Kenny McPeek

She'd been the buzz horse among the Churchill locals all day and V V's Dream (Mitole) took the first baby steps to making quite a few come true while securing 'TDN Rising Star'-dom in this stylish unveiling. Breaking slowly and asked to race in seventh from two off the rail going into the turn, the grey bided her time as the field watched the other Mitole Cheetah Miss put up all the fractions as :21.90 and :45.59 flashed across the board. Rolling under a full head of steam and splitting...

Kenny McPeek has backed impressive Cheshire Oaks winner Savethelastdance (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) to fulfill her destiny at Epsom next month and revealed that he will be watching how the Aidan O'Brien-trained filly's career develops with interest.  It was in 2017 when the US-based trainer concocted a daring plan to take on the best middle-distance fillies in Europe with Daddys Lil Darling (Scat Daddy), the dam of the new short-priced Betfred Oaks winner Savethelastdance.  However, Daddys Lil Darling did not get the opportunity to show how good she was to the...

Three GI Kentucky Derby hopefuls, as well as a GI Kentucky Oaks potential entrant, worked Wednesday morning over a fast surface at Churchill Downs, the track said in a release on Wednesday. Hiroyuki Asanuma's G2 UAE Derby winner Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) drilled five furlongs in 1:01.40 and was partnered with Lion Race Horse Co. Ltd.'s Continuar (Jpn) (Drefong), who worked a half-mile in :50. Shortly after those breezes during the 7:30-7:45 training window for Derby and Oaks horses, R.T. Racing Stable and Cypress Creek Equine's Sun Thunder...

Champion Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) delivered her first foal, a filly by Europe's 2014 Horse of the Year Kingman (GB) (Invincible Spirit {Ire}) on Feb. 15 at Northern Farm in Japan, according to the farm's Twitter and Facebook accounts. The 6-year-old mare, who defeated males in the 2020 GI Preakness S. and also won the GI Alabama S. and GI Beholder Mile, was purchased for $4.7 million by Katsumi Yoshida at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale and was then sent to England, where she was bred to Kingman at Juddmonte...

2nd-KEE, $100K, Msw, 3yo, 7f, 1:05 p.m. At the end of last year, it was Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro) that reigned supreme over Good Magic (Curlin) and Justify (Scat Daddy) in the first-crop sire race when Spendthrift's own sewed up the title by more than $275,000 in world-wide earnings. Now second-croppers, they come together in Race 2 at Keeneland for another battle on Saturday. Bred by WinStar Farm and trained by Todd Pletcher, LE BAR (Bolt d'Oro) carries the flag for the 2022 first-crop leader and is part of a...

On a weekend when we temporarily suspend our search for the adolescent Thoroughbred maturing sufficiently to beat his peers on the first Saturday in May, let's celebrate the fulfilments that remain available later in life--whether on two legs or four.

Kenny McPeek captured his third GIII Pocahontas S. in the last eight years when Fun and Feisty (Midshipman--Grouse Grind, by First Samurai) crossed the line an emphatic winner Saturday at Churchill Downs. The winner didn't have any speed in the 12-horse field and settled in the back, second from last yet well in front of Naughty Gal (Into Mischief), the GIII Adirondack S. winner who trailed throughout. After favored Grand Love (Gun Runner) showed the way through :23.74 and :48.07 early fractions, Fun and Feisty remained well behind but was...

A lack of competitors doesn't always translate to a lack of competition and the GII Shuvee S. at Saratoga is a case in point, with an abbreviated field of four featuring a pair of titans. Fellow Curlin daughters Clairiere and Malathaat will bring their rivalry to round six in the 1 1/8-mile contest at the Spa; the latter coming out on the better end on four prior occasions. Malathaat will be breaking from the gate sporting blinkers for the first time in her career, likely intended to combat her tendency...

He's a rebel with a Causeway. But he is a rebel, all the same; or a maverick, at least; an outlier. Certainly we can't expect everyone to train horses like Kenny McPeek, nor indeed to buy them the same way. Apart from anything else, most people simply wouldn't be good enough.

He's a rebel with a Causeway. But he is a rebel, all the same; or a maverick, at least; an outlier. Certainly we can't expect everyone to train horses like Kenny McPeek, nor indeed to buy them the same way. Apart from anything else, most people simply wouldn't be good enough. McPeek's 10 millionaires to date have been sired by the likes of Cuvee, Louis Quatorze, Daredevil, Hit It a Bomb and Tejano--and he signed for most of them himself. As one who marches to his own drum, his style...

by Stefanie Grimm & Patrycja Szpyra With the Fourth of July holiday weekend in the rear-view mirror, the summer turf season kicks into high gear starting with a pair of Grade I's at Belmont Park Saturday. The home team takes on a new wave of European challengers in the 1 1/4-mile GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S., the first leg of the Caesars Turf Triple Series. Tiz the Bomb (Hit It a Bomb), last seen finishing ninth behind longshot GI Kentucky Derby winner Rich Strike (Keen Ice), finally gets back...

Creative Minister (Creative Cause), coming off a third-place effort in the GI Preakness S., tuned up for the June 11 GI Belmont S. with a four-furlong work in :48.33 (2/5) at Belmont Park Tuesday. NYRA clockers caught Creative Minister marking off a quarter-mile in :24 over the fast track, rolling through without much urging from jockey Heman Harkie. Rounding the turn and heading for the wire, Harkie remained still aboard the grey colt who continued a steady rhythm down the stretch to complete the work in :48.33, galloping out five-eighths...