“Yeah. I mean, it's been pretty crazy,” admits owner and breeder Joey Peacock, Jr.

Peacock, a resident of San Antonio, and his family have been in the horse business for the better part of 5 1/2 decades, but never has there been one like Senor Buscador to grace their New Mexico-based barn. And it all starts with a daughter of a virtually unknown son of Fappiano who won no fewer than seven black-type races at Zia Park and Sunland Park for Peacock's father and trainer Todd Fincher. She has managed to one-up herself in the breeding shed, with five winners from five to race, four of those full stakes winners and two graded winners.

Not bad for a mare by….checks notes…Desert God?

The Pride of New Mexico and 'Mining' For Gold

“I think that early on, people look down their noses at her being a 'New Mexico-bred,'” he said of Rose's Desert. “But if you really look at the pedigree, I mean, she's by a horse who was an unraced son of Fappiano out of a mare that won the [GI] Kentucky Oaks. I mean, let's be real, that's a pretty solid pedigree.”

That Kentucky Oaks winner is the 1982 victress Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom {Fr}), whose daughter Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister) was broodmare of the year in 2007. More on how this part of the pedigree fits in below.

“There's a lot of times that you have great racemares who don't end up being great broodmares, but we were just always confident in her. And she's a big mare, so it wasn't like we had limitations when we were talking about stallions, like we were trying to overcome anything,” Peacock explained.

He continued, “She had speed. She had size. She didn't have anything that we had to try to breed to improve, which really opened us up to really go to anybody that we wanted to stallion-wise. Right or wrong, we are 100% all in on that pedigree and that bloodline. We haven't sold any of Roses Desert's offspring and don't intend to. I just think it's something that we can take and build on and look back 20 years from now and say, 'Oh my God. Look what happened starting with Rose's Desert.' I tell you, I wouldn't trade our broodmare with anybody else's broodmare.”

The decision to send Rose's Desert to Mineshaft, on the surface at least, is an interesting one. The Peacocks successfully mated the mare to the likes of Ghostzapper (Grade III winner Runaway Ghost and SW Our Iris Rose) and Curlin (MSW Sheriff Brown). A four-time Grade I winner and Horse of the Year in 2003, Mineshaft has been a reliable sire of racehorses, if not perhaps in the same league as a Ghostzapper or Curlin.

“My dad was still alive when we bred to Mineshaft, and so he would get the stallion book every year and go through it, and what he really liked to see–he liked to see horses that had a decent amount of races in their career, which to him indicated soundness,” Peacock explained. “He liked to see horses all through the pedigree that made money, which to him was a proxy for ability at the racetrack. And then to see a horse that had the stamina to go the classic distances, and Mineshaft fit all those, checked all those boxes. So he wasn't a big stud fee, $10,000, but you know what? So what?

“We were not handcuffed by the fact that we were breeding to market to the sales, which I think drives most breeding decisions. So we were sort of free of that obligation of trying to get a sales horse. We just wanted to breed a good, sound, solid race horse, and as you can see, we got fortunate and that's what turned out to be.”

The cross of A.P. Indy over the Blush With Pride family needs little introduction, as it has resulted in the likes of Belmont winner Rags to Riches–by A.P. Indy himself; GSW & G1SP Casino Drive (Mineshaft); MGSW/GISP Greatest Honour (Tapit); Canadian SW Cascading (A.P. Indy); and Modeling (Tapit), the dam of champion MGISW Arcangelo (Arrogate).

And Mineshaft himself is out of Prospectors Delite, a mare by….well, does anyone know how Senor Buscador translates into English? If you didn't, you do now.

An Immediate Hit

Peacock, who boards his mares at Shawhan Place in Kentucky, reports there was nothing remarkable about Senor Buscador's upbringing, but the same couldn't be said about the year 2020, the colt's juvenile season. The Coronavirus was on the lips and minds of everybody, and in its own way, it wreaked havoc on the Thoroughbred industry. Among the types of decisions it impacted were the otherwise-inane discussions of just where to run one's horses.

“New Mexico shut down and we were trying to find a race for him because he's ready to go, and so Todd took him to Remington Park and after that first race, Todd said, 'This horse is–you don't get horses like this very often. This horse is special,'” Peacock said. “So when he said that, I started paying a lot more attention. Not that I don't pay attention to our horses, but I mean, I started getting excited because he doesn't ever really offer any kind of glowing remarks like that.”

Senor Buscador and Rose's Desert | Courtesy Shawhan Place

Having rallied from last to debut a 2 1/2-length winner in November 2020, Senor Buscador romped by 5 3/4 lengths in the Springboard Mile the following month, but the colt was a flat fifth at 5-2 behind Mandaloun (Into Mischief) in the GII Risen Star S.

“We had the fastest two-turn dirt Beyer for any 2-year-old when he won the Springboard, so my phone started ringing off the hook first thing in the morning after that race, and then we decided we weren't interested in selling the horse, so we were headed to the Risen Star,” Peacock said.

