Kenny McPeek hard at work during the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Photos by Sarah Jane Sanders.
Lexington-based Thoroughbred trainer and breeder Kenny McPeek has a keen eye for the perfect racehorse.
“I find a runner in the most unusual places,” said McPeek, whose major accomplishments include purchasing one of the most decorated horses ever, Curlin, for just $57,000 as a yearling at Keeneland.
Starting out with just one client — his father, Ron McPeek — in 1985, McPeek slowly but surely built his training and bloodstock business from the ground up. Between the racetrack and his Lexington-based Magdalena Farm, he now manages more than 150 racehorses, broodmares and foals.
McPeek’s results speak for themselves: Over the years, on behalf of clients, he has purchased nearly 70 stakes winners and 11 grade I winners, most of which he also trained.
“What I’m most proud of is that I’ve done it with a modest amount of money in the scheme of things,” McPeek said. “I’ve never been given a huge budget. This is a game where you can find value, and if you do that, you have a chance to actually make money.”
Horse racing was ingrained early in McPeek, who rode ponies as a young boy at his grandparents’ farm on Versailles Road and at the nearby Keeneland paddocks. One of his first trips to the Lexington track was to watch live racing was with his grandfather, who spent the 1940s and 1950s as an executive of the RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co.
“I was always intrigued by the racehorses ... my father taught me to read a pedigree at the age of 12 or 13,” McPeek said.
While attending the University of Kentucky, McPeek decided to go a more practical route by pursuing business degree. But in between his school studies and social engagements, he continued to whet his appetite for Thoroughbred racing and bloodlines by reading all the literature he could get his hands on.
“In the basement of UK’s agriculture building was every Blood-Horse magazine and Thoroughbred Record that was ever printed,” McPeek said. “I found them when I was a freshman, and by the time I graduated, I had read every issue including the advertisements.”
The morning after graduating from UK in 1984, McPeek got his first racetrack job, hotwalking horses for trainer Shug McGaughey. He soon realized it was difficult to survive off a racetrack salary, however, and decided to try his hand in the business world. It wasn’t long before McPeek’s father called him back to racing, however, as he needed some assistance in running his own Thoroughbred operation.
“I started out helping my father on a short-term basis, and almost 30 years later, I’m still [in the industry],” McPeek said.
After seeing McPeek experience some success with his father’s horses, other owners began sending their stock to McPeek. One of his first major clients was Roy Monroe, for whom he bought a chestnut colt named Tejano Run for $20,000. The son of Tejano posted an eye-catching third in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and provided even greater thrills by finishing second to Thunder Gulch in the following year’s Kentucky Derby. Tejano Run retired from racing with earnings of nearly $1.2 million, 60 times his original price tag.
Another one of McPeek’s solid purchases was Take Charge Lady, a three-time grade I winner who had earnings of more than $2.48 million. McPeek said his involvement with that mare is one of the greatest accomplishments of his career, considering her abilities as both a racehorse and a broodmare.
After retiring from racing, Take Charge Lady sold for $4.2 million at auction and went on to produce 2013 champion 3-year-old colt Will Take Charge and grade I winner Take Charge Indy. For her efforts, Take Charge Lady was honored as Broodmare of the Year this spring by the Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders Association.
McPeek’s other grade I winners as a trainer to date are Noble’s Promise, Dream Empress, Golden Ticket, Hard Buck, Pure Fun, Prince Arch, Harlan’s Holiday, Sarava (2002 Belmont Stakes), Java’s War, and Rosalind. Rosalind won this year’s Ashland Stakes at Keeneland and ran fourth in the Kentucky Oaks.
In 2005, McPeek took time away from training horses to focus on being a bloodstock agent. During his sabbatical, he purchased Curlin for $57,000 in 2007 for Midnight Cry Stable, which later sold the colt to Jess Jackson for an estimated $3.5 million. Curlin, whose major wins included the 2007 Preakness Stakes, 2007 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and 2008 Dubai World Cup, was elected to the National Museum’s Horse Racing Hall of Fame this year.
“I think my eye for a horse has evolved,” McPeek said. “I always like to say that I trained enough bad horses that I know what they look like and enough good ones to know the difference. Experience is everything. I’ve bought plenty of bad horses over the years, but I also learned from each one of them. The important thing is to try and invest people’s money wisely. If you can do that, then it’s a better-than-average chance that they’re going to give you more money to invest.”
McPeek returned to training in 2006 and now conditions his horses at his 115-acre Magdalena Farm on Russell Cave Road, which has a European-style turf gallop. He also continues to focus on his bloodstock business — even traveling to sales as far as Germany and Brazil to select horses for clients.
“It’s not unusual for me to own a share [of a racehorse or broodmare],” McPeek said, adding that he currently has ownership in about 50 horses. “If someone puts up the money, I’ll take part ownership in lieu of a commission. I think it gives [owners] more confidence in what I’m doing ... I don’t make any money unless the horse is doing well.”
McPeek has also recently made a name for himself in the technology world by developing the iPhone, iPad, and Xbox application Horse Races Now, through which users can view live horse races and race replays at 60 tracks across the country. The app, which has been on the market for about 18 months, has more than 220,000 downloads in 170 countries.
Considering the breadth of his accomplishments, as well as his demanding schedule, McPeek’s demeanor is laid back and calm. He takes each day in stride, always looking for his next big star but realizing he can’t win them all. In the end, it’s the effort that counts and the willingness to keep striving for the best.
“I’ve got a good, solid group of horses for the fall season,” McPeek said. “It’s all good; I’m just doing what I do. I’m fourth all-time leading trainer [at Keeneland], and I’d like to be first eventually, but we’ll see.”