Sol Kumin

Sol Kumin (born 13 May 1975) is an American business leader, Thoroughbred racehorse owner and philanthropist.

Justify then went on to win the Belmont Stakes, and thus became the 13th Triple Crown winner.

Upon Kumin leaving in 2014, Cohen went on to say that Kumin had "been responsible for transforming our business development and investor relations functions and has helped create our global strategy and footprint. Without his tireless work, we would not have had a strong London presence or our current business in Asia."

After leaving SAC Capital in January 2014, Kumin started hedge fund Folger Hill Asset Management with over $1 billion from investors including $400 million backing from Leucadia National Corp.

Kumin named the hedge fund after a hill of the same name on Nantucket where he has a summer home.

He does not invest his own money, but has instead grown a reputation for identifying and recruiting talented traders.

After buying his first horse in 2014, Kumin's first high-profile winner was Lady Eli; purchased that same year.

Named after his wife Elizabeth, Lady Eli won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies Turf in 2014 and then went on to claim six straight wins before being struck down with laminitis after stepping on a nail.

In 2015, Kumin's Undrafted, which he co-owns with former American football wide receiver Wes Welker, won the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.

Of Ascot, Kumin commented "It's an incredible place to win. When you stop and look around, the tradition and just the whole scene is different than anywhere in the world."

Kumin had been in the sport for less than a year when he was crowned New Owner of the Year for the United States for 2015 at the Thoroughbred Owner Conference in Florida in January 2016.

In 2016, Kumin bought a stake in the double Stakes winner Exaggerator in 2016 along with partners including Big Chief Racing and Ron Ortowski.

Later that year Kumin was celebrating winning the Preakness Stakes; one of the Triple Crown Races.

At the Arlington Million in Chicago in August 2017, Kumin had two successes with Beach Patrol winning the Arlington Million, and Dacita winning the Beverly D. Stakes.

He went on to say he "had an unbelievable day" and that the Million was "the race we've been waiting for a year."

Following his horses' performances through the year, Kumin finished fourth in the 2017 Eclipse Award behind Juddmonte Farms, Winchell Thoroughbreds and Godolphin Racing.

In May 2018, he became the first owner since 1952 to have both a Kentucky Oaks and a Kentucky Derby winner in the same weekend.

He was a co-owner of Justify; winner of the Triple Crown.

The oldest of three siblings, Kumin grew up in Worcester, Massachusetts before moving to Boston at the age of 10.

He was educated at the Fessenden School before attending St. Paul's School in Concord, New Hampshire.

He went on to gain a BA in political science from Johns Hopkins University.

Kumin worked at Lazard Asset Management and Sanford Bernstein before joining SAC Capital, where his roles included Head of Business Development and subsequently Chief Operating Officer under Steve A. Cohen.

In April 2018 Kumin announced that following a merger of Folger Hill and Schonfeld Strategic Advisors, he would take up a new role of Chief Strategic Officer at Leucadia Asset Management, LLC in September 2018.

In March 2018, Kumin bought stakes in two Kentucky Derby contenders; Audible and Justify.

After My Boy Jack won the Lexington Stakes and gained 20 qualification points, this would mean that Kumin had three runners in the 2018 Derby.

Justify would go on to win the race, with Audible finishing third and My Boy Jack fifth.

This topped off a successful two days for Kumin after another of his horses; Monomoy Girl won the Kentucky Oaks the same weekend.

With two wins, Kumin became the first owner to achieve the Derby-Oaks double in 66 years.

Topping off the weekend was another of his horses Yoshida who was victorious in the Old Forester Turf Classic.

Of the weekend, Kumin commented "It was a ridiculous weekend. We had two awesome days with the Derby/Oaks weekend and winning three grade ones."

Later that month, Justify landed another victory at the Preakness Stakes meaning it had won two of the three Triple Crown races with the third to be decided the following month at the Belmont Stakes.

The win meant that Kumin's horses had won the Preakness Stakes in two out of three years.

In August 2018, Kumin's horse Catholic Boy won the Travers Stakes in Saratoga Springs, New York.

Of the win, Kumin said "The Travers was a bucket list race for me."

As of January 2020, Kumin had been promoted to the position of co-president at Leucadia Asset Management.

Specializing in buying proven established horses, Kumin has (and has had) a stake in a number of active and retired racehorses including Justify, Exaggerator, Lady Eli and Wavell Avenue and has been given credit for having "revolutionized the partnership concept."

In addition to purchasing stakes in proven racehorses, Kumin has also repeatedly invested in yearlings such as Monomoy Girl and Lady Eli.

Kumin is involved in a number of stables and ownership groups including Head of Plains Partners LLC, Madaket Stables, Monomoy Stables, and Sheep Pond Partners.

Kumin and his partners usually own around 100 horses at any given time; around 70–75% are fillies.

Despite attending his first race while at college Kumin didn't get into horse-racing until much later through close friend Jay Hanley; the pair now comprising ownership group Sheep Pond Partners along with two other friends.