“We thought the horse was going to run well. Didn't have his patented late kick. We ended up sending him to Dr. Tommy Hays in Elgin, Texas, and turns out he had chipped an ankle. So Dr. Hays took the chip out, said, 'Good news. We got it early. It hadn't been floating around. It didn't do a bunch of other soft tissue damage, so let's just give him time off,' which we did.”

Dashed Derby Dreams 

Having also been forced to miss the 2018 Triple Crown trail with Senor Buscador's GIII Sunland Derby-winning half-brother Runaway Ghost, Peacock was compelled to regroup and was pointing Senor Buscador to a fall campaign in 2021.

“I think we gave him four months off, and then we were training him to come back for the Zia Park Derby in New Mexico, and then Todd gets to the barn one morning and his right rear hock is just…he can't even put his foot on the ground,” Peacock said. “It's swollen beyond belief. I mean, he got injured in the stall and then that thing got infected and there's very little blood flow to that part of the hock.

“So we had to have another surgery, go in and clean out the infection, try to get the antibiotics to where they needed to be. It ended up being a long, drawn-out affair. I mean, the veterinarians were like, 'We don't know how this is going to go.' We weren't not talking about [being] a racehorse anymore. We're just talking about survival.”

But survive he did, finishing third to fellow World Cup entrant Laurel River (Into Mischief) in the GII Pat O'Brien S. at Del Mar before winning the 2022 GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill Downs. He reportedly bled when eighth to Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile.

Connections continued on undeterred into a 5-year-old season, confidence still well intact, and Senor Buscador backed up their opinion with a 13-1 upset in the GII San Diego H. ahead of a sound fourth in the GI TVG Pacific Classic in early September. A respectable third in the GI Awesome Again S., Senor Buscador made up a fair bit of ground in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic to be seventh.

Some might have called time on the season after a seventh start in eight months, but they pressed on to the GI Cigar Mile H., where Senor Buscador finished an anti-bias runner-up.

“We were thinking about the Pegasus all along and hoping that based on that Cigar effort, we'd get the invitation and sure enough we did and we felt good about our chances there,” Peacock said.

With the nine-furlong race run to suit his relentless closing style, Senor Buscador rallied past all the competition bar National Treasure (Quality Road) and not long after the race crossed the finish line, Fincher's phone was ringing.

“The Saudi people had been talking to us after the Cigar, and of course Todd gets the call, shoot, five minutes after the Pegasus,” said Peacock. We're standing together after the race and he got the invitation.”

Riyadh Riches

A decided outsider in the $20-million G1 Saudi Cup, consistent form and all, Senor Buscador was so far out of it in the early stages that Peacock and team were struggling to find him.

“I'll be honest with you. We had no idea where he was,” Peacock admitted. “We watched it from the paddock because we couldn't get back to our seats. There were so many people at the track that we couldn't get back to where we were sitting, so we just decided we'd watch it from the paddock and we watched it on the Jumbotron.

“They've got the chase car inside the rail videoing the front-runners. But when they came into the stretch, of course anytime he's running, I'm looking at the middle of the racetrack to try to find something that's closing and we could see him coming down the middle of the stretch. So yeah, we didn't get the opportunity to get excited until it was almost over. Our goal for the year was to get Senior Buscador a Grade I win and never dreamed it'd be the Saudi Cup, but heck, if you have to pick one to win, he picked a good one.”

And now it's on to the World Cup, the second of a two-race lease with Saudi owner Sharaf Mohammed S Al Hariri.

“He's doing great,” Peacock confirmed. “It was funny. When he went to Saudi, the first few days he was a little lethargic, and I guess it's just jet lag, just like us. But he started really picking it up after he was there, I think on the third day, and then continued through the race. Oscar, who is Todd Fincher's right-hand man who's there with him and gallops him every day said he's doing great. Galloping great. He's happy. He's eating well. He's training good. I mean, we couldn't ask for things to be going better at this point.”

Peacock said he has engaged informally with a handful of individuals regarding a potential stud deal.

“I want to see him in Kentucky,”he said. “I mean, I think he deserves that opportunity. Again, right or wrong, we 100% believe in the pedigree and I just think he deserves that opportunity, so we'll see if we can make it happen or not.”

And what would his dad think of what Senor Buscador has accomplished?

“Oh, wow. Well, first of all, I'm not sure he would've ever let Todd take the horse to Saudi,” Peacock chuckled. “I think that's the first thing. But no, he would be tickled to know that we have a horse that's running on the world stage that can compete on the world stage and arguably one of the biggest races on the world stage.

“So yeah, I would have to say he would be very excited about that. And the fact that we own the mare and we own every one of his brothers and sisters, it just really makes it that much more special for our family.”

The post Long And Winding Road Lands Senor Buscador On World Stage appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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The entire Shawhan crew was ecstatic, but two team members in particular were especially over the moon.

Let's start with Teddy Kuster, who co-founded Shawhan nearly 20 years ago. Lemon Muffin's win at Oaklawn was particularly memorable for the octogenarian as he co-bred the filly.

