NEWS
Few better than Team McPeek at auction game
Posted: Sunday, July 11, 2010 9:42 PM
KEN McPEEK
PhotosByZ.com/Thoroughbred Times
by Pete Denk
Bloodstock agent Rory Callis sports an almost indecipherable poker face as he inspects a yearling prior to the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July sale of selected yearlings, which begins Tuesday in Lexington.
The filly has a muscular body, fairly correct front legs, and a good top line. Callis’ concentration level increases as he zeros in on her back legs and hocks.
He groans slightly, then draws a line through her number in his catalog.
“Can’t do that,” said Callis, a Los Angeles native who moved to Lexington 15 years ago for a career in horses.
Callis is part of trainer Ken McPeek’s auction inspection team.
“We are obsessive-compulsive about the hind leg,” McPeek said as his team breaks for lunch in the Fasig-Tipton sales pavilion. “The hind leg makes the horse.”
That focus—and a willingness to forgive other flaws that scare some buyers away—sets McPeek apart. It also might be one of the secrets that has made him a savvy evaluator of sales horses.
McPeek has bought or recommended the purchase of more than two dozen graded stakes winners at public auction in North and South America. But what separates him from some of his peers is his ability to buy talented horses for relatively little money.
Graded stakes winners make up the top 1%-2% of all auction horses. Yet of the at least 25 graded winners that could be directly attributed to McPeek through auction records, 14 of them were bought for less than the sale average—some of them for considerably less.
Born in Arkansas on August 2, 1962, McPeek graduated from the University of Kentucky with a B.A. in business administration in 1984. He took out his trainer’s license in Kentucky in ’85.
“In the beginning, cheaper horses was all I had,” McPeek said. “I loved going to the races and paying attention to the stakes horses. They looked a lot different than mine did.”
The first time someone entrusted McPeek to go to an auction with their money was 1991. Roy Monroe turned McPeek loose at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky fall yearling sale with $6,000.
McPeek went over budget, buying a Lord At War (Arg) filly named Warside for $8,500. She won two stakes, placed second or third in another six, and earned $185,409.
“A couple years later Mr. Monroe gave me a little more money,” McPeek said. “He sent me to the Keeneland September yearling sale with $200,000, and he said I could go to $25,000 on any colt. He told me, ‘Don’t go a penny over, and oh by the way, I want a Derby horse.’ ”
McPeek bought eight horses for Monroe, including a Tejano colt for $20,000. Named Tejano Run, he won the 1994 Breeders’ Futurity (G2) and Kentucky Cup Juvenile Stakes (G3) and finished second in the ‘95 Kentucky Derby (G1). Tejano Run retired with earnings of $1,166,842.
Another member of McPeek’s team is Dominic Brennan, an Irishman who came to the U.S. in 1983. Brennan managed Another Episode Farm in Ocala for 15 years. He now operates Kilbride Stables, specializing in breaking, training, and pinhooking from his Ocala base.
Brennan has been breaking McPeek’s horses since 1993, in addition to short-listing the sales for him.
“Kenny likes a big, good-looking horse,” Brennan said. “I leave as many on the list as I can and let him sort them out.
McPeek’s biggest auction coup came at the 2005 Keeneland September yearling sale, where he bought two-time Horse of the Year Curlin for $57,000.
The first time McPeek saw Curlin, the strapping Smart Strike yearling had a large, swollen left ankle.
“It was almost unsightly, but other than that he was a Greek god,” McPeek said.
Curlin had an OCD lesion and had undergone surgery, but the site had not completely healed. McPeek had two veterinarians look at Curlin.
“They both told me, ‘Give him 90 days and you’ll never know the OCD was there,’ ” McPeek recalled. “I can accept a flaw like that in the repository. I don’t accept many flaws on the throat. But a little flaw in the repository, that makes it easier for us to buy. I don’t believe in the perfect set of X-rays. If it looks like a runner, we’ll go.”
Like many other runners McPeek has taken a chance on, Curlin was not perfectly conformed in his front legs.
“The front legs are the last piece of the puzzle. There’s been a whole lot of good horses that weren’t made perfect up front,” McPeek said. “I’ve never seen many that had a bad hind leg. If they’ve got a good motor, they can overcome the front.”
Callis, who graduated from the Kentucky Horse Park’s equine program in 1996, gets full credit for one of the team’s latest successes. Callis bought the Cuvee colt Noble’s Promise as a weanling for $10,000 at the 2007 Keeneland November breeding stock sale for a partnership.
Noble’s Promise was small, but Callis liked his walk, hip, head, and balance. He also noted the colt had plenty of leg, another trait McPeek looks for.
“He was one of the first ten horses through the ring that morning, and nobody was there but me, literally,” Callis said. “I think one of the main things is to look at them all. We cover all the bases—look at every single horse in the sale, and that’s one of the things that has contributed to Kenny’s success.”
Trained by McPeek, Noble’s Promise won the 2009 Dixiana Breeders’ Futurity (G1) at Keeneland Race Course and finished third in the Grey Goose Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) at Santa Anita Park. He was by far the cheapest purchase in this year’s Kentucky Derby, in which he finished fifth.
“Rory finding Noble’s Promise has been a big deal, and that was all him,” McPeek said. “Rory and Dominic have done a great job for me for a long time.”
Pete Denk is sales editor for Thoroughbred Times
READER COMMENTS
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Posted by: Michelle, Chicago, IL on August 05, 2010 at 01:09 AM
I couldn't agree more with the front legs issue! Look at Real Quiet! Mr.McPeek is a horseman through and through. He knows what to hang on to and what to toss out. There's not a person more deserving of his success!!!
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Posted by: Pete, Lexington, KY on July 20, 2010 at 12:40 PM
Gunner et all-
Thanks for the comments
I would love to do a story on Bruce Headley some day. I believe he sat the July sale out this year (?). I believe I read somewhere that he was protesting the sales because of injuries his horses have suffered on the synthetic tracks in California.
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Posted by: Rob Williamson, Louisville, KY on July 16, 2010 at 08:24 AM
I saw the McPeek team at the sale this week and he definitely has the confidence of his owners. I spoke to one of his new owners from Colorado and he had nothing but praise for Kenny's abilities at evaluating yearlings and looking for value.
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Posted by: Gunner, Los Angeles, CA on July 15, 2010 at 12:38 AM
Nice piece. I respect McPeek and his abilities, but when it comes to getting alot of horse fo a little money, no one is better than Bruce Headley in CA. You should look into his record and write a piece about him next time around.
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Posted by: Walt, Jeffersonville, IN on July 14, 2010 at 07:29 PM
Great article about a great sportsman! Kenny is great for horseracing!
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