From nightmare to dream result for Baynes

26th October 2021

By Jonny Turner

With a lot of time, patience and dedication Boss Kenny (Majestic Son-One Up Kenny-Pegasus Spur) turned a breeder’s nightmare into a dream result when winning at Addington last Thursday night.

The Tony Barron trained trotter found the lead inside the first lap of his 2600m victory and just kept on charging, reeling off a smart 28.6sec final 400m to win.

For breeders and owners Kenny and Jo Baynes the victory completed a long journey that was not supposed to end with winning a race. As a young horse, the couple faced what most breeders dread – Boss Kenny sustaining a major paddock injury.

“He shouldn’t even be alive let alone winning races,” Jo Baynes said. “He had an accident with his cover, one of the leg straps came undone, we saw it happen and we walked over to him.  But then he bolted and his cover got all messed up and the other leg strap was still on cutting into his hind leg.”

While the vet’s advice was to put Boss Kenny down, that wasn’t an option for Jo Baynes.

“Your head says you are probably right, but he was our first foal out of One Up Kenny.  He is a three-quarter (blood relation) to One Over Da Moon, so the breeding is there and the thought of putting him down, I couldn’t do it.  Even if he was a lame hack we would find a job for him, he could babysit the foals, we were not going to put him down.”

“So there were months of him in boxes at home, changing the dressings every other day, keeping the tendon sheath clear of infection.  That was the first problem to overcome, then we got through that window  the next it was taking him out of the box three days a week onto the lawn on a lead rope letting him eat grass and making him move that hind leg properly.”

“That had its challenges. Sometimes we had a nice little lamb on the end of the lead, sometimes we had King Kong!  He is certainly from the Kenny breed where they have a very specific personality.”

Dedication to dressing Boss Kenny’s injured hind leg started to pay off and the horse began healing impressively well.

“He just progressed. It was amazing. Even vets who were here looking at other horses couldn’t believe it was the same horse that I was leading in and out of the boxes.”

Eventually, the Baynes started on light work with Boss Kenny over a span of several months and with breaks in between when he needed it. When the time was right the trotter returned to Tony Barron and who produced the horse to win in his sixth start.

The Baynes have plenty to look forward to with One Up Kenny, who is among the expansive breeding operation. The nine-year-old has left the couple a two-year-old filly and a yearling colt by Sebastian K and a weanling filly by En Solitaire.

The Pegasus Spur mare is booked to be served by What The Hill this spring.