No one drew more attention last week than trainer Kenny McPeak. He won two stakes at Oak Lawn over the weekend, one heading into the GI Kentucky Derby and the other heading into the GI Kentucky Oaks. McPeek scored with the filly Band of Gold (Preservationist), who won the Martha Washington Stakes 24-1. After two races, the stallion Mystic Dan (Golden Scents) won the GIII by eight lengths. Southwest S. odds are 11-1. That means he had a lot to talk about when McPeek joined him on this week's TDN Writers' Room podcast presented by Keeneland. McPeak was this week's Green Group guest.
Although Mystic Dan has been a little inconsistent during his short career, trainer McPeak said he always knew the colt had the ability.
“This horse is really fast,” McPeek said. “He was like that from the beginning. At first I ran him in a couple of sprint races, but then I had to modify him a little bit, so I regretted it a little bit. He's very fast, but We needed to reteach him and learn how to run longer. What he did last weekend was pretty special in the sense that we've been teaching him to get off the horse. Let him slow down and then learn to take advantage of that speed. For the last three furlongs it was like being shot out of a cannon.”
Jockey McPeak won the GI Preakness Stakes and the GI Belmont Stakes, but a Derby win was far away. He was close to his first runner, Tejanoran (Tejabo), who finished second to him in 1995. But overall, he goes 0-for-9 in America's biggest race. How much does he want to add a Derby win to his resume?
“Being from Kentucky, this is a big issue for me,” McPeak said. “I think any horse trainer wants to win a race like that. But you have to pull yourself together. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen. If it doesn't… , that's not true. I'm not going to put all my eggs in one basket and say I didn't have a full career because I didn't win the Derby.”
Band of Gold suffered a disappointing fifth-place finish in the Untappable Stakes, but McPeek wasn't about to give up on her after winning her debut race at Churchill Downs.
“Any filly that gets her first win like she did at Churchill Downs is clearly talented,” he says. “I think she was a little confused in her second start at the fairgrounds. We ran her untappable and she had no idea what to do there. She was someone we had to somehow reunite with.”
In the Stallion Spotlight segment, the podcast featured Coolmore's Tiz the Law (Constitution), whose entry fee was $20,000. His Audible (Into Mischief), which he stands at WinStar Farm for a $15,000 fee, was also highlighted.
Elsewhere in this podcast, also sponsored by the Pennsylvania Horse Racing Producers Association, 1/ST Racing, West Point Thoroughbreds and XBTV.com, the team of Randy Moss, Bill Finlay and Zoe Cadman review a very impressive win by Nisos (Nyquist) Robert B. Lewis of GIII. He cannot run in the Derby because he is trained by Bob Baffert, who is currently suspended at Churchill Downs. The committee agreed that the absence of Nysos and other Baffert athletes could lead to controversy that could overshadow the race itself. Also included in the discussion is the GIII Holy Bull Stakes, where by far the favorite Champion Fierceness (City of Light) did not have the best result en route to third place. All agreed it was a subpar race, with horses showing signs of not being able to handle adversity. The podcast concluded with a story about trainer Jeffrey Englehart, who is serving a two-year suspension for claiming that his horses were given clenbuterol before entering the barn.
