Kumin Rolls into Breeders' Cup with Eight Starters

Over the course of the last few years, Sol Kumin and his partners have owned shares of a regal collection of Thoroughbreds.

Triple Crown winner Justify  , 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic  , two-time champion Monomoy Girl , and Eclipse Award winners such as Whitmore, Lady Eli, Midnight Bisou, Uni, and British Idiom, to name a few, are among several hundred horses attached to one of Kumin's ownership groups who share a common bond.

They are all retired.

Losing that much horsepower in the not-so-distant past would seem a devastating blow, but Kumin has taken it all in stride and continues to find ways to attack ownership with the same gusto he employed a few decades ago as an attackman for the Johns Hopkins lacrosse team.

As the Breeders' Cup approaches, even with saying goodbye to all of those stars, Kumin still has a share of eight starters (and Beer Can Man  on the also-eligible list for the Turf Sprint, G1T) at the World Championships and with two months left in the year, he has 45 stakes wins, 21 of them graded. Since Labor Day, he's been on a tear with 16 stakes wins.

Not bad for what shaped up as a rebuilding year.

"We had five or six horses-of-a-lifetime over the last few years and this looked like a rebuilding year," said Kumin, a 46-year-old resident of Boston. "But it's been a sneaky good year. Every year we keep bobbing and weaving and things keep popping up."

In January, Kumin brought in John Panagot as his racing manager and Panagot, along with help from Amanda Motz, have teamed with Kumin to keep adding to the stable's win totals.

"I love working with John," Kumin said. "We also brought in Amanda and she focuses on the breeding side, injuries, layups, where to send yearlings. John manages everything. He picks the spots for our horses, makes acquisitions, and arranges sales when we need to. John is very low key. He's easy to deal with and has worked effectively with a lot of people in the industry. They have done a fantastic job."

Running primarily under the Madaket Stables' banner in partnerships with separate ownership groups, Kumin has been a part of 133 wins through Nov. 3.

"There's always plenty of action with Sol," said Panagot, who also works as the racing manager for Bob LaPenta, who has been a separate co-owner with Kumin on Whitmore, Uni, and Runhappy Travers Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets (G1) winner Catholic Boy  , among others. "With Madaket you have to watch TVG on Tuesdays."

You also have to watch the NBC family of networks Nov. 5-6 to keep tabs on the hedge fund manager's Breeders' Cup horses. Madaket, a partnership headed by Kumin that also includes New York Mets owner and his former boss Steve Cohen, has eight likely starters at the two-day Del Mar event. 

That stable of runners, one of whom could push his number of Breeders' Cup wins from nine to 10, includes: Helens Well  in the Juvenile Fillies Turf (G1T), Pinehurst  and Barossa  in the TVG Juvenile Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance (G1), Mackinnon  in the Juvenile Turf (G1T), Eight Rings  in the Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile (G1), C Z Rocket  in the Qatar Racing Sprint (G1), and Tribhuvan  and Rockemperor  in the Longines Turf (G1T).

Eight Rings is named for New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick, who was Kumin's guest at the 2018 Preakness Stakes (G1) for Justify's victory.

"Things are working out well," Kumin said. "It's going to be a fun Breeders' Cup."

While Kumin still partners with Michael Dubb and Mike Caruso and is still part of "The Avengers" yearling partnership group with SF Racing and Starlight Racing (which brought him Authentic as well as Pinehurst and Barossa from the Breeders' Cup horses), he has also expanded his network of associates to including teaming more often with LaPenta and starting new coupled entries with Bob Edwards of e Five Racing Thoroughbreds, Erik Johnson, Bridlewood Farm, Eclipse Thoroughbred Partners, and Little Red Feather Racing.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg.

"We went in a different direction to find new partners," said Kumin, who is also standing the surprisingly successful stallion Slumber   in New York and celebrated his first homebred graded stakes winner this year with Fluffy Socks .

It's that variety of partners and the mix of buying yearlings and experienced horses both here in the United States and overseas that Panagot views as a key to Kumin's quick rise to prominence since his entrance into the sport in 2014.

"The big races are the goals but the day-to-day races are also important to keep us going," Panagot said.

For Panagot, working with LaPenta and Kumin has been smooth because the two owners are friends and own horses together and he has developed a good rapport with both of them.

He's off to a quick start with Kumin that bodes well for a successful tenure together.

"Bob and Sol are the kind of people you want to do well for. Bob has been a father figure to me," Panagot said. "Sol is a good delegator. He has good instincts and can handicap people in situations. The way he has acquired a ton of knowledge about watching races and speed figures, it's really impressive. He never shuts it off. If we had three more Sol's spread across the country, it would be great for the business and everyone would be doing better. He's brought so many good people into the game. The rolodex of people who hang out with him at the races is incredible and is so important for the longevity of the sport. Given his age, he could be doing this for another 30 years, which would be a huge boost for the sport."