowance will be reduced to five pounds for the remainder of the term.

Racing in California is new to Kennedy, but he grew up in the sport. Kennedy was raised in Hiawatha, Kan., a town of a little more than 3,000 people about 90 minutes northwest of Kansas City. Kennedy’s uncle, John Coffman, was a stakes-winning Quarter Horse jockey in the 1980s in Oklahoma and Kansas and rode in the All American Futurity at Ruidoso Downs.

After high school, Kennedy briefly attended Kansas State, studying agricultural technical management, before the lure of the racetrack became too strong. He missed horses and the activity of a racing stable.

“I can always go back and finish later on,” he said of college.

With his family’s history, Kennedy had his first mounts on Quarter Horses. His first stakes win was an 870-yard race at Will Rogers Downs in Oklahoma in September 2014. Kennedy sports a belt buckle commemorating the win.

Coffman, 52, knew at a young age that his nephew was hooked on racing.

“When he was young, he had a wooden saw horse and put an exercise saddle on it,” Coffman said this week from Oklahoma. “He watched ‘Casey’s Shadow’ over and over again.”

Kennedy is aware it will not be easy to crack into this circuit. The competition is fierce for everyday rides, with jockeys such as Rafael Bejarano, Joe Talamo and Tyler Baze at the top of the standings and veterans such as Mike Smith, Gary Stevens, and Victor Espinoza gaining top mounts in important races.

The recent history for apprentice jockeys in Southern California is favorable. Drayden Van Dyke broke onto the circuit in 2013. He won a riding title at Los Alamitos in the summer of 2014, the year he was honored as the nation’s outstanding apprentice. Van Dyke is now a journeyman in Southern California and has won 63 races this year.

Surrounded by such riders, Kennedy said every day is an education in race riding.

“To come out here and ride, I have a lot of good teachers,” he said. “The riders here have been more than willing to help. There’s always something to learn.”