“When you've been in the horse business for as long as I have and you have two horses like that in one day, it's phenomenal,” Kuster enthused. “I mean, you don't do that as a small breeder. After Senor Buscador I said, 'Well this is good even if we just hit the board with the other one.' When Lemon Muffin came on at the end I was just flabbergasted. I was by myself hollering and having a good time.”

Sold by Shawhan Place as a yearling for $20,000 and pinhooked for $140,000, Lemon Muffin had been knocking on the door of getting that maiden win for some time. She ran second four times over the course of three months before earning 50 points on the road to the Kentucky Oaks with her three-and-a-half length Honeybee score for trainer D. Wayne Lukas and owner Aaron Sones.

Lemon Muffin breaks her maiden in the GIII Honeybee S. | Coady

“She would run second all the time, just keeping running second, but I said that Wayne Lukas will get her going somewhere and he did,” Kuster said proudly. “You break your maiden in a Grade III race, that doesn't happen very often.”

Lemon Muffin is a second-generation homebred for Kuster, who was KTFMC Farm Manager of the Year in 1986.

In 1990, Claiborne's farm manager Gus Koch–the father of Shawhan's co-founder Matt Koch–wrote Kuster a letter telling him about a well-bred, unraced filly that was going to go through the ring at the Keeneland January Sale. Kuster purchased that Claiborne homebred, Fee (Spectacular Bid), for just $9,500.

Fee was responsible for several stakes horses including MGSW High Stakes Player (High Brite). Kuster sold the majority of her offspring but retained the last filly she produced, Pelt (Canadian Frontier).

Now 18 years old, Pelt is responsible for five winners, with Lemon Muffin being her first stakes winner. The mare has a yearling filly by Complexity and is barren this year, but was just bred to Cairo Prince.

Lemon Muffin ranks near the top of the list of talented horses that Kuster has bred, but he is also the breeder of Hilda's Passion (Canadian Frontier), a Grade I winner and the dam of former WinStar sire Yoshida (Jpn).

Kuster sold Hilda's Passion as a yearling before she went on to become a five time graded stakes winner, including the 2011 GI Ballerina S., and then sell for $1.225 million to Katsumi Yoshida. Kuster figured he probably wouldn't have much connection to the mare again, but pretty soon her son Yoshida rose to the top of the game in the U.S. Kuster is now a strong supporter of Yoshida, who has his first 3-year-olds this year.

For Kuster, the results of this weekend were dimmed only by the absence of the person who has always watched races alongside him. Last June, his wife Betsy passed away at the age of 80.

“My wife and I were in this together and we always bred as Mr. and Mrs. Theodore Kuster,” he said. “She and I were very close and had been married over 55 years. She liked the horses and enjoyed going to the races. [This weekend] she would have been very excited and would have said, 'I told you so. It would happen. I told you so.' She was always my number one supporter.”

Asked about the possibility of seeing Lemon Muffin get to the Oaks, Kuster said, “I thinks she's got a good shot at getting there and if so, I'll be there.”

Senor Buscador and Rose's Desert | courtesy Shawhan Place

So what about the other star of the show for Shawhan Place, Senor Buscador?

Courtney Schneider, Shawhan's broodmare manager and director of sales, has long been regarded as president of the Senor Buscador fan club. Schneider foaled the son of Mineshaft, like she has for all but one of his siblings, and has tuned in to every one of his races over the past five years. The Saudi Cup victory was no exception.

“You go into weekends like that hoping for the best, but you don't expect to come out with wins like that,” Schneider said. “For myself personally, when Senor Buscador hit the wire I was in instant tears. He's very special. With Lemon Muffin as well, I foaled and raised her, so to have a weekend like that was just truly unbelievable.”

Senor Buscador has amassed seven wins from 18 career starts and boasts almost $12 million in earnings as he now points to the G1 Dubai World Cup.

Schneider said she's itching to book a plane ticket to Dubai for next month if foaling season will allow her to get away.

“I've traveled to follow him from very early on,” Schneider said. “I flew to New Orleans when he ran in the Risen Star. I was at Churchill when he won the GIII Ack Ack S. in 2022.  It's very special for me to have clients that will allow me to still be a part of everything and to follow these horses, because that's why I do it–for the love of the horse.”

Senor Buscador's dam Rose's Desert (Desert God) has been the broodmare of a lifetime for the Peacock family. A homebred for Joe Peacock Sr., Rose's Desert was a seven-time stakes winner in New Mexico, but her resume continued to expand every year of her breeding career as her first four foals all earned stakes victories.

The Peacock family has never sold one of her foals, although they did send her first foal Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper) through the ring as a yearling only to snap him back up after he RNA'd and race him in their own silks.

The winner of the 2018 GIII Sunland Derby, Runaway Ghost was pointing for the GI Kentucky Derby until he suffered a fracture to his shin. The Peacock family had already traveled from their home state of Texas up to Kentucky, so when they no longer had a Derby contender to watch they stopped by the farm to visit their star mare. Rose's Desert was due to foal any day and she of course waited until the morning after they left, but in their family photo with the mare, she is carrying none other than Senor Buscador.

