Kevin and Kim Nish of KMN Racing are looking forward to a big weekend of racing in California with not one, but two homebreds entered in stakes races at Santa Anita.
On Saturday, What In Blazes (Straight Fire), a blaze-faced 3-year-old colt will make his third career start in the GII San Vicente S. After running a close second on debut, the colt was last seen defeating a field of maiden juveniles by nearly six lengths last July at Del Mar.
“What in Blazes was brought up by Jerry Hollendorfer,” Kevin Nish said. “He ran a little bit short in his first racing, coming out just one workout too early, but he made up for it in his next start at Del Mar. We gave him some vacation time and he's been training really well at Los Alamitos for the past four weeks.”
Nish admitted that the colt will need to take a step up to come out on top in Saturday's Grade II, but explained their reasoning for taking a shot.
“It's hard to fill allowance races in California and stakes races are much more predictable, so we decided to give him a chance against the much more expensive stock in other peoples' barns.”
The five-horse San Vicente S. also includes MyRacehorse and Spendthrift Farm's Forbidden Kingdom (American Pharoah), a $300,000 yearling purchase, as well as three more six-figure purchases in highly-regarded Baffert trainees Doppelganger (Into Mischief), McLaren Vale (Gun Runner) and 2021 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile contender Pinehurst (Twirling Candy).
On Sunday, a second KMN Racing homebred called Smuggler's Run (Straight Fire) will look to remain undefeated in the Baffle S. on the turf. The 3-year-old gelding trained by Richard Baltas debuted on New Year's Day this year, winning a six-furlong dirt contest by 5 ½ lengths
Regarding the switch to the grass, Kim Nish said, “We have heard from several people that he might like the turf. He has an older brother that is a graded stakes winner on the grass and his dam is by Kitten's Joy, so when the stake came up and it was time to run him, we thought it could possibly be a good spot for him.”
Young sire Straight Fire stands at Legacy Ranch in California I Legacy Ranch
Both What in Blazes and Smuggler's Run are from the first crop of California sire Straight Fire. KMN Racing was a partner on the son of Dominus during his racing career and they have stayed in as owners for his stud career.
“He was a really fast, precocious racehorse and he never had the chance to prove just how good he was on the racetrack,” Kevin Nish said of the stallion who placed in both the GI Del Mar Futurity and GI FrontRunner S. in 2016.
Straight Fire was represented by 10 juvenile winners from 13 runners in 2021, including two more KMN Racing-owned horses in Zuboshi and Carasynthia.
“Straight Fire proved himself to be a precocious Del Mar winner and that's where we like to target our horses,” Kevin Nish said. “We like to breed them so that they're speedy and early and that's what he seems to be producing so far.”
“They seem to have great heads on them,” Kim Nish added. “They look like they're all going to be really intelligent.”
KMN Racing has several 2-year-olds by Straight Fire in the pipeline this year that are currently in training in Ocala.
“The people breaking them are telling us they're exceptional,” Kevin Nish said. “We expect to see some of those come out in June or July to see if we can continue the good run he's had.”
Not long after its inception in 2011, KMN Racing had success through racing partnerships with 2013 GI Breeders' Cup Turf Sprint winner Mizdirection (Mizzen Mast) and Eclipse champion Shared Belief (Candy Ride {Arg}). Today, they focus on their breeding program by racing the majority of their homebreds. With about half a dozen mares in their broodmare band, KMN Racing's breeding program is somewhat of a rarity nowadays as they almost exclusively focus on breeding to race. They estimate that over the past few years, 80 to 90% of their foals will go to the racetrack while only a few will be sent to the sales if they can fetch the right price.
“With the way people will pay for horses these days, if you can get a few big ones, it can pretty well fund the deficit of a small operation like ours for an extended period of time and enable us to continue to be participants,” Kevin Nish explained.
Smuggler's Run's dam, Maddie's Odyssey (Kitten's Joy), was one of their first broodmares. Picked out by advisors Jason Litt and Alex Solis II in 2012, the mare has become a highly-successful producer for her breeders as the dam of GSWs Grecian Fire (Unusual Heat) and Sneaking Out (Indian Evening) as well as MSW Been Studying Her (Fast Anna).
“She's our foundation mare for our breeding success,” Nish explained. “We've had a few others that have produced stakes horses, but 'Maddie' is consistently giving us stakes winners that have run well and won significant money.”
Maddie's Odyssey has a 2-year-old filly that was bred on a foal share to Tapit and brought $500,000 at this year's Keeneland September Sale. She also has a yearling Constitution colt. Nish said the plan is not yet set on whether or not he will see the sales ring. Maddie's Odyssey was not bred in 2021, but she will be visiting first-year sire Charlatan this year.
What in Blazes's dam, Western Kitty (Western Fame), has an Army Mule yearling colt in the pipeline and is currently in foal to American Freedom. Nish said that this year, she has returned to California and will be bred back to Straight Fire.
Kevin and Kim Nish are currently living in Florida and won't be able to make the races at Santa Anita this weekend, but they said if all goes well with both runners, they will be sure to make the flight for their next start.
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