McPeek Wins The Silverbulletday With Taken by the Wind But Frustrations Linger

[Wandering Eyes]

Taken by the Wind (Rock Your World) remained undefeated and took another step closer to a start in the GI Kentucky Oaks when capturing Saturday's Silverbulletday Stakes at the Fair Grounds. But a day later, what was most on the mind of trainer Kenny McPeek was what he called a “bureaucratic nightmare” that she had to overcome to even make the $150,000 race.

The Silverbulletday was Taken by the Wind's first start since she won the Sept. 13 Pocahontas Stakes at Churchill Downs. McPeek said that she was sidelined not by injury, but by a decision made by Dr. Nick Smith, the chief racing veterinarian for the Kentucky Racing Commission, to put the filly on the vet's list after her win in the Pocahontas.

“The Kentucky state vets wouldn't let her run until this weekend,” McPeek said. “She won the Pocahontas and then the Kentucky vets put her on the vet's list after the race. I never understood why. It's ridiculous what they did. We've never found anything wrong with her. They forced us to bone-scan her, to PET scan her. We've done everything, and Dr. Nick Smith wouldn't let her run. He didn't like the way she moves. This was one of the most frustrating things I've ever dealt with as a horse trainer. She should have won the Alcibiades and she should already be a Grade I winner. She was going to be the even-money favorite in that race. And then we would have taken her to the Breeders' Cup.”

McPeek said that his filly was not removed from the vet's list until after a Dec. 29 workout at Oaklawn Park.

“We had to ship her to Oaklawn to work her to get her off the HISA vet's list,” he said. “And we had to ship her back to the Fair Grounds to run her. I hope it's not going to be an on-going issue because we've never found so much as a bump or bruise on her. We don't know what it has been about. But Dr. Smith seems to think that his eyes are stronger than PET scans and bone scans. We've been very frustrated by it. It has hurt her value. You watch. She'll win the next one, and I think she has a very good chance of winning the Oaks. This is a very good filly. She does everything right. We're dealing with this regularly, especially in Kentucky. They are basically picking us apart, and this filly has been caught up in a bureaucratic nightmare. But her talent keeps rising.”

McPeek, known for his ability to find talented horses at bargain prices, purchased Taken by the Wind for $20,000 at the Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale. But he said there's more to the story, and it also involves horses winding up on the vet's list in Kentucky.

“The $20,000 is a little bit of an aberration,” he said. “I bought her as a yearling in July for $70,000 for Walking L Thoroughbreds, which is owned by a gentleman named Scott Leeds. For years, he's been one of my best clients. He decided to divest himself of everything after we bought her and after he had a list of horses go on the Kentucky vet's list. He said. 'Just sell everything.' I said, 'You shouldn't sell her because I think she's a pretty good filly.' He said, 'No, just run her through the sale.' He ran her through the sale in October, and I wasn't going to let her go for nothing. I think people hesitated. I think they were thinking, 'Why did Kenny buy her in July for $70,000 and now he's selling her back in October? Is there something wrong with her?' No, there was nothing wrong with her whatsoever. l just protected her and bought her back.”

The good news is that McPeek formed a new ownership group, and it includes a celebrity, the Hall of Fame quarterback and Fox NFL analyst Terry Bradshaw.

“Terry watched the race from the Fox NFL studio with all of his cohorts and colleagues,” McPeek said. “They hadn't gone on the air yet. He was there with 15 to 20 people. They watched the race together and they had a blast.”

McPeek added that Taken by the Wind will likely run next in the GII Fair Grounds Oaks on Mar. 21 or the GII Fantasy Stakes, which will be run on Mar. 27 at Oaklawn Park.

 

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