By Mike Kane
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – In about 20 seconds, maybe it was 15, Ryan Kamp traced his journey in racing to the winner's enclosure Saturday after the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course with Papiamento (Medaglia d'Oro).
Boiled down to an even more concise version, about 15 years ago, Kamp went to the Kentucky Derby and nailed a $1,000 trifecta with his very first wager.
“Right there, it just like latched its hooks in and it had me from that point forward,” Kamp said. “I ended up going to the Breeders' Cup and sat next to a trainer. We spent all day together at a table. I asked him, 'Hey, how do you get into horse racing?' He kind of explained it to me.'”
Kamp and his wife, Larisa, eventually became owners, starting in partnerships with claiming horses. At OBS March this year, they purchased Papiamento for $250,000, who gave their little stable its first career victory, and at Saratoga no less. Papiamento won the $100,000 maiden special weight race by 2 1/2 lengths over Thunder Roll (Hard Spun). Under Tyler Gaffalione, Papiamento reached the wire in the 1 1/16-mile turf race in 1:44.59 and paid $23.60.
“It's unbelievably exciting,” Kamp said.
Papiemento also provided trainer Whit Beckman his first win at Saratoga. Beckman worked for Hall of Fame trainers Todd Pletcher and Chad Brown before opening his own business in late 2021. This is his first summer at Saratoga. Though Beckman had been in the winner's enclosure before, he said this visit with his 14th Saratoga starter was different.
“It feels a lot better when it's my name in the program,” Beckman said. “It's always the experience we're looking for. To be here today is just so much, not just for me, but for everybody that got me here, owners, staff, family, everybody.”
Papiamento, bred by Dell Ridge Farm, was sixth, beaten 3 1/2 lengths, in his debut July 20. Beckman added blinkers and switched to Gaffalione, who gave the colt a well-timed ride.
“The first start, with all of them, you just kind of put them out and see how they're going to react,” Beckman said. “I thought he ran it very professionally, but there's a few little things, some greenness, just maybe he wasn't really committing to spots. The blinkers today, I tried them in the morning. I really liked what I saw. Tyler sat behind them, gave him a great ride and everything worked our great.”
Thunder Roll attended the pace set by Insubordination (IRE) (Bungleinthejungle (GB)) through early fractions of :23.24, 48.78 and 1:14.01. Thunder Roll and jockey Junior Alvarado pounced in the stretch, seized the lead and looked on their way to victory. However, Papiamento, never worse than third throughout, was rallying, too, and moved in front inside the sixteenth pole.
Through Andrew Hudson of Hoolie Racing, the Kamps of Mooresville, N.C. connected with Legion Bloodstock, who selected Papiamento at OBS. Legion was the link to Beckman.
“He was a very athletic-looking horse, just like we always buy,” said Kristian Villante of Legion. “We bought him from Ciaran Dunne, and he really stood by the horse. That always means a lot to us.”
It turned out that Villante and his partners had made a pretty good assessment of what would be the purchase price.
“I thought he would actually bring more money,” Villante said. “That's what we were telling Ryan that day. I think Ciaran paid $220,000 for him as a yearling, so it wasn't much more. We kind of thought between $200,000 and $300,000 was kind of what he would be.”
Kamp, 45, said that he and his partner operate an environmental construction company that installs liners under landfills and power plants. He and some of his pals were in Saratoga, but said Larisa stayed home because their son was participating in a football program.
Thanks to that visit to the Derby and that winning bet, the Kamps are firmly in the racing business. Their One Happy Island (Uncle Mo) is scheduled to run in a maiden special weight race at Kentucky Downs on Thursday.
Kamp noted that it wasn't a smooth path to the Saratoga victory, which made it especially satisfying.
“We've had all kind of things go wrong, so for this to go right is, like, the coolest thing ever,” he said. “Really, really cool.”
6th-Saratoga, $100,000, Msw, 8-24, 2yo, 1 1/16mT, 1:44.59, fm, 2 1/2 lengths.
PAPIAMENTO (c, 2, Medaglia d'Oro–Serena's Image, by Curlin), a decent sixth when north of 30-1 on course-and-distance debut here July 20, capitalized on a perfect trip to cause a 10-1 upset in the sixth race on the Travers Day undercard at sunny Saratoga. With Tyler Gaffalione taking over for Brian Hernandez, Jr. and adding blinkers for this second go, the dark bay colt was away without incident and fell into the box-seat trip hugging the fence around the clubhouse turn as favored Insubordination (Ire) (Bungle Inthejungle {GB}) went along at a sound early clip. Nicely settled for the run down the backstretch, the $250,000 OBS March juvenile continued to travel in the slipstream of the leader into the final three furlongs and was poised to strike if good enough when push came to shove. Asked for some acceleration and steered away from the inside in upper stretch, Papiametno was a bit flat-footed for a stride or two as Godolphin homebred Thunder Roll (Hard Spun) overtook Insubordination at the furlong grounds. But sticking to his task with good determination, Papiamento grabbed Thunder Roll with about a sixteenth of a mile to the finish and edged away to score by about a length and a half. Papiamento marks the first Saratoga winner for former Chad Brown assistant Whit Beckman. The 2-year-old is the first registered foal for unraced Serena's Image, who was a $700,000 buy for the Parks Investment Group at the 2023 Keeneland November Sale while in foal with the winner's full-brother. This dam was booked to Uncle Mo for next term. Productive second dam SW Serena's Cat (Storm Cat) is also responsible for MGSW Noble Tune (Unbridled's Song), champion older horse Honor Code (A.P.Indy) and SW Declarationofpeace (War Front). Sales History: $270,000 Ylg '23 KEESEP; $250,000 2yo '24 OBSMAR. Lifetime Record: 2-1-0-0, $55,750. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
O-Ryan Kamp and Larisa Kamp; B-Dell Ridge Farm, LLC (KY); T-D. Whitworth Beckman.
Trainer Whit Beckman gets his 1️⃣st Saratoga win with #5 Papiamento at 10/1 with jockey @Tyler_Gaff!@LegionBldstk pic.twitter.com/6KJNICXYkS
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) August 24, 2024
Not a subscriber? Click here to sign up for the daily PDF or alerts.
