Kelly Breen, who has twice been the leading trainer at Monmouth Park, Oceanport, trained Pants On Fire, a horse that will race in the 2011 Kentucky Derby on May 7. Breen, who lives in Farmingdale and hails from Old Bridge, won his first $1 million race with Pants On Fire at last month’s Louisiana Derby. BILL DENVER/EQUI-PHOTO Kelly Breen has watched the race over and over and the result is always the same. The 3-year-old thoroughbred he trains, Pants On Fire, had what could best be described as the perfect race.
“I’ve watched the race many times, said Breen, who lives in Farmingdale. “He was firing that day.”
Pants On Fire gave Breen the biggest win and payday of his career by winning the $1 million Louisiana Derby in New Orleans onMarch 26. It was the first $1 million purse win of Breen’s career and, more importantly, earned him a trip to the Kentucky Derby on May 7. “He’s taking us to the show,” said Breen, who is a 1983 graduate of then Cedar Ridge High School (now Old Bridge High School), Old Bridge.
This will not be Breen’s first trip to the Kentucky Derby as a trainer. He was there in 2009 with two horses, Atomic Rain and West Side Bernie (who finished 16th and ninth, respectively). This year he is taking a horse that is peaking, as proven by his prep win in New Orleans.
The 1¼-mile Kentucky Derby poses an equal challenge for all because it is the first time the 3-yearolds will race that distance.
“Everyone is in the same boat,” Breen said.
Although Pants On Fire is a speed horse (he won the Louisiana Derby from the front), he proved he has stamina as well.
“The horse is getting better,” Breen said. “He handled the mileand an-eighth with no problem. The mile-and-a-quarter is within his reach.”
Breen said Pants On Fire’s Louisiana Derby win took the pressure off having to get in a big race in order to get into the Kentucky Derby. All he had to be concerned with in the weeks leading up to the Kentucky Derby was having his horse ready.
“It’s a matter of knowing your horse and getting him to plateau for the race,” he said. “It’s exciting.”
There is more to the Kentucky Derby than the race, as Breen knows.
“I can’t describe it,” he said of the atmosphere around the event. “It is like walking through the tunnel at the Super Bowl. This is our biggest race. To be a part of it is great. It’s everyone in horse racing’s dream.”
It is a dream that started early for Breen.
It was his trip to Monmouth Park in Oceanport as a 13-year-old that changed Breen’s life. His father, Jackie Breen, a horse racing fan, took him there and, in a story told many times, the younger Breen went missing for about an hour, scaring his parents.
Breen wasn’t really lost. He stumbled upon the paddock area and was talking with the jockeys. They were small, like he was at the time, and he was able to relate to them. He became obsessed with riding.
It was at Baymar Farm in the Morganville section of Marlboro where Breen first learned how to ride. He moved from Baymar to the stable of Ralph DeSantis, just up the road on Route 79, for more riding.
“Every day before school my parents would take me to the farm and I would go back after school,” he said. By his junior year at Cedar Ridge, Breen “let everything go” for horse racing. He even gave up wrestling.
But a funny thing happened that summer before his senior year — he went through a growth spurt and being a jockey was out of the question. So Breen did the next best thing, he became a trainer, starting out as an assistant right out of high school at the age of 18.
He worked for trainers such as Charles “Scooter” Dickey and Ben Perkins Jr.
By the start of the 2000s, Monmouth Park was Breen’s home base. He quickly became one of the track’s top trainers. He was the leading trainer in 2005 and 2006 with his horses finding the winner’s circle 61 and 56 times, respectively, during those years.
A local connection helped to bring Breen into the big time in thoroughbred racing. Through a mutual friend he met George and Lori Hall, who summer in Atlantic Highlands and own race horses.
“I owe everything to George and Lori Hall,” he said. “They gave me the opportunity.”
The Halls, he said, believed in him and they are headed to the Kentucky Derby as a winning trainer-owner combination.
“I was winning races, I was on the rise and they gave me my shot,” he said. “They let me be the coach. You need someone who has faith in you and gives you a chance to do what you can do. I feel blessed.”
Breen said trainers have one thing in common; they have a competitive background in sports.
“I used to wrestle and I won a lot,” he said. “I was captain of my soccer team. In baseball I would try and steal second base. I like to push it to the limit. It’s the competition that keeps you going.”
In addition to training horses, Breen maintains his competitive edge on the golf course. He lives in Farmingdale at the Eagle Oaks Golf Course. A perfect day for Breen is training his horses in the morning and playing 18 holes of golf in the afternoon.
On May 7 he won’t mind giving up his afternoon on the links as Pants On Fire pursues what would be the pinnacle of Breen’s career, a win in the Kentucky Derby.
The horse’s jockey, Anna Napravnik, hails from Morristown. The 23-year-old is one of the up-andcoming jockeys in the country and has been a winning rider throughout the country.
“Top jockeys know how to win,” said Breen, who has as good an eye for judging jockey talent as he does for judging thoroughbreds.