The Peacock and Rose's Desert, with Senor Buscador in utero | courtesy Shawhan Place

The mating proved to be a special one in more ways than one as it was the last of Rose's Desert's matings that Joey Peacock Jr. picked out with his father before his passing.

Schneider said this foal was a standout from the start.

“I found a text that I had sent to Joey when he was just a few weeks old saying, 'Oh my gosh, he's out here running laps around everybody else in the field.' For him to run laps around everybody else in a $20 million race is just mind blowing now. But he was always one that was forward and he was a little bit of a different model from her typical foals. He had a little bit more leg, a little bit leaner, a little more athletic than the rest of them.”

But all of Rose's Desert's foals have proven their talent on the racetrack. After her four straight stakes winners, the mare was barren for two years. Her 3-year-old of this year, Aye Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), won on debut on Nov. 28 at Zia Park and that filly's 2-year-old half-sister Rose A (Hard Spun) recently joined the Todd Fincher barn.

Rose's Desert has a yearling colt by Authentic called The Hell We Did (named after how when Joe Peacock Sr. heard what the family had named Senor Buscador, he exclaimed, 'The hell we did!'). She is currently in foal to Into Mischief and will be bred back to Uncle Mo.

“I think she gets knocked a little bit being a New Mexico-bred, but if you go and look at her pedigree, it's deep with Fappiano and all these really good racehorses,” Schneider explained. “Her foals all normally come in plain brown wrappers. I wouldn't say necessarily right off the bat that they would win any beauty contests, but they're big, strong individuals and they've proven that they run.”

Rose's Desert's legacy now continues as her oldest daughter Our Iris Rose (Ghostzapper), a dual stakes winner for the Peacock family, is now a producer. She recently had her first foal, a colt by Curlin.

“I'm very exciting for what the family has coming,” Schneider said. “Rose's Desert has been such a special mare for the Peacocks. It's great because we've had the entire family. To have a client like that who keeps the family here and keeps us involved is incredibly special. It says a lot about their trust in us that they've had this much success and they've stuck with us just as they've stuck with Todd Fincher. I think that speaks volumes to the character they have.”

For a farm with less than a dozen employees that will foal around 50 mares this year, these resent results are significant. Schneider admitted that they aren't quite used to the limelight.

“It's exciting though, because everybody here has worked so hard for so many years,” she explained. “Not that we necessarily didn't get the recognition we deserved before, but just to see this come through, it's a little bittersweet but just very humbling as well. We do this because we love the horses. We all work hard and it's nice to see all that pay off.”

The post Shawhan Place Riding High After Memorable Weekend appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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And why not?

The 6-year-old admittedly had a bit to find on form with each of his four fellow American participants, but it wasn't as if he'd been dreadful in defeat in those efforts. Not when a running-on seventh behind White Abarrio (Race Day) in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Not when runner-up to loose-on-the-lead Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) in the GII Cigar Mile H., and certainly not in the Pegasus. He drew a nice gate in four at Wednesday's post position draw and, on paper at least, the Saudi Cup race flow seemed to favor horses capable of switching off early and saving their best for a final-furlong flurry. The pace got hot, as predicted, and Senor Buscador–who was racing over the 13th different racetrack in the 18th start of his career–took full advantage, running down reigning G1 Dubai World Cup hero Ushba Tesoro (Jpn) (Orfevre {Jpn}) and a brave pacesetter in the form of the locally owned Saudi Crown (Always Dreaming), capping a brilliant and often-thrilling evening of racing in the Saudi capital.

Senor Buscador, who carried the silks of local owner Sharaf Mohammed Al Hariri in a deal brokered with joint-owner Joe Peacock, Jr. in time for this race, was allowed to find his stride and raced in the company of the slow-starting Ushba Tesoro at the back of the field, as Saudi Crown showed the way and was kept honest by National Treasure, Hoist the Gold and King's Cup winner Power in Numbers (Girvin) deep on the track. White Abarrio, making his first start since defeating Derma Sotogake (Jpn) (Mind Your Biscuits) at Santa Anita, was well-spotted behind the leaders and just to the outside of the UAE galloper Isolate (Mark Valeski).

From a virtual standing start, the first 400 meters were posted in :23.80 and the 800-meter split of :46.01 would have had the back markers licking their lips. Saudi Crown took the field into the turn and looked to be going much better than National Treasure, who was now vigorously ridden by Flavien Prat, and in the meantime, Ushba Tesoro had gotten the jump on Senor Buscador entering the final three furlongs. Having survived the the pace battle, it was time to win the war, and Saudi Crown went for home, but Ushba Tesoro and Senor Buscador were beginning to do their best work and began to chip away at the deficit. Saudi Crown held the call deep into the final 100 meters, and Ushba Tesoro speared through looking the winner, but Junior Alvarado conjured up one final surge from Senor Buscador, a move that failed at Gulfstream four weeks ago, but one that was worth $10 million this time around.

