Old Man Buck

FROM FINAL DESTROYER TO OLD MAN BUCK, McPEEK HAS ENJOYED FUN RIDE – Trainer Ken McPeek was all smiles Tuesday morning as he accepted congratulations on getting his 1,000th victory during the Memorial Day holiday card at Churchill Downs.
    “That’s a nice milestone; I’ve had a lot of fun,” said McPeek, who hit the mark in the eighth race with a win by Lawrence E. Carroll’s  Old Man Buck. “I’ve been training 24 years now.”
    A 46-year-old native of Fort Chaffee, Ark., McPeek saddled his first winner on Oct. 27, 1985 at River Downs. The horse was Final Destroyer.
    McPeek was asked of the 1,000, which five stood out the most.
    “Sarava’s Belmont (in 2002),” McPeek said without hesitation of the No. 1 victory on the list.
    “Then Take Charge Lady’s second Spinster,” McPeek said. “She never got beat at Keeneland (five wins, including four graded stakes) and she is the all-time leading money earner there ($1,306,286). She is probably my favorite horse that I have had.”
    Rounding out McPeek’s top five in order were Tejano Run’s triumph in the 1997 Widener in which he received a 123 Beyer Speed Figure, Harlan’s Holiday winning the 2002 Florida Derby and Birdbirdistheword’s victory in the 2006 Delta Jackpot for longtime client Raymond Cottrell.
    Of the 1,000 victories, 235 have come at Churchill Downs, 14 in stakes.
    “I haven’t won a Grade I at Churchill Downs, but I have had some significant seconds,” McPeek said, alluding to runner-up finishes in the Kentucky Derby by Tejano Run in 1995 and Take Charge Lady in the Kentucky Oaks in 2002.

SPRINTERS LEAD THE WAY FOR RED-HOT CALHOUN BARN – The victory by Dubai Majesty in Monday’s $100,000-added Winning Colors (Grade III) continued a meet-long roll for trainer Bret Calhoun’s barn.
    The victory was Calhoun’s 10th from only 19 starters at the meet. Nine of the victories have come in 14 sprint races and two of the victories came in stakes.
    “I hope the average is like that at the end of the meet,” said Calhoun’s assistant, Dennis “Peaches” Geier.
    Geier reported that Dubai Majesty came out of her hard-fought victory in good order, but was not sure what was next for the 4-year-old filly.
    “We talked about it after the race,” Geier said. “There is nothing here the rest of the meet, but we do have plans for the turf sprinters.”
    Ah, that would be Chamberlain Bridge, winner of the May 1 Aegon Turf Sprint (Grade III) here, and Mr. Nightlinger, winner of Pimlico’s  Jim McKay Turf Sprint.
    “Chamberlain Bridge won Wednesday night at Indiana Downs in a $60,000 stake and then he is going to Arlington on July 11 for the $200,000 race Mr. Nightlinger won last year,” Geier said, referring to the Arlington Sprint.
    “Mr. Nightlinger’s going to Woodbine for a race June 21 (the $200,000, Grade III Highlander at six furlongs) and then to Belmont on July 18 (for the $150,000, Grade III Jaipur at six furlongs).”
    
PURE CLAN, ACOMA, TIZAQUEENA HEADLINE EARLY TIMES MINT JULEP NOMINATIONS – A trio of graded stakes winners over the Matt Winn Turf Course lead a list of 25 nominations for the 33rd running of the $100,000-added Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (Grade III) scheduled for June 6.
    Won in 2008 by champion Dreaming of Anna, the Early Times Mint Julep is run at 1 1/16th miles and is for fillies and mares 3-years-old and up.
    Expected to make her 2009 debut in the race is Pure Clan, trained by Bob Holthus and owned by IEAH Stable, Lewis Lakin and Pegasus Holding Group Stables. Pure Clan has been idles since running a disappointing 10th to champion Forever Together in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Turf (Grade I) at Santa Anita last October. The daughter of Pure Prize won the Pocahontas (Grade III) and Golden Rod (Grade II) on dirt here as a 2-year-old in 2007 and last year took the Grade III Regret on turf before heading West to post her biggest triumph, a victory in the American Oaks Invitational (GI) for 3-year-old fillies at Hollywood Park.
    Helen Alexander and Helen Groves’ Acoma won the Grade II Mrs. Revere here last fall to run her grass record to 2-for-2 and her Churchill Downs record to 3-for-3. Trained by David Carroll, Acoma worked a half-mile Tuesday in :49.40, her third work since a third-place finish in the Grade I Apple Blossom on April 4 at Oaklawn Park.
    Darley Stable’s Tizaqueena ran her turf record to 3-for-3 with a gutty victory in the Churchill Distaff Turf Mile (Grade II) on the Kentucky Derby undercard on May 2.  She has won five of six career starts for trainer Michael Stidham, but her Derby Day triumph was her first graded stakes victory.
    Weights for the Early Times Mint Julep will be announced Saturday and entries drawn on Wednesday, June 3.

