Kenny McPeek Joins TDN Writers’ Room Podcast, Presented by Keeneland

[Wandering Eyes]

It will be a hugely important weekend for trainer Kenny McPeek as Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and Mystik Dan (Goldencents) will be in action Saturday at Churchill Downs. Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna will be heavy favorite in the GII Fleur De Lis Stakes, while 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan faces a tough assignment in a loaded GI Stephen Foster S. To talk about the two biggest stars in his barn, his hiring of Jimmy Jerkens and even his new tattoo, McPeek was the Gainseway Guest of the Week on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast Presented by Keeneland.

“These horses are doing superb,” McPeek said. “It's been a real honor to be around two horses of such talent level and they've remained consistent. As for Thorpedo Anna, her race is hers for the taking if she'll go back to her previous form, and I expect her to. Mystik Dan's race is a tough race. I mean, it probably is the race of the year. That is really deep water. The horse that comes out of this race victorious is going to be, I would assume, the early favorite for the Classic. They've all got their work cut out for them. For Mystik Dan, it's just been a fantastic month. We feel like we've got a huge chance.”

Thorpedo Anna is the horse to beat in the Fleur de Lis and will be the favorite. But what happened to her in her last start when she was seventh as the odds-on favorite in the GI La Troienne S.?

“I think she got the breath knocked out of her in that first turn with all the bumping,” McPeek said. “Actually, Johnny Velazquez probably was the most informative about it all. I asked him his take on it and he said that when [Joel] Rosario came over on us, he knocked Torpedo Anna into Dorth Vader and then Dorth Vader hit the rail. And then when she hit the rail, her hind end came back over and broadsided Thorpedo Anna. That was pretty extreme. If she has a similar performance this weekend, I'll be shocked. Horse racing, it's a very humbling business. Right now, she's done everything right, like she's always done. ”

Starting with the GI Preakness S., Mystik Dan lost five straight and some of his form was terrible. He looked more like his old self when winning the GIII Blame S. last out.

“I think we got too ambitious,” he said. “I'll take the bullet on that. We got too ambitious coming out of the Triple Crown. We thought that the Malibu was a good spot. It didn't look like too tough a race. We actually wanted to showcase him sprinting a little bit as a sire to attract people to him as a stallion. It completely backfired. We really needed to step-ladder him. Training horses is so inexact and it's never black or white, it's always gray.”

McPeek is understandably proud of winning both the GI Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby last year. So much so that he got a large tattoo on his right arm honoring the feat,

“It's something I'm very proud of,” he said. “If you're gonna get a tattoo, make it represent something that you accomplished. Don't get just some arbitrary tattoo. I decided to do it. And then I started communicating with the tattoo artist and she was great and we kind of put some ideas together. This is something that I wanted.”

In our “Fastest Horse of the Week,” segment, which is sponsored by WinStar, we went over the many reasons there are breed to WinStar stallion Nashville. The fastest horse of the week was Vahva (Gun Runner), who earned a 97 Beyer figure when winning the GII Chicago S. at Churchill Downs.

Elsewhere on the podcast, which is also sponsored by the KTOB, Pennsylvania Horse Breeders' Association, West Point Thoroughbreds, 1/ST Racing and 1/ST TV, the team of Randy Moss, Zoe Cadman and Bill Finley reflected on the remarkable life and times of Wayne Lukas, who recently announced his retirement due to an undisclosed illness. They also discussed the GIII Ohio Derby and wrapped up Royal Ascot.

Another subject was disgraced trainer Jorge Navarro, who was released from federal prison last week only to be turned over to officers from the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which relocated him to a prison of its own in Colorado. Navarro is not a U.S. Citizen and is all but sure to be deported.

The team also previewed the big card this Saturday at Churchill where the Fleur De Lis and Stephen Foster are just two of six stakes on the program.

To watch the Writers' Room, click here. To view the show as a podcast, click here.

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