The final time of 1:49.50 established a new stakes record, just betting the mark of 1:49.59 set by Mishriff (GB) (Make Believe {GB}) in 2021.

“We got a bit unlucky the last two races on the track, very fast with speed horses, and I never like to change the style of horses,” said Alvarado. “I always had faith in the horse and we just needed, not even luck, just a fair track and I knew we would get that today. I'm very happy, very grateful for opportunities that come along.”

Added co-owner and breeder Joe Peacock, Jr.: “The one-turn mile and eighth [1800m] was right up his alley and a track that played fair. We can make excuses for him, he puts himself in that position getting dirt in his face but he sure tries to overcome it every time.

“A couple of weeks before the Pegasus we thought of The Saudi Cup. I was so adamant he would prove himself and he has. This ranks up there. This was big. We were excited about the opportunity. We felt the horse deserved the opportunity. It's amazing.”

Winning conditioner Todd Fincher indicated this year's World Cup about 600 miles of desert to the east in 35 days would be next, but that they will 'leave it up to the horse.'

White Abarrio failed to capitalize on his good trip and weakened out to finish 11th.

“Beautiful trip,” was the succinct post-mortem from Irad Ortiz, Jr.

Fincher's Crowning Moment

According to a story from the TDN's J. N. Campbell, Todd Fincher was born to a family of horsepeople in Denver, Colorado, and became a jockey, amassing better than $2 million in earnings. But he outgrew the saddle by 1997 and took out his training license in the following year–according to Equibase statistics, his runners earned $18,199 that year and about $700,000 over the next four seasons, but the fire had been lit.

Since 2009, the New Mexico-based outfit has never earned less than $1.4 million, and with the likes of Senor Buscador's GIII Sunland Park Derby-winning half-brother Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper)–now a stallion in New Mexico–and Slammed (Marking) representing the stable in recent years, posted earnings north of $5.5 million in 2023. That topped his previous best of $4.5 million from 2022, when both Slammed and Senor Buscador competed in the Breeders' Cup at Keeneland.

And now–a $10-million payday thousands of miles from the Land of Enchantment.

“I'm about to cry, it's amazing,” Fincher said. “He never got the credit he deserved and he finally got to show it today. I didn't believe it, as something always happens to him in every race. He always has 10 or 11 horses to weave in and out of. We know he was going to run good, we just had to hope for the right set up. It's awesome.

“From New Mexico, we don't have the quality of horses very often but the stable is getting better now and they treated us great over here. I'm very excited about the opportunity and getting it done is unbelievable.”

Pedigree Notes:

At the age of 25, Lane's End's Mineshaft was being represented by his eighth Grade I winner, while Senor Buscador is the first elite-level scorer for Desert God (Fappiano), a son of Blush With Pride (Blushing Groom {Fr}), making him a half-brother to four stakes winners, including Broodmare of the Year Better Than Honour (Deputy Minister). A mating between Mineshaft's late, great sire A.P. Indy and Better Than Honour resulted in GI Belmont S. winner Rags To Riches and her GII Peter Pan S.-winning and Group 1-placed close relative Casino Drive was also by Mineshaft.

Senor Buscador is the most accomplished foal from his remarkable dam, trained by Fincher for Joe Peacock, Sr. to no fewer than seven stakes wins at Sunland and Zia Park.

Rose's Desert is also the dam of the 3-year-old filly Aye Candy (Candy Ride {Arg}), victorious in her lone racetrack appearance at Zia Park last November, the 2-year-old filly Rose A (Hard Spun) and the yearling colt The Hell We Did (Authentic). She most recently visited the latter's sire Into Mischief.

What They're Saying

Yuga Kawada, jockey, Ushba Tesoro, second: “He was in good form and travelled nicely. He showed his run. The only thing he didn't do is win.”

Florent Geroux, Saudi Crown, third: “It was very comfortable up front, I was surprised. It was too far for him. He ran a big race. Obviously, he ran too hard to get beat. He did all the dirty work and I just got caught in the last 100m. Beautiful race.”

Flavien Prat, National Treasure, fourth: “I had a good trip and I thought he ran a good race. I was not travelling as well as last time. I think he ran hard last time, but still I'm very proud of him.”

Christophe Lemaire, Derma Sotogake, fifth: “With this number in the stalls, the horse didn't leave that quick. I could get a position on the inside and didn't lose any ground and the horse made good progress. I was at the back of the leaders in the final straight and I thought I could come with a big run to win, but this was a reappearance and he just couldn't finish it.”

Joel Rosario, Isolate, sixth: “Very good, he was in a good spot but he got a little tired in the end.”

Luis Saez, Defunded, seventh: “Broke well, he was in the right spot, but no horse to finish.”

Joao Moreira, Crown Pride, ninth: “He travelled very nice the first half of the race and all of a sudden he came off and he kept running, but he didn't bring his A-game.”