BARN TALK – After working a half-mile each Monday morning, Kentucky Derby (Grade I) winner Mine That Bird and Kentucky Oaks (Grade I) and Preakness (Grade I winner Rachel Alexandra returned to the track Wednesday morning. Rachel Alexandra was out first around 6:30, going once around with Dominic Terry up. Mine That Bird came out an hour later and went twice around with Charlie Figueroa up.
    On Thursday morning, both horses came out at the same time, approaching the six-furlong gap from opposite directions around 7:30.
    “Want to race,” asked a smiling Scott Blasi, assistant to trainer Steve Asmussen, to Chip Woolley as Mine That Bird approached Rachel Alexandra and Blasi’s pony.
    Mine That Bird galloped twice around while Rachel Alexandra visited the starting gate and then went once around. Both horses are scheduled to work Monday.
    Zayat Stables’ Thorn Song, winner of Monday’s Shoemaker Mile (Grade I) at Hollywood Park, returned to Dale Romans’ barn at Churchill Downs on Wednesday. Romans said Thorn Song would be pointed to the Grade II Firecracker Handicap to be run July 4.  Thorn Song upset favored Einstein in that race a year ago.
Adele Dilschneider’s Terrain, seventh in the Preakness behind Rachel Alexandra, is being pointed to the Iowa Derby to be run June 26 at Prairie Meadows by trainer Al Stall Jr. The Iowa Derby is worth $250,000 and run at 1 1/16th miles.

WORK TAB – West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again posted the best five-furlong drill of 15 on Thursday, going 1:00.40 over a “good” track for trainer Dallas Stewart. Winner of the New Orleans Handicap (Grade II) this year, Macho Again is considered as a likely participant in the Grade I Stephen Foster Handicap to be run June 13.  Also going five-eighths over a track that was “muddy” at the time was Domino Stud of Lexington’s Miss Isella, who covered the distance in 1:01. Winner of the Grade II Louisville Distaff on May 1, Miss Isella is being pointed to the June 13 Fleur De Lis.   

Trainer Ken McPeek posted his 1,000th career victory on Monday when Lawrence Carroll’s Old Man Buck won the eighth race at Churchill Downs under Calvin Borel.

            McPeek, a 46-year-old native of Fort Chaffee, Ark., got his first win on Oct. 27, 1985 at River Downs with Final Destroyer.

Monday’s victory was the fifth of the Spring Meet for McPeek and 235th overall at Churchill Downs. McPeek was the leading trainer at Churchill Downs’ 2002 Fall Meet.

POST-RACE QUOTES – KEN McPEEK 1,000 CAREER WINS

KEN McPEEK: “Now it’s on to 2,000. I’ve got a lot of people to thank from my clients to the staff. I mean, I’m just part of it. There are a lot of people who have worked really hard for me for a long time, and I appreciate it. Really, I think I’ve come from the bottom and worked my way up through the years. I think I’ve done more with less for a long time, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. [Owners] like Ray Cottrell and Roy Monroe when I was younger and my father have been a part of it and a big influence. We’re going to keep grinding along and we’re going to get 2,000; it’s just a matter of time. We can do that in the next 10 years.”

SUE McPEEK: “I’m just relieved because Friday we have a girl scouts sleepover at the farm in Magdalena. She (daughter Jena) and I wouldn’t have been able to be here. Old Man Buck was carrying a lot of weight today!”

IEAH Stables and Paul Pompa Jr.’s Big Brown had his presence announced on the track shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday with a loud clap of thunder.

Unfazed, Big Brown went about his morning activity, jogging one mile with Michelle Nevin up accompanied by a pony.

Heavy overnight rain had left the Churchill Downs racing surface “muddy” and trainer Rick Dutrow, as he had done two days last week, opted to jog the Kentucky Derby winner rather than gallop him.

With his Kentucky Derby victory eight days ago, Big Brown put Nevin in some elite company in being the regular morning exercise rider of a classic winner.

“I first got on him when he came to Florida in November,” Nevin said. “Rick was telling me ‘you’re gonna love this horse’ and the first time I took him to the track he went out there like an old pro and nothing bothered him. After I galloped him, I thought ‘this is a classy horse.’”

TRES BORRACHOS GALLOPS IN BLINKERS – Less than two hours after Big Brown jogged under cloudy skies and on a muddy track, bright sunshine and a harrowed track that was drying out because of high winds greeted Tres Borrachos.

