Owner Michael Nentwig has big day with Stormy Liberal and Jimmy Durante winners

DEL MAR, Calif. - There is always a horse in action for California owner Michael Nentwig.

If Nentwig does not have a runner on a given day, he is almost certain to have one active in morning workouts. In addition, there are his European connections. Nentwig is frequently searching for prospects.

On Saturday at Del Mar, Nentwig and his partners had one of their best days of the year, winning the Grade 3 Jimmy Durante Stakes for 2-year-old fillies with Zona Verde, and the Stormy Liberal Stakes for turf sprinters with Unconquerable Keen.

Nentwig, 48, co-owns Zona Verde with Sandra Benowitz, John Rochford and McLean Racing Stables. He co-owns Unconquerable Keen with Rochfort and Omar Aldabbagh.

On Sunday, Almandares, imported from Ireland earlier this year, won an allowance race on turf at Del Mar for Nentwig, Rochfort, McLean Racing Stables, Saul Gevertz and Ray Pagano.

“I’m a partnership guy,” Nentwig said. “Winning a race by myself is nowhere near as fun as winning with friends.”

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Nentwig has a background in marketing for a Northern California computer company, but today focuses on operating a stable of more than 50 runners from his home in Del Mar. He actively pursues race-ready runners from Ireland through bloodstock agents Niall Dalton and Michael Donohue. More runners will debut for Nentwig and his partners this winter.

Nentwig’s most successful runner in recent years was the Irish import Going Global, who won nine stakes in 2021 and 2022 for a partnership before she was sold for $2.5 million at the Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale in 2022 to Australian interests.

Both Unconquerable Keen and Zona Verde began their careers in Ireland.

Unconquerable Keen, a 4-year-old gelding, won for the third time in his last four starts in the Stormy Liberal Stakes. Unconquerable Keen ran five furlongs on turf in 55.87 seconds in the Stormy Liberal, earning a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 100 for his first stakes win.

Going Global and Unconquerable Keen were bred by Nicky Hattery and were trained by Mick Halford at the start of their careers.

Nentwig had his eye on Unconquerable Keen for considerable time before the gelding joined trainer Phil D’Amato’s stable in spring 2022.

“Eventually, we wore the guy down,” Nentwig said of the private purchase. “He’s definitely coming around under Phil’s care.”

Nentwig credits jockey Joe Bravo and exercise rider Sherri Alexander, D’Amato’s wife, with their work in coaxing Unconquerable Keen from aggressive tendencies.

“I give a lot of credit to Joe Bravo,” Nentwig said. “Joe had turned this horse around a little bit. He was a bit of a runoff and Joe got him to learn to settle and finish instead of just pulling and pulling and pulling.”

Alexander, Nentwig said, “put a lot of time in him.”

Bravo recently relocated to Gulfstream Park to ride. Flavien Prat rode Unconquerable Keen in the Stormy Liberal.

“I was a little disappointed when Joe moved his tack,” Nentwig said.

The Grade 2 Joe Hernandez Stakes at about 6 1/2 furlongs on the hillside turf course at Santa Anita on Dec. 30 is an early winter goal for Unconquerable Keen.

Zona Verde, a 10-1 winner of the Durante, was winless in four starts in Ireland before joining D’Amato’s stable. She is rated as a long-term prospect for the leading stakes for 3-year-old fillies on turf in Southern California in 2024.

Considering she was well-beaten when second and seventh in races at Navan and Cork racecourses in Ireland in the spring, Zona Verde has made considerable progress to become a graded stakes winner.

“A good horse can come from anywhere,” Nentwig said. “I’m not afraid to take a chance on a horse that comes from a B track.”

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