Investor hedges his bets
Hedge-fund manager wins with 3 horses
LOUISVILLE, Ky. —
began his Kentucky Derby day on the horns of a dilemma.
The former Johns Hopkins lacrosse player was looking ahead to a race in which he’d own parts of three horses, including the eventual winner, Justify. If one of his horses won, the party would commence right around 7 p.m., the same time his alma mater was set to face off with archrival Maryland in the Big Ten lacrosse final.
“I cannot miss that game,” he said Saturday morning, on his way to pick up coffee from Dunkin Donuts.
As with many of the problems in Kumin’s life as a Boston-based hedge-fund manager and rising horse owner, this was a good one to have. And, as usual, it turned into a winning weekend all around for Kumin.
He became the first owner since 1952 to have Kentucky Oaks (Monomoy Girl) and Derby (Justify) winners in the same weekend. And Johns Hopkins won the Big Ten Conference tournament over the Terps, 13-10, Saturday night in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Kumin jumped into the thoroughbred business at the urging of his buddy,
a Nantucket-based contractor. Hanley said he’d love the thrill of the action and the mornings when he could bring his kids to visit the horses.
Just four years since he plunged into the racing business, Kumin is a known player, partnering with some of the most prominent owners and trainers in the game.
He tries to run his enterprise as a sensible business, investing mostly in low-risk turf fillies so he can take the occasional bigger risk on a colt with Triple Crown prospects.
Though he thinks like the hedge-fund manager he is in day-to-day life, he said racing is, above all, a passion.
“With a good horse, you always have a plan,” he said. “But rarely does it work. In this case, it worked exactly.”
Looking ahead to the Derby, he knew he’d be thrilled if either Justify or Audible won. But he bought a 15-percent stake of those horses in February, so he knew it wouldn’t be quite the same. He’d only laid eyes on Justify twice before he arrived for Derby week. He purchased his other Derby horse, My Boy Jack, as a yearling.
Kumin knows horse racing makes fools of those who expect such good fortune to continue forever. But his three kids love the sport, and he keeps falling deeper in. He said he gets butterflies before a big race.
“You just say, ‘Oh crap!’” he summarized, chuckling. “The difference here is you can’t control the outcome. So you just grab your vodka and soda and hope you get lucky.”
After all the pre-race hype that said he might finally be the European invader to seize the Derby, Mendelssohn finished dead last.
“He just got knocked over coming out of the gate and then he got knocked over again going into the first bend, but he’ll be fine,” Irish trainer said. “He was never used to getting that much kickback. It’s a totally different experience, you know, so we’ll be fine.”
After his sensational 181⁄2-length victory in the UAE Derby, Mendelssohn went off as a 7-1 third choice on Saturday.
O’Brien said he plans to bring his horse back to Churchill for the Breeders’ Cup Classic in the fall.