When Kenny McPeek, as a 32-year-old trainer, saddled Tejano Run to a second-place finish in the 1995 Kentucky Derby, he probably figured he’d have won the Run for the Roses by now.
He’d only been a trainer for 10 years at that point, and he stumbled into the job anyway. McPeek earned advanced business degrees at the University of Kentucky and wasn’t thinking of getting into horse racing full time.
He got his start as a literal fill-in for his father. McPeek’s dad, Ron, was supposed to take the trainer’s license test. When his dad backed out of taking it, McPeek went instead and convinced the administrators they had the wrong first name.
If he didn’t appreciate how hard it is to take first back then, he surely does now. So it was a bit surprising to hear McPeek talk, with his full chest, about the potential of Mystik Dan in the Kentucky Derby and Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks this weekend.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if I won both of them,” McPeek said. “I’m that confident.”
McPeek’s name isn’t mentioned as much as it should be when the list of best trainers is rattled off. He can force his way into the conversation this weekend.
He had his most successful year in winnings and earnings in 2023. He just celebrated his 2,000th career win in February after the Justify filly Winnable won her debut at Turfway Park. But none of those wins include a first-place finish in the Derby.
His luck hasn’t been any better in the Oaks, where he’s placed second three times with Take Charge Lady in 2002, Daddys Lil Darling in 2017 and Swiss Skydiver in 2020.
“We’ve been around the bull’s-eye on this; we’ve had some good runs,” McPeek said.
McPeek is one of six trainers with horses entered in the Oaks and the Derby. Of that group — Todd Pletcher, D. Wayne Lukas, Chad Brown, Bill Mott and Brad Cox — only McPeek and Brown have never won at least one of the races.
McPeek has won the other legs of the Triple Crown. Swiss Skydiver won the Preakness Stakes. He won the Belmont Stakes with Sarava in 2002. But a win in the Derby, not to mention the improbable sweep with the Oaks, would launch McPeek into a different stratosphere.
The 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna might be his best chance. She’s one of the favorites in the Oaks with opening-line odds of 5-1.
“I haven’t been scared to say it, but they better bring a bear because I’m bringing a grizzly,” McPeek said. “She’s really good, just extremely talented. She’d been workmate with Mystik Dan for a good part of the season, and we’ve separated them at this stage, but I love my chances.”
Confidence is good. Hubris is not in a race that can humble even the best trained, most talented of horses. McPeek knows how to walk the line. And he doesn’t mind that his Derby horse is being overlooked.
Mystik Dan didn’t get any help during the draw. No horse has won from the No. 3 post since Real Quiet in 1998.
“He’s an old soul, this horse, I mean, he goes out there and he’s very quiet and unassuming,” McPeek said. “You wouldn’t really think a whole lot, but he is really fast and he’s exceptionally smart. That’s what you need.”
Of his seven other Derby entrants since ’95, his best finish was fifth. It’s made McPeek subscribe to the Ricky Bobby school of thought from “Talladega Nights: “If you ain’t first, you’re last.”
His experience has also taught him that a lot has to come together, some of which is beyond his control, to win the Oaks and the Derby.
“If it’s our turn, it’s our turn,” McPeek said.
Mystik Dan and Thorpedo Anna might be the right horses to make it so.
Reach sports columnist C.L. Brown at clbrown1@gannett.com, follow him on X at @CLBrownHoops and subscribe to his newsletter at profile.courier-journal.com/newsletters/cl-browns-latest to make sure you never miss one of his columns.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky Derby, Oaks sweep at Churchill Downs? Kenny McPeek has shot