Camilo Ospina, Carmel Road, 11th: “He was wide from gate 14 but it was a very tough race.”

Adel Alfouraidi, Power In Numbers, 13th: “Very hard for him.”

John Velazquez, Hoist The Gold, 14th: “He broke well, but he didn't show up today.”

Saturday, King Abdulaziz (Riyadh), Saudi Arabia
SAUDI CUP-G1, $20,000,000, King Abdulaziz, 2-24, NH4yo/up, SH3yo/up, 1800m, 1:49.50, ft.
1–SENOR BUSCADOR, 126, h, 6, by Mineshaft
1st Dam: Rose's Desert (MSW, $626,035), by Desert God
2nd Dam: Miss Glen Rose, by Peaks and Valleys
3rd Dam: Snippet, by Alysheba
O-Sharaf Mohammed Al Hariri & Joe R Peacock Jr; B-Joe Peacock Sr & Joe Peacock Jr (KY); T-Todd W Fincher; J-Junior Alvarado; $10,000,000. Lifetime Record: MGSW & MGISP-US, 18-7-2-2, $11,496,427. *1/2 to Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper), GSW, $783,509; Sheriff Brown (Curlin), MSW, $603,681; and Our Iris Rose (Ghostzapper), SW, $307,880. Werk Nick Rating: A. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree or the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Ushba Tesoro (Jpn), 126, h, 7, Orfevre (Jpn)–Millefeui Attach (Jpn), by King Kamehameha (Jpn). (¥25,000,000 Wlg '17 JRHAJUL). O-Ryotokuji Kenji Holdings Co Ltd; B-Chiyoda Farm Shizunai; T-Noburu Takagi; J-Yuga Kawada; $3,500,000.
3–Saudi Crown, 126, h, 4, Always Dreaming–New Narration, by Tapit. ($45,000 Ylg '21 KEEJAN; $240,000 2yo '22 OBSAPR). O-FMQ Stables; B-CHC Inc (KY); T-Brad Cox; J-Florent Geroux; $2,000,000.
Margins: HD, 3/4, 3/4.
Also Ran: National Treasure, Derma Sotogake (Jpn), Isolate, Defunded, Scotland Yard, Crown Pride (Jpn), White Abarrio, Carmel Road, Lemon Pop, Power in Numbers, Hoist the Gold.
Click for the JCSA chart (R9).

A moment @JuniorandKellyA will never forget! #TheSaudiCup | #サウジカップ pic.twitter.com/ewZpsjBgnj

— The Saudi Cup (@thesaudicup) February 24, 2024

The post Senor Campeon! Senor Buscador Takes A Dramatic Saudi Cup appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

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“I think he ran a way better race than it looks on paper,” Fincher told drf.com. “He made a big burst in the turn. The way everything was playing it was death to him. Watching all day, nothing closed, really. And the pace wasn't fast to begin with. Everything was against him. When you've got a horse like him, things have to go your way.”

Options on the table for the Joe Peacock homebred include the G2 Rebel at Oaklawn Park on March 13 and the G1 Santa Anita Derby on April 3.

Read more at the Daily Racing Form.

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Run at 1 1/8 miles, the Risen Star is the 13th and final race on a six-stakes card billed as Louisiana Derby Preview Day. It is by far the deepest and most competitive Kentucky Derby presented by Woodford Reserve (G1) prep to date and will offer a total of 85 Derby qualifying points to the top four finishers (50-20-10-5). The $300,000 Rachel Alexandra (G2) presented by Fasig-Tipton, at 1 1/16 miles, will be offered for 3-year-old fillies, with the same 85 qualifying points up for grabs for the Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1). In addition, four stakes for older horses will also be presented on the card – the $200,000 (G3) Mineshaft at 1 1/16 miles, the $150,000 Fair Grounds (G3) at 1 1/8 miles on turf, the $100,000 Colonel Power Stakes at 5½ furlongs on turf, and the $100,000 Albert M. Stall Memorial Stakes for fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles on turf.

Joe Peacock Jr.'s homebred Senor Buscador (post 5 at 6-1 on Mike Diliberto's morning line with Luis Quinonez to ride) went from an unraced maiden in early November to a wise guy Kentucky Derby contender a little more than six weeks later, as he parlayed a 5 ½-furlong maiden win at Remington Nov. 6 into a dominant 5 ¾-length win in the Springboard Mile there Dec. 18. With Senor Buscador an unknown no more, Fincher had plans to make. Fair Grounds, with a long stretch and the Risen Star, which is followed by the March 20 TwinSpires.com Louisiana Derby (G2) at 1 3/16 miles, made perfect sense. Saturday can't come soon enough.

“I've never been there, it's a big race, there's Kentucky Derby points on the line and I'm really looking forward to it,” Fincher said. “I think the distance is absolutely in his favor. My wish list would be two preps and hopefully qualify for the Kentucky Derby.”

