KMN Racing

Shortly after his spectacular debut, a seven-length maiden win at Golden Gate Fields, Oct. 19th, owners/breeders Pam and Marty Wygod sold Shared Belief to Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing and a group of partners including Alex Solis II, Jason Litt and Ken and Kim Nish, who race under Kmn Racing.

Alex Solis II is not only the son of one of the best jockeys in racing history – Alex Solis is still riding and ranks ninth in all-time earnings and 30th in all-time victories – but has an equine influence in his maternal pedigree as well. His maternal grandfather is successful trainer Bert Sonnier.

Solis II, 29, has been a success, too, as a bloodstock agent and owner after getting a Bachelor of Arts Degree in finance with a minor in pre-vet from Cal-Poly. California horseman who saw him grow up hanging out in the barns of Bruce Headley and Richard Mandella while tagging along with his dad, aren’t surprised at his success with horses. Mandella said of him in a 2009 story: “His morals certainly seem to be in the right place, which is important in the occupation he has chosen. He is persistent; he’s had good luck, and he’s very smart. He’s been around the business enough to have a good feel for what it takes to be successful. In short, he’s the kind of person you want to see do well.”

Shared Belief isn’t his first star. Lavender Sky and Daytona preceded him. Lavender Sky, who was his first purchase while a junior in college, was recommended by a friend at Three Chimneys Farm, Jason Litt. “I was working at Three Chimneys at the time,” Litt said. “He and I were chatting and I loved this filly, Lavender Sky. I called Alex thirty minutes before she went into the ring. About 15 minutes later, he called back and said we can go up to $187,000. We got her for $130,000. That was our first horse.”

Litt, 42, and Solis, 29, made their friendship into a formal partnership by starting Solis/Litt Bloodstock based in Glendale, California. Its website launched Jan. 6.

Litt, whose dad Howard was a fan, owner and breeder, graduated with a BA in human biodynamics at Cal-Berkeley and a Master’s in exercise physiology and cardiac rehabilitation at Wake Forest.  He changed his life when he moved to Kentucky to work at Taylor Made Farm. After spending two years working as a veterinarian assistant, he worked in bloodstock for seven years at Three Chimneys before going out on his own.

Kmn Racing is a new player in racing, a highly successful one, with Kevin and Kim Nish. “They are a client of ours,” Litt said. “They’ve only been in the business for two years.” In those two years, they’ve been partners on Mizdirection and Shared Belief. Litt recommended both horses to them and to Jim Rome’s Jungle Racing.

Now, Litt and his partners have a legitimate Kentucky Derby contender in Shared Belief, whom they hope will have a lengthy racing career as a gelding. “We thought he was a nice horse,” Litt said. “It is pretty exciting.” 

Jungle Racing LLC

Much like Groupie Doll, Mizdirection, also a back-to-back Breeders’ Cup winner of the Turf Sprint, was sold just days after her victory for $2.7 million to Al Shaqab Racing at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Select Mixed Sale.

Knowing that her sale was imminent, Mizdirection’s rather famous co-owner Jim Rome, who hosted the ESPN TV show “Rome Is Burning,” and now hosts a syndicated radio show which was originally called “The Jungle,” addressed the issue at the Breeders’ Cup press conference after her second consecutive victory. Rome, who races under the name of Jungle Racing LLC, said, “The Miz ride has been one of the great experiences of my life, but I wanted to see her go out a champion. I wanted her off the track. I wanted her to have a good life as a mama, and I think the time is right to sell. It’s gut-wrenching. It’s tearing me up, but from a business standpoint, and this is a business, it’s something we need to do.”

Rome, a 49-year-old native of Tarzana, California, retains 13 Thoroughbreds, including his broodmare Surfer Girl, whom he visits regularly at Three Chimneys Farm in Midway, Ky., where his retired gelding Gallatin’s Run, also lives. Rome lost Gallatin’s Run when he was claimed at Del Mar, then reclaimed him at Churchill Downs. “We claimed him to get him off the track, and give him the retirement he earned,” Rome said. “He always ran his guts out for us. He’s an awesome, awesome horse.”

Jen Roytz, marketing and communications director at Three Chimneys, said of Rome, “He’s got the most wonderful, authentic love for his horses, He comes all the way from California just to visit his broodmare, treats in hand, and the absolute first thing he does when his plane lands is rush to the farm and throw his arms around her neck. You’d think it was his first grandchild.”

This from a man who used to bash horse racing on his shows?

“I didn’t know what it was about,” he told Teresa Genaro in her post-Breeders’ Cup story in Forbes. “Everybody likes to throw it in my face.  ‘Weren’t you the guy that dogged the sport back in the day?’  I’ll say, `Guilty, yes, I did.’

“But I’d never spent time around the barns or the animal or the jockeys or the trainers; then I started to come around and I got to know the horses.  At the end of the day, the biggest reason we’re in this is we love the horses.  It didn’t matter if it was a stakes horse or a Breeders’ Cup or a claimer.  They’re all different, they all have a different story, and I think they’re fascinating animals.”

Rome and his wife Janet bought their first horse in 2007. “Janet said, `You need a hobby. All you do is work,’” Rome related. “And Billy Koch, owner of Little Red Feather Farm, had approached me once to buy into a horse and it never really interested me. And Janet said, `You need to get out of the house. Let’s do this. It will be fun. You’ll like this.’ And the worst thing that could have happened to me did happen to me.”

That “worst thing” was their first horse, Wing Forward, winning his first start. “He went from last to first at 15-1,” Rome said. “And I’ve been hooked ever since. Had that horse finished middle of the pack, I probably would have lost interest right away.”