Ken McPeek

Sackatoga Stables' GI Belmont S. winner and GI Kentucky Derby runner-up Tiz the Law (Constitution) capped off his serious work ahead of next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic with a five-furlong breeze at Keeneland Saturday morning. With his regular work rider Heather Smullen in the irons, the New York-bred drilled five furlongs in :59.20 and galloped out an extra eighth of a mile in 1:12.20 (video). "I saw just what I wanted. He went perfectly," said trainer Barclay Tagg who will send out his 11th Breeders' Cup starter next weekend....

9th-Churchill Downs, $87,145, Msw, 10-25, 2yo, 1 1/16m, 1:45.25, ft, 4 lengths. CAMP HOPE (c, 2, Summer Front--Praising, by Pulpit), overlooked at 10-1 for his debut, stalked the early pace from fourth as a pair of longshots slugged it out through moderate opening splits. Eagerly closing on the leaders on the far turn, the dark bay poked his head in front approaching the quarter pole, and despite veering out wide into the home turn, he kicked clear late to win by an impressive four-length margin over 31-1 chance Leblon (Broken...

Blue-blooded King Fury bounced back from an uninspiringly flat performance in the GI Breeders Futurity at Keeneland earlier this month to win Sunday's Street Sense S. at Churchill Downs. Favored at 4-5 to make amends, the chestnut was a two-wide fourth going into  the first turn and remained comfortably off the rail heading into the far turn. Starting to make up ground approaching the quarter pole, the $950,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga yearling purchase wrested the lead from GISP Super Stock in the stretch and drew clear late to score by a half...

The worktab at Churchill Downs Saturday morning was replete with many of racing's biggest names scheduled to make an upcoming start during next month's Breeders' Cup, including champion Monomoy Girl (Tapizar), GI Preakness S. heroine Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and Grade I-winner Tom's d'Etat (Smart Strike). Targeting the Distaff, the 2018 3-year-old champion filly completed six furlongs in 1:12. Working in tandem with GSW and GISP Owendale (Into Mischief, 6f 1:13), the 5-year-old carved out eighth-mile splits of :12, :24.40, :36.20, :47.80 and 1:00, galloping out in front of her stablemate...

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency BROWN & KLARAVICH UNVEIL LATEST EUROPEAN IMPORT 5th-BEL, $80K, Msw, 2yo, f, 6fT, 2:49p.m. Klaravich Stables' 400,000gns TATOCT purchase MILESTONE PAYMENT (IRE) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) makes her career bow in New York for trainer Chad Brown Saturday. Out of SW & MGSP Boastful (Ire) (Clodovil {Ire}), the gray is a half-sister to stakes winner Stage Play (Ire) (Oasis Dream {GB}). Their dam is a half to Irish Highweight Lesson in Humility (Ire) (Mujadil), who is the dam of GSW & GISP Tiger Moth (Ire)...

Having been involved in horse racing for decades, Kirk Robison knows how much luck plays a part in finding success. He admits as much. But perseverance also pays, and Robison has finally seen the fruits of his labor pay off at the highest level of the game, as his undefeated Jackie's Warrior (Maclean's Music) is set to head into the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile as a heavy favorite, with a chance to solidify a divisional championship to boot. Wednesday morning, Robison joined the TDN Writers' Room presented by Keeneland as...

The finger pointing over Tyler Gaffalione's decision not to ride Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Preakness S. continued Thursday when Gaffalione's agent Matt Muzikar said trainer Ken McPeek's version of the events was "nowhere near the truth." On this week's edition of the TDN Writers' Room podcast, McPeek sharply criticized both Muzikar and Gaffalione, claiming that the two reneged on an agreement to ride the filly in the Preakness. "I announced that we're going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board," McPeek said on the podcast....

The viability of the horse business hinges on a precarious equilibrium. Its values have to work out often enough for the rich guy to keep spending, but not so often that the rest of us have to pack up and go home. Very seldom, however, are both extremes embraced so proximately as by Meg Levy last weekend. On Sunday, the Grade I success of Valiance (Tapit) in the Juddmonte Spinster S. vindicated all the promise, in pedigree and physique, she had evinced as a $650,000 yearling sold through Levy's Bluewater...

GI Preakness S. winner Ken McPeek and Robby Albarado will be the special guests on the Breeders' Cup's Cocktails & Conversations. The virtual happy hour will air Thursday at 6 p.m. on the Breeders' Cup's Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

It takes a certain kind of personality to enter a filly against the boys in a leg of the Triple Crown, and Kenny McPeek showed all of that personality on Wednesday's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, McPeek talked about his successful, outside-the-box campaign of Peter Callahan's GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), why he subbed in Robby Albarado to ride the chestnut, his approach to training 2-year-olds and much more. Swiss Skydiver has run nine...

TIMONIUM, MD - The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale begins its two-day run at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Monday afternoon, with bidding scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., and trainers and agents were busy shopping the sales barns on a picture-perfect fall morning Sunday in Timonium. After cancellations and postponements caused by the global pandemic, the yearling sales season finally got underway a month ago with the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase-an amalgamation of a trio of canceled auctions-followed by the two-week Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Both featured a highly polarized...

While putting off a final decision regarding which Breeders' Cup race GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) will run in, trainer Ken McPeek said Sunday morning that he prefers running his filly at a mile-and-a-quarter, the distance of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. His other option is the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, which is run at a mile-and-an-eighth. "It's a little early and we don't have to make a decision right now but I do like her at the mile-and-a-quarter," he said. "The further, the better. She gets to...