Kenneth G. McPeek

A knack for finding talent at bargain prices and developing those young horses and bringing new owners into the racing has enabled Kenneth "Kenny" McPeek to rise to the top levels of the sport.

A top example of McPeek's skill at picking out good, young Thoroughbreds is Curlin. McPeek purchased the colt for $57,000 and turned him over to his assistant when he took a sabbatical from training. Curlin was sold after showing great ability early in his career and went on to be a two-time Horse of the Year and the leading money winner in North American racing history with more than $10 million in earnings. McPeek bought Noble's Promise for $10,000 as a weanling and he earned more than $1 million.

In 2024, McPeek enjoyed a fairytale weekend at Churchill Downs as he became only the third trainer in 150 years to sweep the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby and the first to do so since Ben Jones did it for the second time in 1952.

After finishing second in the Kentucky Oaks on three occasions, McPeek earned a breakthrough victory in the $1.5 million race in 2024 with Thorpedo Anna. Entering the Kentucky Oaks, McPeek said of Thorpedo Anna: “They better bring a bear [in the Oaks] because I’m bringing a grizzly. I wouldn’t be afraid to run her against the colts.” His confidence was vindicated and then some when Thorpedo Anna enjoyed a ground-saving, pacesetting trip under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. in the Oaks May 3 at Churchill Downs and powered well clear in the stretch to a runaway victory in 1:50.83 for 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track. 

McPeek was not as vocal in his confidence about his 2024 Kentucky Derby contender, Mystik Dan, although he said he thought he had been overlooked leading into the race. Mystik Dan ran a monster race when winning the Grade 3 Southwest Stakes by eight lengths in February but was a distant third in the Arkansas Derby. Hernandez gave him a terrific, ground-saving ride in the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby and pushed Mystik Dan through a narrow opening along the rail entering the stretch. Mystik Dan surged to the front and then dug in gamely in the closing strides to fend off the furious rush of Toyota Blue Grass Stakes winner Sierra Leone and UAE Derby winner Forever Young.

Mystic Dan was McPeek’s 10^th career starter in the Kentucky Derby with his previous best finish a second with Tejano Run, his first starter in the Derby in 1995.

Mystik Dan also completed a career sweep of the three U.S. classics for McPeek, who won the Preakness in 2020 with the filly Swiss Skydiver and the Belmont Stakes in 2002 with Sarava.

Born in Arkansas and raised in Lexington, Ky., McPeek is a 1984 graduate of the University of Kentucky. He went to New York to interview for a job as a stockbroker, but instead took a job as a hotwalker for trainer Shug McGaughey. Since opening his own stable in 1985, he has trained over 2,000 winners and his horses have earned more than $120 million in purses through May 2024. Other top horses trained by McPeek include champion Take Charge Lady and Belmont Stakes winner Sarava as well as Frac Daddy, Rosalind, Tejano Run, Daddys Lil Darling, Eskimo Kisses, and Signalman.

McPeek, as mentioned above, scaled the pinnacles of racing in 2020 with the filly Swiss Skydiver, another astute purchase he recommended for owner Peter Callahan. Callahan bought the filly for $35,000 and she won five graded stakes throughout the year, culminating with the Oct. 3 Preakness Stakes, McPeek’s second Triple Crown win as a trainer.