DEL MAR, Calif. – In a span of 24 hours back in May, trainer Kenny McPeek won his first Kentucky Oaks and first Kentucky Derby. He also was the first trainer to win both races in the same year in 72 years.
“I’m still slapping myself every now and then going, ‘Huh, did we do that?’ ” McPeek said. “We’re really proud of it. Still, you got to get up the next day and keep rolling. All the work is exhausting; probably never worked so hard than I worked this year. It is a game that will humble you.”
The Breeders’ Cup, to date, has been humbling for McPeek. He is 0 for 37 at the Breeders’ Cup though he’s had seven seconds and 10 thirds. The only favorite he’s run is Atigun, who finished third in the 2012 Marathon, a Breeders’ Cup race that longer exists.
There have been some tough beats along the way, including Beautician getting nailed by a rail-rallying She Be Wild in the 2009 Juvenile Fillies. That same year, Noble’s Promise was beaten a half-length in the Juvenile.
“I’ve been pretty unlucky,” McPeek said. “I’m the best worst trainer at the Breeders’ Cup.”
McPeek can take solace knowing that, back in the day, another very good trainer had a similar Breeders’ Cup experience. Hall of Fame trainer Bobby Frankel came into the 2001 Breeders’ Cup at Belmont Park with an 0-for-36 record in the Breeders’ Cup. Losses by Flute in the Distaff and You in the Juvenile Fillies brought the skid to 0 for 38 before Squirtle Squirt, of all horses, ended the losing streak winning the Sprint at odds of 9-1. Before he was done, Frankel won six Breeders’ Cup races, and his $13.4 million in earnings still has him ranked eighth in Breeders’ Cup history.
On Saturday at Del Mar, McPeek will run his second favorite in a Breeders’ Cup race when he sends out Thorpedo Anna in the $2 million Distaff. The withdrawal, after pre-entries, of defending Distaff winner Idiomatic, and the announced scratches Wednesday of Batucada and Miss New York left the Distaff, as of Wednesday, with an eight-horse field. Thorpedo Anna figures the shortest-priced favorite among the 14 Breeders’ Cup races.
“You gotta have a better chance with the favorite, right?” McPeek said.
Especially one as talented as Thorpedo Anna, who, in addition to winning the Kentucky Oaks, captured the Acorn, Coaching Club American Oaks, and Cotillion. She took on the challenge of facing males in the Travers and came up a head short to Fierceness, who is one of the favorites in Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup Classic.
McPeek, 62, has rarely shied away from a challenge. In 2002, he sent out longshot Sarava against Triple Crown hopeful War Emblem and upset the Belmont Stakes at 70-1, still the longest shot to win the third leg of the Triple Crown.
McPeek is looking for more challenges. He recently went to Tattersalls in England and bought five yearlings with hopes of having horses good enough to try the Epsom Derby and/or Epsom Oaks. He didn’t buy in Book 1, where the more expensive and higher-powered pedigree horses are offered.
“I’m more of a middle to lower market buyer anyway,” McPeek said. “I cherry-picked five really nice horses. I’d love to win the English Derby and the English Oaks. I’d like to be the first trainer to win the Kentucky Derby and Epsom Derby. I’ve walked Ascot, I’m not intimidated by the ground. You have to bring a very good horse.”
McPeek tried to win the Epsom Oaks in 2017, when he brought Daddy’s Lil Darling to England. In the post parade, the filly got spooked by thunder and lightning, unseated jockey Oliver Peslier, and ran off.
“Everything that could go wrong went wrong,” McPeek said.
Conversely, little has gone wrong for Thorpedo Anna. A minor injury earlier in the year forced her season to commence a little later, with a victory in the Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn. That left her fresh for the Kentucky Oaks, which she took in gate-to-wire fashion. She dominated the Acorn and Coaching Club before running valiantly in the Travers.
Her most recent victory, in the Cotillion, was a harder race than many anticipated as she won by a head over longshot Gun Song.
“She came out of the Travers fine, no worse for wear, and I think the Cotillion was a race where Brian [Hernandez Jr.] got stuck in a little box and couldn’t get out. I think if he had been a little more aggressive earlier she might have had a free run. But it’s hard shipping into Parx.”
Thorpedo Anna shipped to Parx Racing from Saratoga, where she had been based since mid-May. McPeek said Thorpedo Anna thrived all summer long, and he intends to stable her up there next summer too.
McPeek has been on the road a lot during the fall, working sales at Tattersalls and Kentucky and running horses at Keeneland. Between exercise rider Danny Ramsey, his assistant Dermot Magner, and the stable’s night watchman Jimmy Crawford, McPeek has been kept abreast of how well the filly is doing.
In fact, McPeek flew Crawford to California to keep an eye on the filly, monitoring how well she’s eating.
“Last night, he sent me an early text and said, ‘She’s done, cleaned up,’ ” McPeek said Wednesday morning. “It’s really rare for a filly. Even after races like the Travers and Cotillion, which you consider hard races, she cleaned up that night. Most fillies will back up on you and you’re always worried how they eat and how they’re doing. She eats like a colt.”
Speaking of colts, McPeek’s Derby winner Mystik Dan recently resumed training and is pointing to a 4-year-old campaign that could start as early as January in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream Park.
Thorpedo Anna, meanwhile, also will race again next year and, depending on her campaign, might end up at Del Mar again, only for a different Breeders’ Cup race.
“I’d love to think if we could knock out the Distaff this year and have a nice run next year, we’ll try the Classic next year,” McPeek said.
By then, he hopes, McPeek will be seeking a second Breeders’ Cup win.
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