Operator Hits Jackpot With Very first Horse

The sport is not meant to be that easy, even if some folks make it seem that way in some cases.

Pat Kearney is 83, admits he will not know much about racing, has a relatively modest price range and had in no way owned a horse when he showed up last year at the OBS April 2-yr-aged sale. Speedy forward some eight months later and Kearney is the operator of Kathleen O. (Upstart), 1 of the far more promising 3-year-old fillies in racing right now. Generating her 2nd career start out Saturday at Gulfstream, Kathleen O. won the Income Run S. by 8 1/2 lengths in an remarkable exertion despite hesitating at the begin. The victory came immediately after she broke her maiden in her debut in November at Aqueduct.

“It has been an awesome, remarkable, energizing experience,” stated Kearney, who races less than the identify of Winngate Stables.

Prior to finding involved in possession. Kearney was a everyday racing admirer who started heading to the keep track of at Arlington Park with his father as a youngster.

“I’m not a superior handicapper,” he claimed. “I will not know significantly about breeding or pedigrees. What I did was just take my $50, devote a working day at the keep track of and make some bets. It really is excellent enjoyment. I normally actually favored the horses.”

Kearney, who is retired soon after doing the job in the securities business in Chicago and as a lawyer, and Hall of Fame coach Shug McGaughey have regarded just about every other for about 20 decades and generally perform golf with each other. Fairly out of the blue, Kearney one day asked McGaughey what he believed about his shopping for some horses.

“I talked to Shug and I asked him if he would do the job with me and get some horses,” Kearney reported. “I asked him what to do and he reported I must get two horses, a filly and a colt, get them at auction and get them at a 2-calendar year-aged sale. He defined the prices and stated that you you should not get into this sport to make funds but for the pleasure and the pleasurable of the recreation.

“I needed to uncover one thing I was intrigued in that I could do and failed to have to make a substantial commitment. Not so considerably financially, but a lot more so time and energy. I didn’t want to have a good deal of obligations.”

Acquiring gotten off to a effective start out in the game, Kearney only wishes he started before.

“I don’t know why I failed to do it previously,” he explained. “About a yr ago I just decided I needed to get associated in one thing new. Do I desire I did it 10 decades earlier? Certainly. It had just in no way appear up. The one problem I experienced was whether or not I was too previous to get begun in the business. Thankfully, I am in good overall health.”

Kearney bought Kathleen O. for $275,000. He named the filly soon after his wife, whose maiden title is Kathleen O’Boyle. His other obtain, Cloudy (Noble Mission GB), was purchased 3 times afterwards at the exact same sale for $130,000. He is winless in two begins.

Shopping for horses at the income is to some degree new territory for McGaughey, whose longtime main customer, the Phipps spouse and children, races generally homebreds.

“I delight in likely to the revenue,” McGaughey explained. “I labored the yearling product sales rather great last fall and we bought some wonderful yearlings. We also looked at some 2-yr-olds very last winter season. It’s been exciting and intriguing.”

It was clear early on that McGaughey experienced picked out a filly with talent. Sent off at 3-1 in her to start with start out in her debut, Kathleen O. was next to previous and 6 1/2 lengths powering with a furlong remaining, but nevertheless found a way to get up in time to gain by a head.

“I imagine we have got a good deal to seem ahead to,” McGaughey stated soon after the Cash Operate. “I’m extremely happy with the way she’s come together and the way she ran now, and her maturity amount. I was just stating to [my wife] Alison, feel of what she’s heading to appear like in a year from now. She’s constantly been tall and she’s continue to filling out.”

He may even now be learning about the sport, but Kearney is familiar with plenty of to know that the GI Kentucky Oaks could be aspect of the filly’s potential.

“I know that she’s a extremely proficient horse and I know there is a race referred to as the Kentucky Oaks, but I have no strategy if she will qualify for that or not,” Kearney claimed. “So far, it is really been like hitting the lottery. I’m flabbergasted.”