Kevin McKathan has many talents. One of the principals of the McKathan Bros. in Ocala, he helped launch the careers of many fine horses, including the 2015 Triple Crown winner American pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile), and he was also a major force as a consignor at the 2-year-old sale. But he was ready for something different. Thirty-three years after starting his last horse, McKathan will return to the coaching ranks as he hits the long shot Fenwick (Curlin) during the GI Toyota Blue Grass S. Saturday in Keeneland.
“I am very pleased,” he said. “My brother (JB, who passed away in 2019) and I used to train horses at the racecourse many years ago and the reason we started doing what we are doing is because we don’t train the racers. good horse. I always say that bad horses make bad horse trainers. Anytime you can touch a good one, that’s amazing.”
McKathan started his last horse in 1989 and soon after started his new business in Ocala. No time for much else.
“For many years, I always had 150 horses in the house,” he said. “It’s not like I can just go out and run around the races.”
McKathan bought Fenwick for $52,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Fall 2020 sale to owner Jeremiah Rudan. The original plan was to sell the 2-year-old boy at the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream, but he was withdrawn. Rudan decided to race him and sent the pony to trainer Steve Asmussen. McKathan had high hopes for Fenwick, but he lost his first four games. Things bottomed out when he was beaten 24 3/4 length in a special first-person weight class race on February 13 at the Fair Grounds. Then decided to bring him back to McKathan in Ocala and more or less start over.
“In his first race, he ran a huge seven-eighth and just got beaten,” McKathan said. “Via CurlinWe had high hopes for him. He looked like a horse on two laps, but after his first start, he had bad luck in the race each time he started. Jeremiah was a bit disappointed and asked us to take him home to Ocala. We have reviewed him and he is in perfect condition. We put it out in the field for a few days to dry it in the sun.”
Fenwick was transferred to coach David Fisher and sent to Tampa Bay Downs, where he broke his maiden 5 1/4 length on March 12, beating favorite Commandperformance 1-20 (Union Rags), who placed second in the GI Champagne S. for trainer Todd Pletcher. Commandperformance, still a teenager, has returned to Blue Grass.
“He ran a big race in Tampa,” McKathan said. “He finally got things his way and ended up running Steve’s way and I always expected him to be able to. I joked with Jeremiah before the race. How could we be unlucky enough to run into a horse that finished second in class I in a girls race in Tampa? But our horse runs very well. As for Blue Grass, we had plans to pass him on to someone. Jeremiah said that since I took the horse to Keeneland, why not humble myself as a record trainer? He talked to me. “
Rudan planted a seed and McKathan became interested in seeing where the training job could take him.
“I believe I can combine anything,” he said. “I have a great staff. If you think about it, we travel somewhere every month, whether it’s to sell horses or for a horse race. It cannot be undone. It’s just a matter of getting things sorted out. ”
Fenwick was the only horse McKathan had as a trainer. For now, that’s good enough.
“This is definitely something I think I will be able to do,” he said of the training. “I’m going to love this, shoot them in the Blue Grass and if we do the Derby, I’ll be there for it. I didn’t think this was a one-time deal until the time of my training. We are all lifelong horse trainers. It’s just the way you intend to go on about it. “
McKathan won just seven races in his first lap as a coach and his steady income is just $30,461. That’s what can happen when you train slow horses at tracks like the River Downs, Beulah Park and Birmingham. All these years later, he starred in the $1 million movie Blue Grass.
“I am expecting big things from this horse,” he said. “It was fun and it was fun.”
