On June 6, 2022, my friend Sue Kenney did something a little out of her wheelhouse. She claimed a race horse named The Rock Says at Louisiana Downs.
Why she did this and how she pulled it off is what makes it such a special story to me. Let me start with who Sue Kenney is and what she does. Then, the story almost tells itself.
I met Sue in 2006 or 2007, when PressBox was in its infancy. I just so happened to cover a good bit of the athletic events at Stevenson University where Sue was the chief of staff to Dr. Kevin Manning, then the president of Stevenson. While it’s some 15 years later, Sue now holds the same position under school president Elliot Hirshman.
That’s Sue’s day job, and she is very good at what she does. And while it’s not exactly a secret second life, Sue has been volunteering at Sagamore Farm for the past 14 years, ever since Kevin Plank took over the legendary farm in Worthington Valley in Baltimore County.
In short order Sue became the unofficial historian of the farm that first opened back in 1925. While the list of champion horseflesh that has grazed and trained there is way too long to mention here, its most notable resident was Native Dancer, who is considered one of the greatest race horses in U.S. history and was declared by TV Guide in 1953 to be the second-most popular television personality behind only Ed Sullivan. All Native Dancer did in his brilliant racing career was win 21 of his 22 races. His one loss came in the 1953 Kentucky Derby, where he lost to longshot Dark Star by a head.
One early morning, Sue stopped at the farm’s training track and caught a look at a horse she thought was one special-looking animal. She asked the trainer, “What’s his name?” He said “her” name is Hit Squad.
Such an odd name for a filly, Sue thought. She became very attached to Hit Squad. When the horse was in foal, Sue made sure the stable knew when Hit Squad was about to drop her baby. Sue wanted to be called so she could be there for the birth.
That call came in seven years ago at 4:30 in the morning on Feb. 5, 2016. I can’t put it into words what witnessing that birth was like for Sue, but Hit Squad’s baby had a bit of a guardian angel in the barn that morning.
There were visits, mints, pets on the head and whatever else Sue could do to spoil the young horse. For some reason, the young horse’s demeanor and the way he carried himself brought to mind part of the lyrics of the Bob Seger song “Like a Rock.”
Like a rock, standin’ arrow straight
Like a rock, chargin’ from the gate
Like a rock, carryin’ the weight
Like a rock
Sue really wanted the horse’s name to be Like A Rock. Thoroughbreds typically don’t get named until they are 2 years old. The name was turned down. Since everyone had been calling him Rocky for two years, and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson had a partnership with Under Armour, Rocky stuck as the nickname and The Rock Says became the official name.
One thing was for sure — this horse could run. In 2019, his first year of racing, Rocky won a single race, but also had two second-place finishes and three third-place finishes. The only time he didn’t Win, Place or Show, Rocky ran fourth in a photo finish. That first year, in just eight races, Rocky earned $96,688.
In 2020, Rocky only went to the post four times and was in the money all four races — one win, two second-place finishes and a third-place finish — but the colt wasn’t fully healthy. In June 2020, Sagamore lost Rocky to a claim of $50,000.
Sue missed the horse but kept up with his exploits. She noticed he was claimed two more times — the next time for $30,000 and then all the way down to $10,000. Sue began to be worried about whether Rocky would end up in a bad way due to injuries. Economics can decide the fate of a race horse that can’t earn his keep.
Sue somehow got word that the horse had a strained suspensory ligament. It’s a fairly common injury –akin to an ankle sprain in a human — but if it is not allowed the time to heal properly, it could be dangerous for the horse to run.
Sue found out that Rocky was now down at Louisiana Downs and about to run in a $5,000 claiming race. Call it a mother’s intuition. Sue was truly concerned about the horse she had helped bring into this world. First, she tried to appeal to Rocky’s owner and trainer at Louisiana Downs. She explained to both how special this horse was to her and that she wanted to buy him for the claim price of $5,000.
The woman who owned Rocky turned her down flat and didn’t do much to assuage Sue’s concerns, telling her they liked the horse, believed he was healthy and that they intended to race him many more times.
Sue’s good friend Debbie Moorefield, the equine manager of Sagamore Farm, knows all the ins and outs of how to claim a horse. Under Debbie’s guidance, Sue went about the business of getting the $5,000 plus taxes and claiming insurance.
Debbie just happened to know someone in the horse transport business who agreed to take the horse from Louisiana Downs to Kentucky. And then they worked out transport for Rocky from Kentucky back home to where he was born.
Rocky did race that day on June 6, 2022, and came in second. Sue won her claim, and the horse transport got him to Kentucky on the first leg of his trip back home.
Rocky’s final leg of the long haul back to Sagamore wasn’t without drama. At about 3:30 a.m. on the way home, the 18-wheeler in front of the horse transport lost a tire, which made its way under the horse transport with enough force to knock out the air tank somewhere in the hills of Tennessee.
The repair would take hours. Rocky had great patience and eventually got to Sagamore. His racing days are behind him. Nowadays, he grazes and runs around with plenty of old friends at Sagamore.
Sue often stops by to smile at him, pet him or maybe give him a carrot or a mint.
Photo Credit: Courtesy of Sue Kenney