Trainer Bios

Eddie Kenneally

Born: June 19, 1966, in West Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland

Record at Keeneland

Total Wins: 115

Stakes Wins: 5

Career Firsts

First Grade 1 Win: 2006 Ashland at Keeneland with Bushfire

First Stakes Win: 1999 Illinois Cavalier at Hawthorne with Cuchulainn’s Honor

First Graded Stakes Win: 2003 Silverbulletday (G2) at Fair Grounds with Belle of Perintown

First Career Win: Dec. 1, 1993, at Turfway Park with Mertensia

Starters in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes

Year	Horse	Finish
2011	Santiva	9th

At Keeneland

Won first Keeneland race during the 1996 Spring Meet.

First Keeneland stakes win was the 2006 Ashland (G1) with Bushfire for the first Grade 1 win of his career. Also won the race in 2019 with Out for a Spin.

Won 2006 Phoenix Breeders’ Cup (G3) with Kelly’s Landing, who won the 2007 Gulf News Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1). Kelly’s Landing later became a lead pony in the Kenneally barn.

Career

North American career earnings exceed $53 million with 1,140 wins through Dec. 17, 2024.

Recorded his 1,000th win July 10, 2021, when He's Pretty Lucky won the fifth race at Ellis Park.

Won the 2007 Gulf News Dubai Golden Shaheen (G1) with Kelly's Landing.

Won first Grade 1 races in 2006 – Ashland, Acorn, and Mother Goose – all with Bushfire, an Eclipse Award finalist.

Click here for his Equibase race record.

Background

Eddie grew up around horses. His father, Tommy, rode hunters and broke horses, and his uncle John Kenneally was a steeplechase jockey who became a flat and steeplechase trainer. In the 1964 Aintree Grand National, his uncle finished second aboard Purple Silk, beaten a nose. Eddie’s brother, Johnny, operates Erinvale Thoroughbreds, one of the largest consignors in Australia.

After working for Camas Park Stud in Ireland, Eddie came to the U.S. in 1987 to prep Camas horses for American sales.

After a year, he began working at the race track, breaking yearlings and exercising horses and then became an assistant trainer. He worked for Rusty Arnold, Tom Skiffington and Niall O’Callaghan. Eddie took his first training job in 1994 as the private conditioner for Jack Kent Cooke, who owned Elmendorf Farm. After Cooke died in 1997, he opened a public stable.