Kelsey Danner Lights Up The Tote Board At Kentucky Downs

[Wandering Eyes]

Kelsey Danner probably didn't look at the tote board prior to Thursday's first race at Kentucky Downs. She's not a bettor, she says. But she thought her starter, Repentless (Violence), could run a bit, something the bettors obviously didn't pick up on. They sent the first-time starter off at 25-1. With Adam Beschizza aboard, the colt won by three lengths and paid $52.08.

It was not her longest priced winner at the meet. Fellow first-time starter Ground Support (Army Mule) won Saturday's second race for the Danner Stable and paid $203.20.

The day didn't end perfectly as Danner's first time starter, Cove Spring (Preservationist), finished fourth in the fifth race.

“Probably,” she said when asked if she tends to fly under the radar at meet like Kentucky Downs because she is facing some of the biggest names in the sport. “I'm obviously not a big name and neither is Adam. We don't get that much attention. I don't know why bettors do what they do. It's always a crap shoot at Kentucky Downs anyway.”

Normally, when a first-time starter pays that much to win they are trained by low-profile trainers who rarely win anything. But that's not the case with Danner. She's been training since 2017 and has won 246 races while batting 14%. She finished second in the standings at the most recent Turfway Park meet with 17 winners, finishing two behind Mike Maker.

“My last few years have definitely been my best years,” she told the TDN's Katie Petrunyak. “I'm a bit more content with where I'm at as far as the clientele and the horses I have. For the last three years, I got to have some nicer, young stock and they're still in my barn now, so it has been nice to watch them develop and I've gotten to win a few stakes races.”

Though she says she points for the Kentucky Downs meet each year, Danner came close to not running either winner. She was talked into it by their owner John Ballantyne, a transplanted New Zealander living in Fargo, North Dakota.

Kelsey Danner | Sarah Andrew

“[Ground Support] had been working really nice,” Danner said. “She's a big classy filly. I bought her for $80,000 at the Fasig-Tipton 2-Year-Olds In-Training sale. She's a Florida-bred so I talked to the owners about a month ago because she was ready to run. I asked them if they wanted to wait for Kentucky Downs, even though we'd be running for less money than the Kentucky-breds. The other option was to run in Florida. She had been showing talent and I didn't think she needed a prep race. John wanted to wait for Kentucky Downs, because he likes that track so much. I have no idea why she was 99-1. She had had some nice breezes.”

Repentless was purchased for $275,000 at last year's Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select Yearling sale. Starting with May 15, he had 12 workouts, and was clearly ready for his first assignment.

“We had bought him at the Saratoga sale last year,” Danner said. “We spent good money on him. He is a beautiful colt and he had been working very well, on both the Tapeta and the dirt. I was kind of questioning what surface we should start him out on, but John wanted to run here. I wanted to start her off at seven-eighths, so, thankfully, we got the distance we wanted. This was all good. You never complain when you win any race at Kentucy Downs. Even the horses who haven't won for us are running nice races.”

You might have one more chance to bet on a Danner-trained 2-year-old. Windy Houston (Munnings) may run in Saturday's first race. She is the first also-eligible listed. If she doesn't get in she will run the next day. But the filly ran second in her debut at Ellis Park, which means she's not going to sneak up on anyone like her two stablemates did.

A $2 win parlay on the two Danner winners would have paid $5,364.00. Maybe she should rethink this no betting thing.

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