EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – It isn’t often that trainer Brandon Kulp ventures this far East from his base at Penn National, but with three turf horses needing races and Saturday’s Monmouth at Meadowlands card providing opportunities for all of them it made perfect sense this time, he said, to ship them to New Jersey.

But this is how rare it is for Penn National’s leading trainer to make an appearance in the Garden State: Since 2018 he has entered exactly one horse at Monmouth Park and one horse at the Meadowlands.

In both cases, that horse was Maximo Madness, who will go in Saturday’s co-featured $36,000 allowance at a mile on the turf.

Kulp is also sending Brockton for the second race that night and Lady of Lords to run in the fifth race.

“It’s just a case of having some turf horses that I’m trying to find spots for,” he said. “Once I decided to send one horse to the Meadowlands I figured I might as well send two more. But for some reason I don’t race much in New Jersey.”

With 36 horses at Penn National and another 10 at Presque Isle, Kulp generally limits his starters to those two tracks, though he also races at Parx, Delaware Park and Laurel.

But he rarely does so in New Jersey, although his hand was forced a bit this time with Penn National on a break from Sept. 5 to Oct. 6.

“It’s just one of those things,” said the 41-year-old Kulp.

Maximo Madness made an appearance at Monmouth Park over the summer, finishing fourth on July 18. The 5-year-old mare won in her one and only appearance at the Meadowlands on Sept. 27, 2024.

But that’s been it for Kulp-trained horses in New Jersey for the past eight years.

Of course, there’s little reason for Kulp to leave his base. He has won the past two Penn National training titles, as well as the 2021 title, and currently leads the standings again.

He and Tim Kreiser have been the dominant trainers at the Grantville, Pa., track for the past 10 years.

“I never had enough horses to compete for a title until recently,” said Kulp. “A couple of years ago I started getting more horses. Now I have the firepower to compete with him, which I never did before.”

Kulp, who grew up just outside Penn National and still lives in the area, began his training career in 2006. He has accumulated 1,108, having been inspired by the purchase of a single horse by his dad while he was in high school to pursue a career in racing.

He is coming off the best season of his career, with 157 winners from 541 starters in 2025.

“When I went out on my own I started with two horses,” he said. “Next thing you know, it’s five or six, then 10 and then 20. And here I am.”

First race post time for the all-turf six-race cards during the Monmouth at Meadowlands meet is 7 p.m.