All trainers hope to have a horse they source as a yearling go on to achieve success on the track, but very few get to experience something like the ride Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver has taken Kenny McPeek on for the past three years.
It all started in 2018 at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale where McPeek, a fixture at all major yearling sales, was developing his shortlist of horses he hoped to add to his operation for various owners. At the time, More Than Ready's grade 1-winning son Daredevil had his first yearling on offer at the sales.
A chestnut filly by Daredevil, consigned as Hip 2997 by Select Sales, agent on behalf of breeder WinStar Farm, caught McPeek's eye.
The bidding concluded at $35,000, with McPeek signing the ticket for the March foal out of the Johannesburg mare Expo Gold.
"I think we got lucky that she didn't bring a lot of money," McPeek recalled. "Daredevil was unknown at the time. She was a gorgeous filly from the first time we laid eyes on her."
From bargain buy to a $2.2 million earner, the champion 3-year-old filly of 2020 will head through the auction ring again Nov. 9 as Hip 246 at The November Sale, Fasig-Tipton's marquee breeding stock sale in Lexington. She will be consigned by Runnymede Farm, agent.
While a future career as a broodmare looms for Swiss Skydiver, it's a possibility her days on the racetrack are not over.
"I think she will make a great broodmare; she's a kind filly to be around," McPeek said. "I don't know that it's set in stone that she has seen her last race. I think you could make a case for her to run next year; she is perfectly sound.
"After the auction, there will be some decisions made, whether she will go on to be a broodmare or return to the track."
When McPeek looks back on the 16 starts Swiss Skydiver made in his care, leading to her current 7-3-2 record, he speaks fondly of the filly. From breaking her maiden at first asking by 5 1/2 lengths to turning back eventual Horse of the Year Authentic in the 2020 Preakness Stakes (G1), her talent and determination made her a barn favorite.
"She took us on a really great run, I'm really proud of all she has done," McPeek said. "She's ultra-smart, loved her job daily. We all dream of having horses like her, very workman-like, obviously really talented. She absorbs her surroundings. Any time you would spin her around the barn, she would stop and check out all the gaps, stop and look. And she loves her peppermints."
Swiss Skydiver's pedigree leaves many options for her future owners to consider where her first mating is concerned, but McPeek has a cross in mind he would like to see.
"I'm a little biased since I bought Curlin as well, but I would love to see a Curlin baby out of her one day," he said. "I would love to train that foal, and we will see how that unfolds. I think that would be exciting."
With victories in the Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks (G2), Fantasy Stakes (G3), Santa Anita Oaks (G2), Alabama Stakes (G1), Preakness, and Beholder Mile Stakes (G1) to her credit along with runner-up finishes in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes (G2) and Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1) as the highlights of Swiss Skydiver's career, it will be tough for her connections to part with the gritty filly. And perhaps they won't, depending on how the market receives her. Business comes first, McPeek said.
"(Peter Callahan) wanted to test the market," he said. "She is valuable, in many facets, either breeding or racing her. Peter is in this as a business, and that's how he looks at it."