Senor Buscador, a son of Mineshaft, has lagged in last in both starts before unleashing a devastating stretch run to win going away, though it was the two-turn Springboard Mile that really got people talking. Last on the backstretch in the field of 10, he delivered an extended wide run, circled the field, and drew off with ease by 5 ¾ lengths. And while he's been a turtle early in his races and a hare late, Fincher says it's not necessarily by design.

“He has more speed than you've seen but he just does his own thing,” Fincher said. “We didn't teach him to do that. We taught him to come from behind but not walk out of the gate and do a slow roll before he does anything. He's so nerve-racking to watch him run. They get so far back and you think 'What the heck.' But he makes it work.”

Fincher and the Peacock family have had a long relationship and he's trained several of Senor Buscador's siblings, including his half-brother Runaway Ghost, who won the Sunland Derby (G3) in 2018 but was forced to miss the Kentucky Derby that year with an injury. Fincher knew his little brother had a pedigree to be a runner, but also knew you can't count on anything in this game.

“We hoped he would develop into this kind of horse but you get let down too many times,” Fincher said. “We knew he could run quite a bit but we didn't have any idea he could be this level, but we hoped. But you just never know until you see it on the track. There are no similarities (among his siblings), they are all different. The Peacocks have been great to me and I've been very fortunate to have them in my corner and we're really looking forward to seeing what Senor Buscador can do.”

Winchell Thoroughbreds' Midnight Bourbon (post 6 at 6-1 with Joe Talamo) led every step of the way in the local Jan. 16 Lecomte (G3), but has shown plenty of versatility in his career as well. The son of Tiznow took advantage of an alert beginning from his rail draw and had plenty left in reserve while winning his first start of the year for trainer Steve Asmussen. Midnight Bourbon showed promise at 2, hitting the board twice in graded stakes but looked like a more polished product in his 3-year-old debut. With the distance of the Risen Star and Louisiana Derby a bit longer than the typical mid-winter Derby prep, Asmussen expects Midnight Bourbon to only get better.

“I think the 1 1/8 miles is right in his wheelhouse and we're excited about running him in this series because of the distance of these preps,” Asmussen said. “He's an efficient mover with a high cruising speed and horses like that can be very effective at the Fair Grounds. We were very pleased with how he started off the year, and this is the next step.”

Godolphin's homebred Proxy (post 2 at 8-1 with John Velazquez), a 3-year-old son of Tapit, has progressed nicely in New Orleans this winter for trainer Mike Stidham, as he led gate-to-wire over maidens then did the same against allowance foes in December, before stepping up and running a strong second in the Lecomte. For Stidham, seeing Proxy settle a bit off the pace in the Lecomte and battle on late against much tougher horses was a sign he's moving in the right direction, though he also feels there's still more room for improvement.

“He's still a work in progress but I like having a 3-year-old that I think has something left that we haven't seen yet,” Stidham said. “He's still figuring it out, both mentally and physically. But in his works, and in his races, he seems to be getting a little better, and I think that's where he is right now. Now that we're getting into these longer races, it starts to separate them a little bit, and I think that's really going to help my horse, and I'm not sure that's the case for everybody.”

Juddmonte Farms' homebred Mandaloun (post 11 at 9-2 with Florent Geroux) was a somewhat disappointing third at odds-on in the Lecomte for trainer Brad Cox after chasing the pace while wide throughout. The son of Into Mischief entered that race 2-for-2 off sprint wins in Kentucky but didn't kick on quite enough through the lane behind Midnight Bourbon. Cox has opted to add blinkers to Mandaloun for the Risen Star. He is looking for a more focused performance, and has been extremely pleased by his two works with them.

“I feel like the works with blinkers have shown some progression and he can take that next step forward with them and have more focus late,” Cox said. “He was right there in the Lecomte and he was wide. The two horses that finished in front of us had a little more seasoning and I think he got a lot out of that race.”

Cypress Creek Equine, Arnold Bennewith, and Spendthrift Farm's Keepmeinmind (post 12 at 3-1 with David Cohen) would bring plenty of class should he make the trip from Oaklawn Park for trainer Robertino Diodoro. The deep closing son of Laoban was third to 2-year-old champion Essential Quality in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland in November then won Churchill's November 28 Kentucky Jockey Club (G2) to end his campaign. Keepmeinmind is also entered to run in the Feb. 15 Southwest (G3) at Oaklawn, but with a few potential pitfalls, Diodoro wants to have options.

“We just wanted to cover our bases,” Diodoro said. “We are concerned with the weather in Arkansas, and we're also concerned with a short field as well. The rumor is it could be a five or six-horse field. That's good for a speed horse, but with his (Keepmeinmind's come from behind) running style, I'm not doing backflips over that, to be honest. We're going to make a decision by Wednesday.”

