Ken McPeek

Dornoch (Good Magic), Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and Fierceness (City of Light) in the Three-Year-Old Male category were among the finalists for the 2024 Resolute Racing Eclipse Awards, recognizing excellence through the past year in Thoroughbred racing, the National Thoroughbred Racing Associaiton (NTRA) said in a Sunday release. Winners in 17 horse and human categories will be announced on FanDuel TV, and other outlets, during the ceremony, presented by John Deere, Keeneland, and The Jockey Club, on Thursday, Jan. 23 at 7:30 p.m. ET. The evening will culminate with the...

Equibase, the industry's official database for racing, and Stable Analytics LLC, a technology company developing solutions for horse racing, have formed a strategic partnership aimed at advancing Thoroughbred welfare through cutting-edge wearable technology, the repository for racing stats said in a Thursday press release. The collaboration will focus on the continued development and large-scale implementation of Stable Analytics's biometric sensor, Equigraph, which features a wireless biometric sensor mounted on the girth of the horse. As part of this initiative, Equibase and Stable Analytics will participate in the American Association of...

It's great to see Kenny McPeek heading to California for the GI Malibu Stakes with (GI) Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan. However, it's disappointing that he doesn't have a flight to catch. Instead, he has to travel by van from Louisiana to California. Our industry needs to improve connectivity between the East and West Coasts and the South if we want our racing to survive and thrive. We need to simplify the logistics so that trainers feel more comfortable shipping their horses nationwide. Graded stakes need to be coordinated around...

Classic Causeway (Giant's Causeway--Private World, by Thunder Gulch), winner of the 2022 GI Caesars Belmont Derby Invitational S., has been retired to Pope McLean's Crestwood Farm for the 2025 breeding season. He will stand for $6,500 live foal. "We are thrilled to have Classic Causeway at Crestwood Farm," McLean said. "He was precocious at two, and a Grade I winner at three. He was versatile on both dirt and turf, with earnings over $1.5 million. His sire Giant's Causeway is a top sire of sires, with Not This Time proving...

Mystik Dan (Goldencents) will be paraded in the Fair Grounds paddock Saturday. Four G Racing, Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby, III, and Valley View Farm's GI Kentucky Derby winner will join the field for the $150,000 Louisiana Champions Day Classic during the walkover to the paddock and will remain there throughout the race, between approximately 1:25 p.m. and 1:45 p.m. CT. Mystik Dan is expected to winter at Fair Grounds as trainer Ken McPeek plans out his 4-year-old campaign.

Trainer Ken McPeek, who campaigned GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) and GI Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), will be awarded the 2024 Big Sport of Turfdom award, the Turf Publicists of America announced Monday. The award, which recognizes a person who enhances coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with media, will be presented at the University of Arizona Race Track Program's annual awards luncheon held Dec. 10. "Ken and his team have had an outstanding year with multiple triumphs on not only our sport's biggest stage...

Golden Gamble (f, 2, Laoban--Me and Mine, by Bernardini) stamped herself as a filly to watch for trainer Ken McPeek with a 'TDN Rising Star' performance at second asking traveling around two turns in the Churchill nightcap Saturday. The 5-2 chance found a perfect spot beneath Brian Hernandez, Jr. in an outside fourth through fractions of :23.60 and :48.17. Traveling nicely rounding the far turn, she made a flashy, three-wide move to stick her head in front approaching the quarter pole, and, despite racing a bit green as they straightened,...

1st-AQU, $90k, Msw, 2yo, f, 1m, post time: 12:10 p.m. ET KEEPTHEDREAMALIVE (Into Mischief) makes her first trip to the races for owner/breeder Tommy Town Thoroughbreds and trainer Bill Mott. Tommy Town acquired dam It Tiz Well (Tiznow) for $230,000 at the 2015 Keeneland September sale and campaigned her with Jerry Hollendorfer to five wins from 10 starts, including a two-length upset of eventual champion Abel Tasman (Quality Road) in the 2017 GI Cotillion Stakes. The homebred outworked 142 other horses when breezing a half-mile in :48 1/5 (17/159) over...

DEL MAR, CA - Maiden Special Weight, for 2-year-old fillies that sold or RNA'd for $45,000 or less in their most recent sale. British Idiom (Flashback), a $40,000 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling graduate, met that criteria and successfully kicked off her career with a stylish, 3 1/2-length debut victory as the 7-2 favorite for trainer Brad Cox at Saratoga in the summer of 2019. The Madaket Stables, Michael Dubb and The Elkstone Group colorbearer, of course, followed up with a win in the GI Darley Alcibiades Stakes at Keeneland and...

DEL MAR, CA -- It's showtime. Featuring 14 Grade I races worth more than $34 million in purses, the Breeders' Cup World Championships, with an emphasis on World, return to the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club for a third time, beginning with the 'Future Stars Friday' program. Ideal conditions with sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s are expected. A total of 179 horses were entered for the two-day Championships, including a record 67 international participants from nine different countries as well as three previous winners. A stacked renewal of...

DEL MAR, CA - The 'Grizzly' is sitting on go. After a light training session on Tuesday, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) turned in her first local gallop in the pre-dawn hours at Del Mar on a brisk Wednesday morning. The GI Kentucky Oaks heroine and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff 4-5 morning-line favorite displayed her typical high energy and was an absolute handful beneath exercise rider Danny Ramsey throughout her powerful 1 1/2-mile gallop. "Good?," trainer Kenny McPeek asked Ramsey as Thorpedo Anna was heading off the track....

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - If the 2024 racing season at Saratoga Race Course wrapped up Labor Day weekend, why are so many of the best horsemen in the country still sticking around? Overlooking the famed Oklahoma Training Track, and, at the moment, enveloped in bright fall foliage, the former home to 2023 Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) seems like a good place to start. "What did we win, five the last two years? That's not bad," Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott said with a smile standing outside...