By Jessica Martini
Peter Kirwan, who previously bred and consigned horses under his Glenmalure Farm banner, has turned his attention to buying horses and the Irishman was part of the team which enjoyed graded stakes success at Saratoga when By Your Side (Constitution) came home first in Saturday's GIII Sanford S.
“I do a lot of work for [trainer] Eddie Kenneally,” Kirwan said. “We have a pinhooking partnership together and then he has clients. So I short-list for him and then he goes around with his clients to pick them out from my short list.”
Kirwan short-listed the bay colt from the first crop of Constitution at the 2018 Keeneland September sale, where the yearling sold for $240,000 to Brad Anderson.
Asked about his initial impressions of the youngster, Kirwan said, “When you go to September, you see a lot of horses. The good ones walk out and they just out-show themselves all the time. He was one of those. He was a big, strong, good-looking horse with a lot of class. And he was correct. He had all the right angles that I look for.”
By Your Side just got his nose in front on the line to win his debut at Churchill Downs June 14 and was the 7-5 favorite when he drew away to a three-length victory in the Sanford (video). Anderson doubled up on stakes wins later in the day when the Kenneally-trained Parlor (Lonhro {Aus}) won the Glasgow S. at Delaware Park.
“You hope they live up to their looks and apparently all the way through he looked like that,” Kirwan said of By Your Side's early success at the races. “He went to Eddie Woods to be broken and he never had a problem with him. He shipped him up in April to Eddie Kenneally and he has done nothing wrong since. When you see him gallop on the track, he just floats over the ground.”
By Your Side exited his Sanford win in good shape and his future assignments could include the Sept. 2 GI Runhappy Hopeful S., according to Kenneally.
“He's doing really well and came out of the race perfectly,” Kenneally told the NYRA publicity department Sunday. “He came out of it as good as you can expect a horse to come out of a race. He had a hard enough race, but I'm really happy with how he came back, and he looks fantastic this morning.
Kenneally continued, “We'll certainly be looking at the Hopeful. We'll give him some time before we have to run back again. It's kind of open right now. We'll just play it by ear.”
As for Kirwan, who sold Glenmalure Farm last year, he is looking forward to the challenge of seeking out other future graded stakes winner at the upcoming yearling sales.
“I'm concentrating on buying for people now–I'm trying to build up a client base,” he said. “We tried to buy two for another client [at the July sale], but we didn't get to buy, so we'll wait for [Keeneland] September.”
Of the challenges inherent in working the two-week September sale, Kirwan said, “It's a lot of work, but it's fun. And there are more opportunities. In July and the select sales, people have a lot of time, whereas in September, people don't have so much time. So sometimes horses fall through the cracks. And we try to pick out those.”
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