Breeders’ Cup Breakthrough: McPeek’s Three Decades of Determination Pay Off

[Wandering Eyes]

In the TDN's new Breeders' Cup Breakthrough series, we catch up with the six trainers who celebrated their first win at the Breeders' Cup in 2024. We discuss the road to securing that victory, what the breakout win meant to them personally and what they hope to accomplish from here. We start with Kenny McPeek, who secured a long-awaited Breeders' Cup victory with a filly that is known to her fans as 'The Grizzly.'

 

 

It wasn't that he never had a shot. It's just that the shots weren't quite landing.

Kenny McPeek had lost at the Breeders' Cup in just about every way imaginable. Beautician was nailed at the wire in the 2009 Juvenile Fillies. Rosalind missed the break in the 2013 Juvenile Fillies but came flying late to hit the board. Tiz the Bomb ran second to a purse-money-only entrant in the 2021 Juvenile Turf.

It all added up to a 0-for-37 Breeders' Cup record for McPeek, though it wasn't because his horses weren't performing. With seven seconds and 10 thirds, his runners were finishing in the money nearly half the time.

“It was frustrating,” McPeek conceded as he reflected on the road to reaching his first Breeders' Cup win. “We had a list of fourths, too. Someone said one time that I'm the best worst Breeders' Cup trainer ever. Every time I took a horse over there I was pleased with the way they ran, but I had zero wins. I couldn't explain it other than you just keep trying.”

Keep trying and find a horse like 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). After 40 years in the business, McPeek entered last year's Breeders' Cup with what looked like his best shot yet. The filly had cruised through a nearly undefeated 3-year-old season, highlighted by a definitive GI Kentucky Oaks victory and a gutsy runner-up effort in the GI Travers Stakes.

“There were a lot of people that really wanted me to run her in the Classic against colts,” McPeek admitted with a smile. “But honestly I wanted to get the Breeders' Cup win.”

The Distaff field changed shape in the days leading up to the big event when reigning older dirt female Idiomatic (Curlin) retired and Japan's promising filly Awesome Result (Justify) scratched the morning of the race.

McPeek and the rest of the Thorpedo Anna camp, including jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and the ownership group of Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Magdalena Racing and co-owner and breeder Judy Hicks, were feeling confident about their chances, but of course there are no sure bets in horse racing.

McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. after Thorpedo Anna's score in the 2024 GI Acorn Stakes | Sarah Andrew

“We worked hard to enjoy that week,” recalled McPeek. “We didn't overcomplicate it. I felt like on paper she had a real chance and you just hope that Brian didn't have any trouble. When she got away clean and Brian was able to put himself up on the pace with her, Thorpedo Anna did the rest of the work.”

Exactly 30 years after making his Breeders' Cup debut, McPeek finally hit the mark. And perhaps the fact that his first win came with a future Horse of the Year made the victory that much sweeter.

“I had actually analyzed some other trainers who struggled at the Breeders' Cup,” said McPeek “Bobby Frankel had almost 40 starters before he won a Breeders' Cup and then he ran off six or seven after that. There is a long list of very talented horsemen who have never won. So it's no disgrace to have not won, but to finally win one was nice. I think the event all together epitomizes the sport and how difficult it is. To hit that high level at the Breeders' Cup means everything.”

McPeek's first trip to the Breeders' Cup was in 1994, when the international festival of racing was held at Churchill Downs. Tejano Run (Tejano), a colt he had purchased for owner Roy Monroe for just $20,000, finished third in the Juvenile.

McPeek said that Tejano Run's Breeders' Cup run and subsequent 3-year-old season highlighted by a runner-up performance in the GI Kentucky Derby helped put his career on the map. Before that, he was working hard to make a name for himself.

“I was just trying to make payroll,” he explained. “I did a lot of the work myself, didn't really have an assistant. Mostly I had claiming horses and, in some cases, other people's rejects. I learned how to do a good job with those.”

