The Eclipse Award Winning Trainer: A Case for Kenny McPeek

There are no rules or even guidelines when it comes to choosing horses or humans for Eclipse Awards. There is though, at least in the human categories, conventional wisdom. Just pick the person whose stable earned the most money. That's what most voters do.

If you base your vote on that criteria, Chad Brown is the obvious pick for trainer of the year. Through Nov. 9, his stable has earned $29,707,240. Steve Asmussen is second at $25,736,730. Brown leads all trainers in graded stakes wins (46) and Grade I wins (15). A future Hall of Famer, he posts numbers comparable to this every year. He's very good. So good that his success has come to be expected.

But he won't get my vote this year. Kenny McPeek will.

When it comes to the numbers, in the case of Brown-versus-McPeek it's not even close. McPeek is seventh in the nation with $14,744,600 in earnings. He's won just eight graded stakes races this year.

So how can I justify voting for McPeek over Chad Brown? Because, as a voter, I can make up my own rules.

The raw numbers are important, but sometimes you have to think outside the box. What trainer did something truly remarkable this year? Though it may not be fair to Brown, it's not him. He did what he always does, win a lot of races and pile up a lot of earnings.  He operates a well-oiled machine, an assembly line that churns out top stakes horses like no one else in the business. It's not his fault, but he makes the extraordinary seem ordinary.

But while he'll never equal Brown's numbers, McPeek had a year that was truly special, one that captivated the sport and reminded us that there is more to this than the raw numbers. McPeek made every right move, many of which were “good for the game.”

He actually began to lay the groundwork for this campaign back in 2022, when he bought Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) for $40,000 at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling sale. That's his comfort level. Brown, Todd Pletcher and Bob Baffert have owners who have no problem paying seven-figures for a yearling or 2-year-old. Not McPeek. He shops in the bargain basement, and somehow is able to find outstanding horses there year after year. While Thorpedo Anna cost $40,000, Brown's best horse, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) cost $2.3 million at the Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling sale.

“I'm more of a middle-level player in the sense that I get average horses that pull down my numbers,” McPeek said. “But I think we did a really good job with the best horses that we have.”

When Thorpedo Anna kicked off her 2024 campaign with a win in the GII Fantasy S. at Oaklawn, it was clear that she was going to be a major player in the 3-year-old filly division. Meanwhile, McPeek was developing a colt who was serving notice that he could win the GI Kentucky Derby. Mystik Dan (Goldencents) won the GIII Southwest S. before finishing third in the GI Arkansas Derby. His Arkansas Derby appeared to be a setback, but McPeek was, in hindsight, fine tuning the colt and preparing him for big run in the GI Kentucky Derby.

Thorpedo Anna turned in what, to that point in her career, was her best race, winning the GI Kentucky Oaks by 4 3/4 lengths. The next day Mystik Dan won the Derby by a nose over Sierra Leone. In the course of 24 hours, McPeek won the Oaks and the Derby, becoming the first trainer to do so in the same year since the legendary Ben Jones won both races in 1952.

Mystik Dan would finish second in the GI Preakness and eighth in the GI Belmont before being sent to the sidelines for the rest of the year. He is working regularly at the Fair Grounds and McPeek said he could make his next start before the end of the year.

Mystik Dan is a Derby winner and a very good horse, but he was never the star in the McPeek barn this year. That was Thorpedo Anna. And McPeek managed her like he knew he had a very good horse and, to his credit, was never afraid to challenge her.

After the Kentucky Oaks, she won the GI Acorn S. and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. For most trainers the next step would have been the GI Alabama. Had she run there, Thorpedo Anna would likely have won easily over a small field of horses whose trainers were just hoping to get second money.

McPeek, who's never afraid to take a chance, entered her instead in the GI Travers. She finished second behind Fierceness (City of Light). That was to be her only loss of the year, but, more so than any other race, it put her in the conversation for season-ending honors. Just barely losing to a colt as good as Fierceness was a special achievement.

“Here is the way I felt about the Travers,” McPeek said. “I had won two Alabamas before. I thought if I ran her in the Alabama, it was going to be a really boring race. The way she dominated the 3-year-old filly division, it was going to be a bit of a yawner, and that was going to be bad for the game. To give it a little life and inject something a little different for the sport in the summer I made the decision to run her in the Travers because I thought she was good enough. With a little luck here or there, she might have won. But I was really proud of her effort and I think it elevated her status as opposed to otherwise.”

A surprisingly narrow win in the GI Cotillion S. was next. The GI Breeders' Cup Distaff was supposed to be one of the most competitive races on the card as expected starters included not just Thorpedo Anna, but Idiomatic (Curlin), Adare Manor (Uncle Mo) and the undefeated Japanese horse Awesome Result (Justify). But none of them made the race, which turned it into a one-horse race. Thorpedo Anna wasn't necessarily dazzling in the Distaff. She more or less just went out there and did her job, winning by 2 1/2 lengths as the 2-5 favorite.

So here is McPeek's resume for 2024: Became the first trainer since 1952 to win the Oaks and the Derby, trained a horse who will certainly be Horse of the Year, won the Breeders' Cup Distaff, and nearly pulled off a win in the Travers with a filly.

“I'm flattered that people are mentioning me for the Eclipse Award,” McPeek said. “Chad Brown has had a fantastic year in his own right with all the things he has accomplished. I'd really be honored to win [the Eclipse Award].”

The race may be close and he will have to beat another trainer in Brown who had a sensational year. But when we look back 10 years from now, 2024 will be remembered as the year of Thorpedo Anna and Kenny McPeek, two deserving Eclipse winners.