Trainer Kenny McPeek and his charming colt, Mystik Dan, in historic stall 40 at Pimlico. (Maryland Jockey Club)
Kenny McPeek has a chance to make history once again at Churchill Downs
By Maribeth Kalinich
To say that trainer Kenny McPeek has won a lot of races is a gross understatement.
McPeek is coming up on 78 wins in 486 starts just this year with 2,155 wins in his career. Those wins have included a life-time Triple Crown, which I’ll get to in a minute, and four wins in the Pocahontas, a race he will have two chances to capture for a record fifth time on Saturday at Churchill Downs.
McPeek has won the race back-to-back twice with his Magdelena Racing homebred Dothraki Queen (2015), Normandy Farm’s Daddys Lil Darling (2016), Lucky Seven Stable’s Fun and Feisty (2022) and MJM Racing’s V V’s Dream (2023) with Brian Hernandez, Jr., aboard the latter.
For McPeek it’s not so much about the stars aligning as it is about connecting the dots.
McPeek brings two strong contenders to Saturday’s race in Taken by the Wind under Irad Ortiz, Jr., and Our Two Girls under Brian Hernandez, Jr.
The race will feel very personal for McPeek, and his team as 2-year-old Florida bred Taken by the Wind is co-owned by Sherri McPeek, campaigning under their Magdelena Racing, Terry Bradshaw and Graham Leveston.
The daughter of Rock Your World out of First Samurai mare Up For Grabs, Taken by the Wind was purchased by McPeek at the 2024 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling sale for $20,000.
Breaking her maiden August 21 at Saratoga by three lengths under Christopher Elliot she has already given a solid return pocketing $44,000 from the win.
Going against Taken by the Win will be a horse McPeek told me he thought could outright win the Pocahontas—Our Two Girls.
Our Two Girls also won her six-furlong maiden at Ellis Park by 2-1/4 lengths on August 2.
Owned by Rob Hutcherson’s Shamrock Stables and Mike Mackin’s MJM the latter’s horse had given McPeek his first Pocahontas victory.
Bred by WinStar Farm in Kentucky, the daughter of Caravaggio out of Curlin mare Candy Apple Red already gave a return of $58,706 for her maiden victory after being purchased at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale for $165,000.
So many dots to connect for this multi-faceted horseman. McPeek was the bloodstock agent for both fillies.
Curlin is another successful chapter in McPeek’s career as a $57,000 purchase for Stonestreet Stables at the 2005 Keeneland September Yearling Sale.
Curlin would go onto a stellar career with two Eclipse Awards as Horse of the Year in 2007 and 2008 and would become the leading money winner in North American racing history with more than $10 million in earnings.
The iconic chestnut now stands at Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms for a fee of $225,000.
A Breeders’ Cup Classic winner in 2007, Curlin is the only sire in history to have three Breeders’ Cup Champions on the same day. His progeny also have won four individual Eclipse Awards.
McPeek had turned Curlin over to his assistant when he took a sabbatical from training to go into bloodstock fulltime.
It’s said McPeek has “a knack for finding talent at bargain prices and developing those young horses” as well as bringing new owners into the game. He bought Noble’s Promise in 2007 for $10,000 as a weanling. The colt then sold at the 2011 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky November Mixed Sale for $125,000 and earned $1.2 million over his career.
I asked McPeek what impact also being a bloodstock agent has had on his career?
His response was “You have to find good horses to train.”
Being a bloodstock agent seemed to sharpen McPeek’s eye for horses, learning how to bring them along and spot them in races.
“I take it one horse at a time. Each is a riddle to be solved,” said McPeek.
McPeek had temporarily hung up his training cap to work exclusively as a bloodstock agent. The changed seemed to bring out a special eye for horses, what is called in the music business “the feel”.
Saturday could bring McPeek much success with starters in two other stakes that day at Churchill Downs.
Payson Stud and RTA Trust’s Indiana bred Corningstone will go for McPeek in the Grade 2, $400,000 Fasig-Tipton Locust Grove Stakes.
The 5-year-old veteran mare has made 26 starts with eight wins including the Mistletoe in December 2024 and the Pippin Stakes in January 2025 at Oaklawn Park in the McPeek’s birth state of Arkansas.
She was second to Musical Mischief in the 2024 Locust Grove with a bullet Equibase Speed Figure of 103 in the 1-1/6 miles dirt contest.
A victory on Saturday would be McPeek’s second in the race having won in 2013 with Preston Stables’ Flashy American in a zippy 1:43.53.
Hernandez, Jr., again, gets the leg up.
McPeek has a chance to win a third stakes on the day and his third victory in the Grade 1, $300,000 Iroquois Stakes.
Once again, the dots swirl around as McPeek brings So Special for owners Shamrock Stables and MJM putting Hernandez again in the irons.
Another find by McPeek the bloodstock agent at the Keeneland September Yearling sale for $180,000.
The gray son of Verkoma was bred in Kentucky by Betz Thoroughbreds and Peter Lamantia and is out of Hennessy mare Remarkable Remy.