“I went through years where I won most of my races at Ellis Park and Turfway Park and even in the early years, Latonia and River Downs,” he continued. “Once Tejano Run came into my career, I realized that this was the kind of horse that I wanted, but they're really hard to acquire. So I put a lot of focus on yearling sales and analyzing horse's talent level.”

As a child, McPeek enjoyed pony rides in the Keeneland paddock | photo courtesy Kenny McPeek

Over the decades, McPeek's focus has paid off. The horseman has built a reputation as one of the sharpest eyes on the sales grounds, known for spotting talent that others might overlook. But well before he ever saddled his first winner, his path to success was more accidental–or perhaps fated–than planned.

McPeek was originally considering a career on Wall Street, but his plan changed the day after graduating with a finance degree when, late that night, he received some sage advice from his college roommate, who told him to do something that would make him happy. A few hours later, he showed up at Keeneland and took a job as a hot walker. The next year in 1985, he obtained his trainer's license.

“My mother was furious,” recounted McPeek. “She said, 'You've got a degree and you're going to do what?' I thought maybe it was just going to be something that was short term–and it almost was. Financially, I really struggled for a long time, but then I started hitting my stride and people started hiring me.”

In the early days, McPeek's stable was a fraction of what it is now, with strings in multiples states and year-round bases at Magdalena Farm in Kentucky and Silverleaf Hills Training Center in Florida. As a young trainer, he started off going to the sales to buy one yearling. When his client list started to grow, he would shop for eight or nine. Today, he comes home with around 80 yearlings every sales season.

Even with a bigger budget these days, McPeek still attributes much of his success to the long hours he puts in at the sales, sticking around until the final horses go through the ring. As he sees it, anyone can spot a million-dollar horse. It's more difficult to find that diamond in the rough.

“I'm mostly proud of buying horses for modest prices and somewhat beating the market to the punch on a pedigree or seeing a horse that nobody else saw,” he said. “I think professionally, it's harder to do that than it is if someone gives you a huge amount of money. Actually, there's less pressure when you've got modest-priced young horses as opposed to the million-dollar yearlings because everybody isn't looking over your shoulder with expectations.”

Among some of his top Breeders' Cup performers, McPeek bought 2008 Juvenile Fillies runner-up Dream Empress (Bernstein) for $60,000, 2015 Juvenile Fillies third-place finisher Dothraki Queen (Pure Prize) for $35,000 and 2018 Juvenile third-place runner Signalman (General Quarters) for $32,000. And while he did not train the superstar himself, he famously purchased 2007 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Curlin for $57,000.

2024 Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna | Sarah Andrew

In 2018, McPeek found another bargain buy that was going to be hard to top when he spent $35,000 on future GI Preakness Stakes victress and six-time graded stakes winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil). Four years later, he outdid himself once again when he purchased Thorpedo Anna for just $40,000. The five-figure purchase is now his all-time leading earner.

“Thorpedo Anna has got this aura about her,” McPeek explained.  “When you're in her presence, she really knows she's good. She's ultra-intelligent and obviously ultra-talented. These kinds of horses are really rare. I'm really proud to have found her at auction and to be able to have handled her and seen all the things she has accomplished. Hopefully there's a lot more to accomplish.”

Thorpedo Anna is already well on her way to another iconic campaign this year. She has posted a pair of tour-de-force romps in the GII Azeri Stakes and GI Apple Blossom Handicap, with a new target set on the upcoming GI La Troienne at Churchill Downs.

Already, there is a buzz about whether this star filly could be pointed toward the main event this November at Del Mar, where only Hall of Famer Zenyatta has defeated males in the Classic.

“I'm thinking about it already,” McPeek said with a reluctant-yet-excited grin. “Let's see. She needs to get through this next start. If she does that, we will contemplate all our options. If she runs the table this year, the Classic will be for sure.”

McPeek waited 30 years for one Breeders' Cup win. This time, he could be setting his sights on making history.

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