Enough Talk and Corleone Kosmos finished 1-2 in the most tightly contested Dan Patch Award balloting for 2008. After such successful campaigns, their connections plan to change very little next year.
Peter Kleinhans, the trainer and co-owner of Enough Talk, hopes to send his soon-to-be six-year-old trotter to Sweden again for the Elitlopp and race an active schedule in North America.
Bryan Owen - the Corleone Kosmos spokesman for owners Arthur Rudolph, Rudolph Stables and Bernard Owen - expects his group’s focus to be on winning another Breeders Crown.
Enough Talk edged Corleone Kosmos, 79-57, for the top spot in the Dan Patch Award voting. Arch Madness, of whom Kleinhans and Owen both spoke highly, was third with 20 votes.
Enough Talk won nine of 25 races and earned $867,501. In October, he became the first trotter in history to break the 1:50 barrier, winning the Patriot Invitational in 1:49.3 at Colonial Downs. He was third in the Elitlopp and second in the Copenhagen Cup.
In addition to winning the Patriot, Enough Talk won the American-National and Oleg Cassini Invitational, which were all part of a season-ending four-race victory streak. He was second in the Maple Leaf Trot and third in the Nat Ray, Classic Series final and Allerage.
“He was so consistent throughout the whole year,” said Kleinhans, who owns Enough Talk with Jerry Silva. “It’s unfortunate he didn’t win any of the biggest money races, but I think he very well could have. He was always there and showed up every week. He was able to go abroad and come back and didn’t lose a step. Next year, if all goes the same, maybe he’ll get some racing luck in the big races and maybe he’ll pull one of them off.”
Corleone Kosmos won five of 12 races and earned $765,760. His victories included the Breeders Crown, Classic Series final, Titan Cup and Cutler Memorial. He became ill following the Maple Leaf Trot eliminations, finishing fifth in the final. Two weeks later, he was eased in the Allerage, finishing eighth, in his last race of the year.
“We were having a lot of problems with him. He got sick up in Canada and we just couldn’t get him better,” Owen said. “Down at Lexington (in the Allerage) we tied up and came back with the thumps. We weren’t going to push him. It’s probably what cost us (older trotter) of the year, but the horse is fine. The most important thing is to live to fight another day.”
Corleone Kosmos, who has earned $1.7 million lifetime, has been resting in Florida since early October and is being pointed toward a May return to the races. Although his connections considered a European campaign in 2009, that option has been taken off the board to stay at the Meadowlands Racetrack, where Corleone Kosmos has seven wins and two second-place finishes over his last 11 starts.
“The horse was no good at the end of the year and at this point we chose to rest him and make sure he’s good for our racing season here,” Owen said. “I don’t think we can get him to the level we need to get to (for Europe) without compromising the rest of the year.
“It suits us to race at the Meadowlands. I still think we’re the best open trotter in the world at the Meadowlands. I think it will be very tough for someone to beat us at the Meadowlands if we’re OK. To take away races that are to our benefit is probably not the best thing to do under the circumstances.”
Owen would like to see Corleone Kosmos get more races next season. Although he will be turning seven, the horse has made only 46 lifetime starts.
“We’d like to race the horse more next year if we can, but we’re going to do the same thing we did (this) year, which is basically shoot to win the Breeders Crown,” Owen said. “We just don’t know how many more years we can race him at this top level. We’re guessing two; 2009 and 2010. But you never know.
“I’m very glad for Peter and Mr. Silva,” he added. “(Enough Talk) is a tremendous horse. To race 25 times at pretty much the top level all the time is unbelievable. I have no hard feelings.”
Kleinhans might cut back on Enough Talk’s schedule, but nothing is certain. He expects to have the horse ready for action in March. Like Corleone Kosmos, Enough Talk is resting in Florida.
“He’s got the Su Mac Lad and the Classic Series and then hopefully we’ll be going over to Sweden again, if they want him,” Kleinhans said. “It will be basically the same type of schedule as this year, although if we do go over (to Sweden) I think we’ll come right back for the Titan Cup. It depends on how it goes.
“He’s a horse that seems to thrive on racing. He’s getting a break here and we’ll just play it by ear. I didn’t expect to have that many starts, but it just worked out right and he seemed fresh at the end of it. If he’s as fresh, we’ll probably do that same thing. If he seems like he’s getting tired at any point, we’ll back off. He’s feeling great. I expect he’ll come back as a real fresh horse. I just hope he stays sound and nothing goes wrong.”
(Harness Racing Communications)