Kumin hopes to ‘get lucky' with 15 Breeders' Cup starters

Sol Kumin was part-owner of a Breeders’ Cup winner in 2014 and 2015 and thought owning Thoroughbreds was an easy game.

“I thought, ‘We can do this every year,’ he said.

Not quite.

Kumin did not win a Breeders’ Cup race in 2016 or 2017. In 2016, Kumin’s two previous Breeders’ Cup winners, Lady Eli and Wavell Avenue, finished second in the Filly and Mare Turf and Filly and Mare Sprint, respectively. Last year, Kumin finished second in the Turf with Beach Patrol, while Lady Eli got stepped on during the running of the Filly and Mare Turf and finished eighth.

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This year, Kumin has part-ownership of 15 horses that will be competing in 10 of the 14 Breeders’ Cup races run Friday and Saturday at Churchill Downs. The roster includes the trio of Catholic Boy, Mind Your Biscuits, and Yoshida in the $6 million Classic; the dynamic duo of Monomoy Girl and Midnight Bisou in the $2 million Distaff; A Raving Beauty and Santa Monica in the $2 million Filly and Mare Turf; World of Trouble and Will Call in the $1 million Turf Sprint; Liam the Charmer in the $4 million Turf; Whitmore in the $1 million Sprint; Mia Mischief in the $1 million Filly and Mare Sprint; Mind Control in the $2 million Juvenile; Reflect in the $2 million Juvenile Fillies; and Stellar Agent in the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf.

His horses will be prepared by 12 trainers, two each from the barns of Chad Brown, Brad Cox, and Steve Asmussen.

“I feel like I’ve got a handful of horses that if everything goes right can win, but no real favorites,” Kumin said. “You’re looking to get lucky once.”

Overall, Kumin has been quite lucky since he got involved in racing in 2014 at the behest of his friend Jay Hanley. That April, his group purchased a few 2-year-olds with one turning out to be Lady Eli, who won that year’s Juvenile Fillies Turf. Lady Eli became a racing darling as she battled back from the hoof disease laminitis to win a Grade 1.

Kumin, a hedge-fund manager from Boston, got more involved in racing as time went on. Introduced to several bloodstock agents, including Brad Weisbord, Liz Crow, Nick Sallusto, and Nicolas de Watrigant, Kumin started adding already-established horses to his stable.

One of those horses was Justify. Kumin’s Head of Plains partners purchased a 15 percent interest in both him and Audible in February. While the deal was finalized after Justify won his maiden, Kumin said negotiations were in the works prior to that start.

Justify would go on to win the Triple Crown and retire undefeated.

“Winning the Triple Crown was unbelievable,” he said. “It was a crazy ride that was all-consuming.”

Kumin has purchased 12 of his 15 Breeders’ Cup runners after they had made at least one start.

Some have criticized Kumin’s practice of buying into already-established horses. Kumin is the face of the franchise, if you will, of a number of partnerships that include his friends Jim Carey (not the actor) and James Pallotta, a billionaire businessman who is co-owner of the Boston Celtics. That trio, along with a fourth person who declines to be identified, races under the stable names Head of Plains Partners and Madaket Stables. Kumin, Carey and Pallotta also race under Monomoy Stables with another partner as well as Sheep Pond Partners and Nantucket Thoroughbred Partners.

“People criticize it and say ‘Oh it’s easy, he buys a horse right before it runs, how hard is it? Try and buy one as a baby,’ ” Kumin said. “I understand what they’re saying and I have [bought babies] and I’ve done well with it and I’ve missed.

“A private purchase takes a lot work because there’s a tremendous amount of due diligence you have to do,” Kumin added. “Yearling sales? I’m not saying it’s easy to win, but it’s easy to do. You just need credit at Keeneland.”

Kumin’s Monomoy Stables and Mike Dubb bought Monomoy Girl as a yearling for $100,000. They have since brought on partners in Stuart Grant’s Elkstone Group and Mike Caruso’s Bethlehem Stables.

Monomoy Girl has won 8 of 10 starts, including the Kentucky Oaks and four other Grade 1 stakes, and is the leader of the 3-year-old filly division. In the Grade 1 Cotillion at Parx Racing last month, Monomoy Girl finished first but was disqualified to second for interfering with Midnight Bisou, who was elevated from second to first. Kumin’s Madaket Stables purchased a third of Midnight Bisou following her hird-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks,

“Uncomfortable” was how Kumin described the period when the stewards were adjudicating an objection from Midnight Bisou’s jockey Mike Smith in the Cotillion. “I didn’t know where to stand, so I stood in the back by myself.”

Kumin believes Monomoy Girl has “wrapped up the division” by virtue of victories in the Ashland, Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and Coaching Club American Oaks.

But, he said, “if Midnight Bisou was to win this race, I would understand people wanting to have a conversation about it. I try to stay out of that stuff.”

Monomoy Girl, Midnight Bisou, Catholic Boy, Mind Your Biscuits, A Raving Beauty, and Yoshida have accounted for 10 of the 22 Grade 1 stakes wins Kumin has been a part of this year. Through Sunday, Kumin had won 65 stakes, 51 of which have been graded.

“In a sport where it’s been done one way for a long time, I think we brought a different approach with a lot of energy,” Kumin said “I don’t know that there’s been a better year in the U.S for an owner.”

And the year’s not over yet.