Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Kevin McKathan puts on his trainer hat to saddle Fenwick
Kevin McKathan’s name does not appear in the past performances of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, Hall of Famers Silver Charm and Silverbulletday, and dual classic winner Real Quiet. But he has been integral to the success of those horses and many others.
McKathan and his late brother J.B., sons of legendary Florida horseman Luke McKathan, launched McKathan Brothers Training Center in Ocala, Fla., in 1989, specializing in the breaking and training of young racehorses as well as selling and purchasing them. They have sourced or trained the aforementioned champions as well as many other successful runners.
“It’s been the experience of a lifetime just to put my hands on those kinds of horses,” Kevin McKathan said.
Now, McKathan, who has continued the business after the sudden death of J.B. in 2019, has his hands on Fenwick. The Curlin colt, owned by Villa Rosa Farm and Harlo Stable, is the first horse he has trained on the racetrack in more than three decades – he took down his shingle when they launched the business – and will give him a classic starter in his own name in Saturday’s Preakness Stakes.
“There’s two or three horses in here that are going to be very hard to outrun, but the rest of them – I felt like he deserved a shot,” McKathan said. “The owners are excited. I’m not gonna say it’s a once-in-a-lifetime shot, but it’s a shot.”
McKathan purchased Fenwick as a yearling on behalf of Jeremiah Rudan’s Villa Rosa. They intended to sell him as a 2-year-old, but Rudan elected to withdraw the colt from the sale and campaign him.
Fenwick, after getting his early lessons from McKathan, was initially sent to trainer Steve Asmussen, who made him an early nominee for the Triple Crown. But the colt was well beaten in his first four starts.
“Every time he ran, something happened – gets stopped, gets checked, gets run over, bites his tongue,” McKathan said. “It was just one thing after another.”
Rudan sent the colt back to the McKathan farm in Ocala, Fla., for a thorough physical going-over and a mental reset.
“We gave him a couple weeks out, turned him out, got the sun on his back, and just let him enjoy himself for a couple weeks,” McKathan said.
After that break, Fenwick returned to the races on March 12 at Tampa Bay Downs with trainer David Fisher, and won his maiden with a frontrunning 5 1/4-length score over Grade 1-placed Commandperformance. Fenwick never got clear sailing in the Grade 1 Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, and was last of 11. With no Kentucky Derby points, Fenwick had no chance to get into the field. So Rudan pointed him for the Preakness. Since McKathan would be accompanying the colt to Baltimore, Rudan decided to run the horse with McKathan as trainer.
Relationships helped Saez
Luis Saez’s first race aboard Secret Oath was her Kentucky Oaks victory. But the jockey was already familiar with riding for Secret Oath’s trainer, D. Wayne Lukas, having won four graded stakes aboard the Lukas-trained champion Will Take Charge.
That relationship with Lukas was key to Saez getting the mount on Secret Oath for the Oaks and for Saturday’s Preakness at Pimlico.
“Luis and I have a great relationship,” Lukas said.
Luis Contreras had ridden Secret Oath to three straight victories at Oaklawn Park, including the Martha Washington and Grade 3 Honeybee, before she finished third against colts in the Grade 1 Arkansas Derby. Lukas then decided to make a rider change for the Oaks.
“That was a tough one,” Lukas said. “That was a tough call. We’re so fond of Luis Contreras. It was a good fit, [but] we got into trouble in three of those races pretty much. And he knew it. We knew it.”
Saez’s agent is Kiaran McLaughlin, a former assistant to Lukas, and that didn’t hurt Saez’s chances to gain the mount on Secret Oath. After one breeze on the filly, which Saez called “magnificent,” the rider was sold on partnering with the Hall of Famer again.
“Wayne is a guy that always teaches stuff and tries to help you and [teaches] about life,” said Saez. “I look at him like a legend, like a guy that he really loved the sport and he gave all his life to the sport.”
McLaughlin was one of the many horsemen Lukas taught who got to share in the thrill of this Oaks win. Former assistant Dallas Stewart watched the race with Lukas, who said Stewart “almost broke my arm” in excitement during the stretch run. Todd Pletcher, who followed his mentor into the Hall of Fame, finished second to Secret Oath with Nest. He remained trackside waiting for Lukas to return to the winner’s circle, where they met in a hug.
“That’s how it goes with all those guys that worked side by side with us and with me,” Lukas said. “Those guys that were so influential in my career and carried me to where we are today, they put me on their shoulders and carried me. And I know it. I couldn’t do it alone. I never could with all the horses we were training. So we’re still very tight. It’s a close-knit family.”