Coffee, pens, chapstick, maybe an occasional hat. Consignors often hand out little tokens to give the memories of potential buyers a nudge into recalling their barn and their horses. But chances are you've seen someone emerging from Barn 9 on the Keeneland sales grounds in the last day or two with ice cream, which likely sounds mighty good after a day going from barn to barn inspecting horses in the full sun of an early September in Central Kentucky.Jennifer and Zach Phillips of Zen Equine, who may have their first-ever consignment at Keeneland September but are not new to the game, thought long and hard about what might appeal to buyers and most assuredly found the sweet spot. It's exactly the sort of thought and care that goes into both their daily operation and their first consignment.“It's just a little novelty, an idea to get people to come see our horses,” said Jennifer Phillips. “'Oh, that's the place that has the ice cream! They also have the really nice Golden Pal; let's go back down there.' That's what we want people to think. Hopefully it's something we can do that will set us apart.”Phillips and her husband lease about 150 acres of the former Millennium Farm off of Paris Pike and primarily board mares and foals for clients. They also prep for sales, handling five last year for Keeneland's September sale and 15 for this year. While they have charge of some valuable mares and yearlings–Book 1 offerings–they are committed to discretion and don't disclose names. There may be a clue, however, in their name: Zen Equine.“Zen is a Japanese term for meditation and calmness,” said Phillips. “Our biggest clients are Japanese, so we kind of incorporated it into our name. We like to keep things nice and relaxed here.”Zen also happens to be a handy combination of their names: Zach and Jen. It's that same cleverness and good humor they bring to their business, along with a hearty dose of good, old-fashioned hard work. After more than 10 years apiece spent learning the industry's ropes under some pretty exceptional teachers, the couple made the jump into their own operation.“We just decided it was time for us to go out and do our own thing,” said Phillips. “We had a couple of horses of our own and we kind of just decided if we were going to work this hard, we might as well do it for ourselves rather than for somebody else.”Phillips went through the equine sciences program at the University of Limerick and had the good fortune to be placed with the late Gerry Dilger at Dromoland Farm for her internship. After she finished school, he offered her a job and she spent an additional five years mentored by one of the sport's top horsemen.“He was the best,” remembered Phillips. “He was so good. He was a friend to everyone. And he really wanted everyone to do really, really well. He never wanted to see anyone fail. He did his best to help all of us do so well. I know he'd be so proud looking down right now.”After Dilger passed away and Covid upended life around the world, Phillips spent three years working for Mike McMahon at Spruce Lane Farm, while Zach, meanwhile, had about a decade under his belt with Ted Campion at Dundrum Farm.“He managed that farm, they came up with a lot of Grade I winners like Rattle N Roll and Yellow Agate,” said Phillips. “They've had a serious amount of Grade I winners. Gerry used to have the swimming pool for the horses and Zach and Ted would bring horses over to swim at Gerry's pool, so we knew each other from that aspect and then we'd meet downtown.”Jennifer and Zach Phillips at last year's Keeneland September sale | Courtesy of Jennifer PhillipsJennifer and Zach had the classic Lexington love story: they knew each other professionally, ran into each other at McCarthy's Irish Bar on Upper Street in downtown, and things blossomed from there.“It was through the horses in McCarthy's, of course. Where else would anybody meet?” said Phillips with a laugh. “If somebody asks you that question, they nearly know the answer. It makes sense. That's where everybody meets is down there. Just go to McCarthy's. You're sure to find someone.”After dating for several years, they took the plunge and got married two years ago. It wasn't long after they formed Zen Equine.“Everyone sort of knows us as individuals and how we've come up and who we've worked for, but nobody really knows Zen Equine,” said Phillips. Now that they're established, it's time to “get us as a partnership out there. This is our second September sale prepping on our own, so we'd like to just to get it out there that we're here.”Zen has three yearlings catalogued at Keeneland, including two in Book 3: a Corniche filly (hip 1322) and a Golden Pal filly (hip 1547). Their final lot is a Mitole filly (hip 3207) in Book 5. They know each of the yearlings intimately. Two they foaled, while the third they've had since before she was weaned.“The Book 3 fillies are both really nice horses,” said Phillips. “Freshman sires and a freshman consignment. It's kind of like we're all starting out the same way. You never know what you're going to end up with when you have a freshman sire in there. The Golden Pals and the Corniches have been taken well, so hopefully that continues. The Mitole is actually mine. She's out of a mare that won nearly $600,000 on the track. She is tough and she passes it on because that yearling is tough. She has her own mind. I'm very excited for it because she's had some beautiful babies, so we hope she gets some runners as well.”While dipping their toes into this initial consignment, the Phillipses are already looking to the future.“Our plan is to only sell what we have here on the farm, stuff that we prep here, horses that we really know,” said Phillips. “I don't want to get to a huge size where you have hundreds of horses. I like to be able to know my horses and be able to talk to buyers: this horse looks really well in a round pen, this horse does really well on the walker, their different mindsets and how they think. I want to be able to tell people exactly the characteristics that I like about that horse. Since they've been prepped here, we have an idea of what they're like.”Eventually, you may see Zen Equine consignments in the breeding stock sales, as well. Phillips said they would like to branch out, especially as mares and foals are their primary business.“We foaled 32 mares this year. Next year is going to be 39, as of my last count,” she said. “Our primary focus is to have long-term clients and foal out mares that we know.“And then the long-term goal? I'd love to have a horse in Book 1 or go to Saratoga. We'd like to breed something like that, but we're just going to take it in small steps right now. I'm glad we've only got the three going to the sale, kind of get our feet in the door. We're very grateful to the clients that have entrusted us with their horses. They've been very, very good to us.”It's said ice cream makes everything better. Ice cream flavored with a hearty topping of solid horsemanship might be just the sort of 'Zen' that hits the right spot midway through Keeneland's marathon September sale.The post Zen Equine’s First Consignment Finds the Sweet Spot appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.