Whether endowing an entrepreneurship competition he founded at his alma mater, Skidmore College, supporting disabled jockeys, or donating to Thoroughbred aftercare, Ken Freirich believes in leading by example, and last week at the Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar, he was seemingly everywhere all at once, spreading the message.

“Sure did. It was non-stop,” he said a few days after the event when asked if he’d had fun.

Coming into the Thoroughbred Makeover I couldn’t have been much more confident in where I was with Maverick. Our final run the week before at Stable View had gone just about perfectly with a fifth-place finish in the Beginner Novice only adding two rails in stadium — one of which was definitely my fault — and a couple speed faults on cross country. Most importantly, down there he was so bold and confident out on cross country and gave me a great feeling coming into the makeover.