The third-place finisher in the Arkansas Derby (GII) galloped 1 ½ miles under Andy Durnin and was outfitted in blinkers for the first time.

Trainer Beau Greely, who owns Tres Borrachos in partnership with John Greely IV and Phil Houchens, explained the experiment.

“In his races, horses would come up to him and he’d back up a little and then come again,” Greely said. “I want to see what Andy thinks about them, but it looks like he was relaxed galloping today. He may have them on when he works Tuesday and then we’ll make a decision (about whether the blinkers will stay on for the Preakness).”

RECAPTURETHEGLORY IMPROVING, MAY LEAVE MONDAY – Assistant trainer Lara Van Deren said that fifth-place Kentucky Derby finisher Recapturetheglory was doing much better Sunday morning, a day after running a 102-degree temperature.

“Yesterday was real tough,” Van Deren said. “He will probably leave tomorrow for Chicago and miss three or four days of training.”

Owned by trainer Louie Roussel III and Ronald Lamarque, Recapturetheglory was on track to leave Churchill Downs on Saturday night for Baltimore and a start in the Preakness before the fever hit.

ROUTINE MORNING FOR PREAKNESS HOPEFULS AT CHURCHILL – The three remaining Preakness hopefuls training at Churchill Downs had uneventful mornings Sunday.

Robert LaPenta’s Stevil galloped 1 ½ miles under Dylan Armstrong for trainer Nick Zito. Stevil is scheduled to work four furlongs Monday morning.

West Point Thoroughbreds’ Macho Again walked the shedrow at Barn 35 after working a half-mile in :50.80 the day before. Trained by Dallas Stewart, Macho Again will be ridden in the Preakness by Julien Leparoux, who rode Macho Again to victory in the April 26 Derby Trial at Churchill Downs.

Macho Again will be attempting to give West Point a second major victory in as many weekends. On Saturday at Lone Star Park, El Gato Malo prevailed in the Lone Star Derby (GIII) for trainer Craig Dollase.

Also walking the shedrow was Jerry Carroll, Stan Kaplan, Ronald Plattner and Mark Guilfoyle’s Racecar Rhapsody. The Ken McPeek trainee had worked five furlongs in 1:01 on Saturday.

LING LING QI, SILVER EDITION & ST. JOE TO MATT WINN – Convincing opening week sprint winners Ling Ling Qi and Silver Edition as well as third-place Iroquois (GIII) finisher St. Joe are considered as definite starters for Saturday’s seventh running of the $100,000 Matt Winn Stakes for 3-year-olds going six furlongs on the main track.

Lansdon Robbins III’s Ling Ling Qi scored by 2 ¾ lengths as the 7-5 favorite on April 29 for trainer Ken McPeek. Silver Edition, owned by Thomas Van Meter II and Phillip Maloof, was a 4 ½-length winner as the 9-5 peoples’ choice on May 2 for trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Silver Edition, runner-up in the Grade II Hutcheson in January at Gulfstream Park, worked a bullet half-mile in :47.60 over a sloppy track Sunday morning.

Silverton Hill Farm’s St. Joe is coming off a ninth-place finish in the Coolmore Lexington (GII) at Keeneland on April 19. St. Joe is trained by Darrin Miller.

Nominations for the Matt Winn closed May 7 with 18 nominations. Entries will be taken Wednesday.

BARN TALK – There was a new exercise rider Sunday morning in the barn of Dallas Stewart: Hall of Fame nominee Randy Romero. “I just got here from New Orleans,” said Romero, who retired from riding in 1999. “I’ve been working out and swimming and I’ve lost 10 pounds.”

Romero, who had a kidney removed in February and continues to battle chronic liver disease, scored what likely was his most memorable victory at Churchill Downs when he guided undefeated Personal Ensign to the 13th victory of her career in the 1988 Breeders’ Cup Distaff over 1988 Kentucky Derby winner Winning Colors and 1988 Kentucky Oaks champ Goodbye Halo.

Romero, who also has worked as a jockey agent, has been involved in another project.

“I’ve been working on a script for a movie on my life,” said Romero, who was seriously burned in a hotbox accident at Oaklawn Park in 1983. “It’s called ‘Cat On A Horse.’ Look for it in about a year and a half.”

For someone who apparently has more than nine lives, the title is appropriate.

WORK TAB – Uptown Racing’s Boss Lafitte, winner of the Central Bank Transylvania Stakes (GIII) on April 12 at Keeneland, worked a half-mile on a track labeled “sloppy” in :50.20 for trainer Tom Amoss. Lawrence Carroll’s Old Man Buck, winner of last summer’s Miller Lite Cradle Stakes at River Downs, worked a half-mile in “muddy” conditions in :48.80 for trainer Ken McPeek. The work was the third fastest of 28 at the distance.

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