The 2-year-old colt just missed winning on debut at Ellis Park by 1-3/4 lengths at one mile on the turf. He turned it around in his next start at Ellis stretching to 1-1/6 miles on turf winning by one length in a tightly contested finish in a race with moderate pace. This will be his dirt debut.
Another McPeek agent find for Shamrock Stables contesting in the Iroquois will be No More Cents who also has two starts with one win under his belt.
Coincidently also a gray, the colt was bred in Ohio by T/C Stable and purchased at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling Sale for $35,000.
No More Cents literally hit the ground running winning on debut and earning Black Type in the Hoover Stakes, a five furlongs dirt sprint, at Belterra Park on July 18 wining by 2-1/4 lengths.
In his next start, the colt was bested at Thistledown in the six furlongs Ohio Cleveland Kindergarten in a blowout 12-1/4 lengths win by Crown the Buckeye finishing third 5-1/2 lengths off of second.
In what could be a repeat of the Pocahontas, Irad Ortiz, Jr., pilots No More Cents against his stablemate.
So many dots, so many horses. But each different requiring a keen eye and experience to bring the horse from yearling (even weanling) to the racetrack.
McPeek said that the fun for him is figuring out the horse. Watching it learn and grow with experience. Come into its own. Knowing when it was right to begin training and eventually make a start.
Sometimes McPeek’s dots connect like magnets such as his stellar year in 2024 with historic wins in the Kentucky Derby and the Kentucky Oaks. He would be only the third trainer in 150 years to sweep since Ben Jones accomplished the feat in 1952.
Future Horse of the Year, Thorpedo Anna, “The Grizzly”, would score the Oaks for McPeek.
With his tenth start in the Kentucky Derby, the horseman said his most rewarding moment was seeing a horse he had literally conjured from nick to preps to win the classic—Mystik Dan.
While Sarava gave McPeek his first Triple Crown victory in the 2002 Belmont Stakes, McPeek said he only arrived at that moment by taking the time to figure out the colt. Learning what he needed to get to the top level of the game.
Then said he had the challenges of Covid and a postponed 2020 Preakness as well as brining a longshot in a filly to the Preakness.
Swiss Skydiver was another astute purchase McPeek recommended for owner Peter Callahan who bought the filly for $35,000. She won five graded stakes that year culminating with the Preakness Stakes, to become only the sixth filly to win the Spring Classic behind Rachel Alexandra in 2009.
McPeek said he is most proud of the moment a horse he dreamed about in his head was standing in the Kentucky Derby winner’s circle.
McPeek had trained Mystik Dan’s dam, Ma’am. He saw something special in her.
The Kentucky bred mare had 23 career starts winning four and hitting the board eight more times in place and show earning $167,923 the hard way in claiming and allowance races with her last start at Churchill Downs in May of 2018.
At $9,500, Ma’am RNA’d at the 2014 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. In 2024, the now 12-year-old was bought back on a bid of $2.9 million in foal to Into Mischief consigned by McPeek at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale.
Mystik Dan is one of now two winners from two to race out of Ma’am, whose 3-year-old daughter Yes Ma’am (Unified) won her maiden by 3-1/2 lengths at Horseshoe Indianapolis on Kentucky Derby day in 2025.
Ma’am is also the dam of 2-year-old filly Ford’s Ma’am by Pegasus World Cup champ Knicks Go and the yearling colt Mystik Bayou by Wells Bayou.
When McPeek planned to breed Ma’am in 2020 he chose a stallion for the cover that would bring out the mare’s best qualities and heart. The nick pick would elevate the son of Into Mischief, Goldencents, into an elite sire of a classic winner.
Mystik Dan would travel to Pimlico for the Preakness and stay in the historic stall 40 reserved for the Kentucky Derby winner.
When they hit the wire the Derby champ would be upset by Seize the Grey besting Catching Freedom by a head for second in the classic race.
McPeek said was glad he brought his colt to Baltimore.
“Any time you hit the board in one of those races is special,” McPeek said.
A run in the Belmont Stakes would make Mystik Dan one of the few contemporary colts to test the tight schedule of the spring classics. In a field of 10 seasoned 3-year-olds, Mystik Dan would finish eighth right behind Seize the Grey.
To McPeek, his 2024 Triple Crown experience was a personal career best moment. He had taken his homebred winning colt from cover to champion. An historic feat unmatched in the race.
Winning the Grade 3, Blame Stakes on May 31 this year, Mystik Dan became the first Derby winner to subsequently win a race at Churchill Downs since Silver Charm backed up his Derby win in the Grade 1, Clark Handicap in 1998.
Next up for Mystik Dan is the Grade 2, Lukas Classic at Churchill Downs on September 27.
The 4-year-old colt is training well breezing a bullet four furlongs in 47.60 at Churchill last Saturday.
Can Mystik Dan and McPeek make more history in the race named for the trainer of the horse who beat him in the Preakness? Can he further break the spell of past Derby winner’s lack of subsequent success at Churchill Downs?
I think D. Wayne Lukas will be looking down with a smile rooting for Mystik Dan that day.
