BBN Racing Hoping KY Downs is Twice as Sweet in 2025

During the 2024 Kentucky Downs meet, BBN Racing accomplished their most lucrative victory to date when 2-year-old filly Kilwin rallied down the stretch to take the $1 million Untapable Stakes. Fast-forward a year later, and the Rusty Arnold-trained 3-year-old is now a grade 1 winner on dirt after her thrilling last-to-first triumph in the Aug. 2 Test Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. "The whole thing is a whirlwind for us," said BBN founding partner Brian Klatsky. "Back in April, if you said we'd be running her in the Test, that was the last thing we were talking about." The thing they were talking about for Kilwin in April was a return to Kentucky Downs, whose seven-day meet begins Aug. 28, for the $2 million Music City Stakes (G2T) Sept. 6. Thanks to her new credentials and success over the track, she will likely enter as the top choice. For BBN, Kentucky Downs is always the top choice. Purse money in Kentucky only continues to grow since the introduction of Historical Horse Racing machines over the last few years. Those extra-large purses at the Franklin, Ky., track, which is supported by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Development Fund, were a huge draw to the business as Klatsky, Braxton Lynch, and Brendan O'Brien formed BBN. "The Kentucky Downs program, the KTDF money, was a big part of our business plan," Klatsky said during the Aug. 18 episode of the BloodHorse Monday podcast. "We saw this surge of money coming from historical racing slots as an opportunity to invest in racehorses and bring new people to the game. Kentucky Downs is sort of the center of all that." Going into their eighth crop of horses this year, Kilwin is just the headliner for BBN's growing presence at Kentucky Downs this season, which they hope will be extra sweet. A daughter of Twirling Candy, Kilwin is named after the premium chocolates, fudge, ice cream, and sweet treats store, Kilwins, which has nearly 200 locations across the United States. One of those locations is a store in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., that the BBN team frequents on their trips to Saratoga Race Course. When Kilwin the horse ran in the Test, Kilwins the store showed their support with a "Good Luck" banner on the storefront and limited edition milk chocolate pops handmade to look like Kilwin. However, she's not BBN's only Twirling Candy filly with a sweet name. She will be joined this season at Kentucky Downs by promising 2-year-old, Mackinac, who runs on the opening day card. Also trained by Arnold, Mackinac is named after Mackinac Island in northern Michigan. Home to under 1,000 people, motor vehicles have been prohibited on the island since 1898, leading to the popularity of traveling by horseback. Furthermore, Mackinac Island is world-famous for its fudge. Kilwins also got its start in Michigan, opened by Don and Katy Kilwin in Petoskey in 1947. Not too long after, they opened a store in Mackinac. "It's incredible. There are no cars on the island; everything is horse-drawn buggy," Klatsky said. "It's the fudge capital of the world, it's just one fudge shop after another. They take the ferry over just to go and get fudge." The island's connection to horses, fudge, and Kilwins made it the perfect namesake for BBN's next Twirling Candy filly once Kilwin became a star on the track. Mackinac the horse holds some high expectations from the BBN team and Arnold. On debut July 30 at Saratoga, she was off a step slow and rallied in the stretch to finish second, beaten two lengths by Snow Face Princess. The winner, who was one of only two fillies in the field with a previous start, bounced back to win the Bolton Landing Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 17 before bringing $775,000 from Winchell Thoroughbreds at the conclusion of Fasig-Tipton's Digital Sale Aug. 26. "We were not disappointed with her first start," Klatsky said. "We said it's going to take a good filly to beat her that day. Apparently, Snow Face Princess has turned out to be a pretty good one." Despite the loss, Mackinac will take on winners in Thursday's eighth race, an allowance race restricted to horses who sold or were an RNA at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. The race condition eliminates homebreds from the competition pool while carrying a $250,000 total purse. In the 11-horse field that features dual dirt stakes winner Sassy C W, Mackinac is the 3-1 morning line favorite. "She got a lot out of (her debut)," Klatsky said. "She has moved quite a bit forward, we think, from where she was on her debut day." Her and Kilwin's talent will be backed by the bloodline of Twirling Candy, who has been a top sire for the Kentucky Downs meet. He led all sires by stakes winners at the 2024 meet with three. War Front was the only other sire with two. Twirling Candy stood the 2025 season for a $60,000 fee at Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky., and is represented on the season with three grade 1 winners: Kilwin, Fionn, and Ag Bullet. Mackinac was a $240,000 purchase at Keeneland last year, slightly more than the $225,000 Kilwin brought at the same sale one year earlier. That price range is where BBN does their damage, Kilwin now having earned $1,087,968. Buying six to eight yearlings a year, they usually spend just over $1 million in total. "We're not buying $600,000, million-dollar yearlings," Klatsky said. "We're out there buying athletes in that $200,000 range, getting a chance to compete with the big spenders in the game. I think that's our secret sauce in our story." In addition to Mackinac during Kentucky Downs' first three days, BBN will debut 2-year-old colt Drop Shot (Race 12, Aug. 30) and start 3-year-old filly Tickin Time Blonde (Race 4, Aug. 31) in maiden races with $170,000 purses. They also start grade 3 winner Mo Stash in a $210,000 allowance. Including Kilwin, five other BBN horses could start over in the final four race days. All four BBN horses entered on the first three days were purchased for a combined $570,000. The total purses of their races equal $800,000. "For us, everything we buy is Kentucky-bred. We usually buy everything at Keeneland," Klatsky said. "Fast-forward a year later, and they're 2-year-olds and we hope to get a bunch of those started with Kentucky Downs races." BBN has been on a sweet roll in grade 1 company this summer with Kilwin taking the Test, World Record, who they own in partnership with WinStar Farm, finishing third in the Bing Crosby Stakes (G1), and Bracket Buster running a gallant second to Sovereignty in the Travers Stakes (G1). More success at Kentucky Downs would be the icing on top.