NEWS
McPeek saddles 1,000th career winner
Posted: Monday, May 25, 2009 5:37 PM
KEN MCPEEK
Churchill Downs/Reed Palmer Photography
by Ron Parker
Trainer Ken McPeek won the 1,000th race of his career on Monday when Old Man Buck won the eighth race at Churchill Downs.
The 46-year-old trainer grew up in Lexington and played football at Tates Creek High School before graduating from the University of Kentucky in 1984 with a degree in business, which led him to New York for a job interview as a stockbroker.
It was racing’s gain that instead of becoming a stockbroker, McPeek took a job as a hotwalker for future Racing Hall of Fame trainer Claude R. “Shug” McGaughey.
“Now it’s on to 2,000,” McPeek said after the milestone victory. “I’ve got a lot of people to thank from my clients to the staff. I mean, I’m just part of it. There are a lot of people who have worked really hard for me for a long time, and I appreciate it. Really, I think I’ve come from the bottom and worked my way up through the years. I think I’ve done more with less for a long time, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of that.”
McPeek returned to Lexington in 1985 and took out his trainer’s license with his father as his first client. But his stable began to gain momentum and better quality horses through owner Roy Monroe, whose son, Brian, played high school football with McPeek.
McPeek’s first big horse was Tejano Run, whom Monroe purchased for $20,000 at the 1993 Keeneland September yearling sale. Tejano Run went on to win five graded stakes races and finished second in both the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) and the 1995 Kentucky Derby (G1) with career earnings of $1,166,842.
“The most rewarding aspect of being a trainer is the challenge of working with an owner to discover a diamond in the rough,” McPeek said. “Owners like Ray Cottrell and Roy Monroe … have been a part of it and a big influence. We’re going to keep grinding along and we’re going to get 2,000. It’s just a matter of time. We can do that in the next ten years.”
McPeek’s abilities translated to major successes as he saddled Grade 1 winners such as Dream Empress, Hard Buck, Harlan’s Holiday, Prince Arch, Take Charge, and 2002 Belmont Stakes (G1) winner Sarava.
In an ironic twist, owner Jack Wolf transferred Harlan’s Holiday to Todd Pletcher prior to the 2002 Belmont, but McPeek won that race, anyway, by upsetting dual classic winner War Emblem with Sarava.
But McPeek’s success had its drawbacks as his stable grew with horses in New York, Chicago, Kentucky, and Florida, and in 2005 he began turning horses over to his assistants, primarily Helen Pitts, in order to take up a new career as a bloodstock agent for his clients.
That venture included signing the ticket on behalf of Midnight Cry Stable for a $57,000 yearling. The yearling was eventual two-time Horse of the Year and 2007 Preakness Stakes (G1) winner Curlin.
But after a year the track lured McPeek back, this time with a smaller stable.
“I was just too stressed out before I took that sabbatical,” McPeek said.
McPeek and wife, Sue, purchased the old 115-acre Pillar Stud property in Lexington and renamed it Magdalena, which includes the McPeek home as well as a training facility for his current charges.
“With the farm, it’s much more consolidated and I can see all of them regularly,” he said. “I just have horses in Lexington and Louisville. It’s a neat set-up for me.”
Ron Parker is a Thoroughbred Times TODAY writer
