What are the odds of a business owner from Orange County going to the winner’s circle at horse racing’s most prestigious event for the second year in a row?
Yorba Linda resident David Kenney, one of the lesser-known co-owners of Kentucky Derby hopeful Goldencents, is a gambler and likes his chances.
“I’ve been blessed and been lucky,” said Kenney, the chief executive of Sante Fe Springs-based Kenney Holdings. “Hopefully it continues through Louisville.”
The storyline behind Goldencents’ unlikely journey to the Kentucky Derby is eerily similar to last year’s upset win by I’ll Have Another, owned by Paul Reddam, the founder of Anaheim-based mortgage and consumer lender CashCall Inc.
Both thoroughbreds staved off favorites down the stretch for victories at the Santa Anita Derby that qualified them for Kentucky’s Run for the Roses next month.
Both were trained by Doug O’Neill, who seems to have a penchant for overlooked horses.
The colts were even purchased from the same venue—Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. in Florida—about a year apart.
And both Kenney and Reddam have gotten wins with little-known jockeys.
Goldencents was the last in a trio of thoroughbreds bought last June by Kenney and majority owner WC Racing for a total price of roughly $136,000.
$62,000 Bargain
Goldencents’ price tag came in at $62,000, nearly double that of I’ll Have Another, which fetched $35,000 at Ocala.
The horse enters the big day in Kentucky with more than $1.2 million in earnings after taking the winner’s share of the $750,000 Santa Anita Derby.
“Not a bad investment,” Kenney said.
He’s owned dozens of race horses with far less fanfare over the past decade or so, and can rattle off his duds, including the likes of Sunset Tijuana and Little Joe Ray.
Kenney and his ownership team, which includes University of Louisville men’s basketball coach Rick Pitino, will try to replicate the formula that brought I’ll Have Another within one victory of the elusive Triple Crown. The horse was scratched from a bid for the third jewel in the crown—the Belmont Stakes in New York—due to injury.
Goldencents is set to have his last workout at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia on April 25 and fly to Louisville for the Kentucky Derby two days later, following the same schedule O’Neill crafted in last year’s run.
Kenney first met Pitino last summer at an early morning workout at Del Mar Racetrack in San Diego County. Both were leaning on the rails watching their horses down the stretch when Goldencents overtook Pitino’s well-regarded 2-year-old, Avare, at the close.
Pitino complimented the horse and jokingly asked Kenney if he was interested in selling a stake.
O’Neill’s assistant trainer, Jack Sisterson, brokered the deal, which gave Pitino a 5% stake and took Kenney’s from 25% to 20%.
“I told him if I sold 5% and we get to Kentucky, ‘You’re throwing us one hell of a party,’ ” Kenney said.
Pitino has been on a roll of his own. His Louisville Cardinals took the national college basketball championship over University of Michigan last week. The win followed news that he had been selected for induction into the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame. That honor came on the heels of his son, Richard, getting the head coaching job at the University of Minnesota’s men’s basketball team.
Kenney caught the horse-racing bug at an early age. He grew up in the Bay Area, and his first job as a teenager was at Pack Liquors in the shadows of Golden Gate Fields in Berkeley.
“I made most of my money running bets and getting tips,” he said.
He hopes his return to Churchill Downs matches last year’s success of I’ll Have Another and the Reddam-O’Neill team. He had a great view of the raucous victory celebration from the grandstands and even cashed in on a few wagers.
This year, he hopes the view is from the winner’s circle.
His Kenney Holdings includes Westrux International, which specializes in diesel big rigs and supplies smaller trucks for lawn and track maintenance at Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.
Kenney has several business ties in Orange County. He launched his first truck dealership on Katella Avenue in Anaheim, and Westrux now counts locations in Sante Fe Springs, Pomona, Colton, Montebello and San Bernadino.
Kenney Holdings also includes the horse racing business, commercial real estate interests and a Napa Auto parts store in Los Alamitos. Its units combine for more than $250 million in annual sales and employ some 275 people.
Kenney has attended nearly every Kentucky Derby in the past 11 years and has plenty of tales of tell.
His favorite: placing a $100 bet on Giacomo in 2005 because his father-in-law and two nephews share the name. Giacomo went off at 50-1 and upset the field, the second-longest odds for any winner in the race’s 138-year history. Kenney pocketed a little more than $5,100.
Kenney will take a small caravan of family and friends with him to Louisville. He has 26 tickets and rooms booked at two hotels, along with a rental home.
He struck a deal about a year ago with little-known jockey Kevin Krigger to ride Goldencents—another similarity to Reddman, who went with unheralded Mario Gutierrez for I’ll Have Another’s big wins last year.
Handshake
The handshake agreement called for Krigger to wear the Westrux name and logo on his racing gear, which will give the brand an expected audience of tens of millions for the May 4 race.
Krigger, a St. Croix native, also is chasing history at Churchill Downs as he tries to become the first black jockey to win the derby since Jimmy Winkfield did it in 1902.
The strategy for Krigger’s ride on Goldencents is set, Kenney said.
“You know he’s got speed. He’s got to get close to the lead and sit and wait like he did (at Santa Anita),” Kenney said. “Anything can happen once you’re there. I think we have a shot.”
