McPeek's Calls for Common Sense Make Sense

Kenny McPeek wasn't sure how to deal with the situation. His blood pressure was down. His back felt better. His shoes were clean, and the air outside was warm and inviting, truly odd for early December. "Right now I am sitting at a Brazilian barbecue in Rio de Janeiro with some of my very good friends," he said over a giddy background of laughter and sizzling meat. "We are eating and drinking and enjoying a little downtime in life." Since Ronnie Ebanks was among those friends, it was a sure thing fun would be had by all. Ebanks, a former jockey turned agent to champion riders, once was successful in luring the notoriously homebound Bobby Frankel to Rio's fabulous Carnival. "Next week we're going to the Pellegrini," McPeek said, referring to the Carlos Pellegrini-Internacional (G1), to be run in Buenos Aires Dec. 13. "Being here, I keep thinking about one of my favorite trainers, Horatio Luro. He was so charismatic, and he stopped more than once to enjoy life." McPeek often dips into "The Grand Senor," the Luro biography written by Joe Hirsch, if only to appreciate how the profession has changed since the days of the flamboyant horseman, a worldly Argentinean who collected two trophies for the Kentucky Derby (G1) on his way to the Hall of Fame. Luro was 90 when he died, in 1991, and he probably would not recognize the profession today, although some things never change. The trainer's brain is wired to worry 24/7. Their necks are on a swivel from looking over their shoulders. Bad news lurks in every stall, on every phone call. McPeek, who has trained since 1986, earned his holiday with a 2025 season that has accumulated $12.2 million in stable earnings from just shy of 700 starters at 23 racetracks. The earnings are surpassed only by McPeek's 2024 highlight reel that included a Kentucky Derby victory by Mystik Dan and a Horse of the Year campaign from Thorpedo Anna. Both returned this year to lesser results, although Thorpedo Anna did more than enough to earn a divisional title among older fillies and mares with scores in four major stakes, including the Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) and the Personal Ensign Stakes (G1). McPeek is the first to give credit to the key players in his sprawling, Kentucky-based operation. Among them is Jimmy Jerkens, who will run the show Dec. 6 at Aqueduct Racetrack when the stable takes swings in the Demoiselle Stakes (G2) and the Remsen Stakes (G2) for 2-year-olds with the filly Shilling and the colt Chambersville—as long as they pass the vet. This is no exaggeration, and not certainly specific to McPeek's pair of promising young guns. The prerace veterinary inspection climate has turned the training profession into an almost daily roll of the dice. McPeek sustained two high-profile vet scratches from this year's Breeders' Cup when Mystik Dan was removed from the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and Blackout Time, second to division leader Ted Noffey in the Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland, was forced to miss the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1). In a recent episode of his podcast on Horse Races Now, a free, informational website and app created by McPeek, the trainer offered a list of proposals that in a reasonable racing universe would be taken seriously. In particular, the recommendations are intended to relieve the compounding financial pressure on horse owners, while retaining the admirable intentions of prerace protocols and inspections. For instance, McPeek sees no reason that a practicing veterinarian should not be added to the mix of official inspecting vets, offering a more ground-level perspective. He thinks it would be better if inspections were conducted by individual vets rather than small committees. He has witnessed some official vets who either fail to carry or neglect to use something as basic as a hoof tester, when a simple foot blip might be misdiagnosed as a joint issue. McPeek urges that the seven-day wait list be more broadly applied to minor issues, saving the 14-day wait for more serious findings. He suggests that once a horse is placed on a vet list, it becomes policy that the horse will be inspected in a timely manner, without undue bureaucratic delay. He also quite reasonably calls for the state regulatory bodies to pay for scans and other extraordinary diagnostics ordered by their veterinarians. McPeek was asked if he has had any reaction to his wish list. "I haven't got any traction, and really didn't expect to," he said. "I'm having trouble finding anyone who cares or would push it. Owners are getting punished more and more. It seems like once you go on a list it's really hard to get off. Even with clean x-rays and clean scans, in some cases you don't get any relief. You're still put behind the eight ball with some horses, and you're not sure which direction to go." McPeek has no trouble with the heightened emphasis on prerace inspections, even though its application can be troublesome. "They lack trust in trainers' decisions, and even jockeys that are on the horses, in post-parade situations," he said. "The rider knows how a horse goes, and they're not about to take their life in their own hands—any more than they already are—if they sense something amiss. "We know our horses," McPeek added. "We're not always right, but neither are the vets. I think they're simply so nervous about any horse breaking down that they're being taken out for sometimes even the smallest of reasons. But then sometimes we're not given clear directions on what to do next." While Saturday's Aqueduct runners could help cap a banner year, McPeek finds himself in a form of limbo with two of his other top 2-year-old prospects: the filly Taken by the Wind, winner of the Pocahontas Stakes (G3) in September, and Blackout Time, the Breeders' Cup Juvenile scratch. "Taken by the Wind was put on the vet's list an hour after she won the Pocahontas," McPeek said. "Since then we've x-rayed her four times. We've found no chips, no spurs, no cracks. Nothing. She's been bone-scanned, PET-scanned—all the tests. She would have been locked and loaded for the Breeders' Cup, but we can't get her off the list. "We're in a new era of unknown territory," McPeek said. "They're well intentioned, but what I don't like is the dynamic of it all is very negative. It's almost as if it's the vets against the horsemen, and horsemen against the vets." Still, the show must go on. Horatio Luro won the Remsen Stakes twice, in 1959 with Victoria Park and in 1963 with Northern Dancer. McPeek will try to win his first Remsen with Chambersville, a son of Twirling Candy owned by Shortleaf Stable, who won a quick maiden race at Keeneland last time out. The barn might have a better shot in the Demoiselle with Shilling, a daughter of Global Campaign owned by Fern Circle Stables. She took the 1-mile Tempted Stakes Nov. 6 at Aqueduct by 4 lengths. Their trainer will be observing from afar, refueling for what could be an eventful 2026, after two tough acts to follow. But that's for later. The fact that he was taking a phone call at all from some yahoo reporter more than 6,000 miles away was starting to annoy his fellow travelers. "They're bugging me to get off the phone," McPeek said. "Besides, I think my steak's ready."