Trainer Tom Amoss has an uncoupled pair of Union Rags colts in Greg Tramontin, Joel Politi, Brittlyn Stable, and Asaro Enterprises' Carillo (post 4 at 15-1 with James Graham) and Nice Guys Stables, Manganaro Bloodstock, and Steve Hornstock's Defeater (post 9 at 12-1 with Dean Saenz), and both will look to bridge the gap from a one-turn debut win to the grade 2 ranks. The former won going a one-turn mile at Aqueduct Jan. 8 for trainer Chad Brown and was subsequently purchased Jan. 14 for $875,000 out of a dispersal sale from the Estate of the late Paul Pompa, while the latter pulled clear late going 6 furlongs locally Jan. 2 and defeated a strong field that included third-place finisher Gershwin, who impressed breaking his maiden here Feb. 6. Carillo hasn't been with Amoss long but shows two local works, which give his trainer reason for optimism.

“He trains like he ran and shows a great deal of stamina in the mornings and in his workouts,” Amoss said. “He shows a very good turn of foot at the end. The horse is pretty straight forward since I've gotten him. He needs to show he can make the transition from one to two turns, but he's not the only horse like that at this time of year. All things point to that being something he's going to successfully do, but he hasn't done it at this point.”

Completing the Risen Star field from the rail out: trainer Dallas Stewart Racing Stable's and WinStar Farm's homebred Starrininmydreams (post 1 at 12-1 with Brian Hernandez Jr.), undefeated in a pair of Churchill starts at 2 and making his stakes and 3-year-old debut; Marylou Whitney Stables' homebred Beep Beep (post 3 at 20-1 with Miguel Mena), fourth in a strong local optional-claimer January 16 for trainer Norm Casse; Barrett Bernard, Tagg Team Racing, and West Point Thoroughbreds' O Besos (post 7 at 12-1 with Marcelino Pedroza), an easy stretch running winner of a pair of sprints at the meet for trainer Greg Foley; Kevin Porter's Sermononthemount (post 8 at 50-1 with Declan Carroll), a 7-furlong allowance winner at Delta Downs January 21 for trainer Tim Dixon; Calumet Farm's homebred Santa Cruiser (post 10 at 15-1 with Adam Beschizza), fourth after a slow break in the Lecomte for trainer Keith Desormeaux; and Wayne T. Davis' Rightandjust (post 13 at 15-1 with Mitchell Murrill), who wired Beep Beep and eight others in the optional-claimer off the claim for trainer Shane Wilson.

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“That actually makes me more nervous,” said Peacock, 62, chuckling genially. “Todd doesn't generally talk about horses like that.”

Fincher was describing a 2-year-old colt who, at that point, had done little more than break his maiden over suspect company in a 5 ½-furlong contest at Remington Park. Third-generation Peacock homebred Senor Buscador missed the break in that race, rallied six wide and got up to win by 2 ½ lengths, but his final time of 1:03.78 wasn't particularly newsworthy.

However, the trainer's faith in the colt, and Peacock's returned faith in the trainer, convinced the owner to enter the colt in Remington's $200,000 Springboard Mile on Dec. 19. It was a massive step up, both in distance and in class, but Fincher remained confident.

“Todd told me, 'I won't guarantee you that he'll win this race,'” recalled Peacock. “Then he added, 'I will guarantee you that his talent's gonna shine through.' It certainly did!”

Senor Buscador missed the break once again and was 17 lengths behind the field early on, making his connections nervous from the start. The colt needed just 1:37.87 to change their minds, showing up with a powerful late rally to pass all nine of his rivals and win the one-mile contest by 5 ¾ lengths.

“If we can ever get him out of the gate, he'll be really dangerous,” Peacock quipped. “To do that in just his second lifetime start, though, that was pretty impressive.”

Compared to older horses racing earlier on the same card, Senor Buscador put up a quality time for the mile. Dont Tell Noobody, a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred gelding, won the one-mile $70,000 Jim Thorpe Stakes in 1:39.50. Dipping In, a 3-year-old Oklahoma-bred filly, won the $70,000 Useeit Stakes at one mile in 1:40.69.

Unfortunately, Senor Buscador was not eligible for the 10 Kentucky Derby points usually offered to the race's winner. The 2-year-old son of Mineshaft raced on Lasix in the Springboard Mile, and the 2021 Road to the Kentucky Derby will not award points unless horses compete without the race-day medication.

Moving forward, that won't be a problem for Senor Buscador, Peacock said.

“(The Springboard Mile) was only his second lifetime start, and he's a late foal, born in May, stretching out from 5 ½ to a mile stakes,” Peacock explained. “Todd just felt like (running on Lasix) was the right thing to do just as a precaution, but obviously going forward on the Derby trail, we'll be running without it.

“We're not really worried about it.”

Should the colt's abilities prove just as eye-catching without Lasix, he will easily make the jump to most Kentucky Derby pundits' top ten lists as the 2021 season approaches. Fans and analysts will likely see Senor Buscador back in action at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, La., possibly as early as the G3 Lecomte Stakes on Jan. 16.

The colt's name is loosely translated from Spanish to Mr. Prospector, the result of a family-wide contest to name the year's foals and a play on the fact that Mr. Prospector appears on both top and bottom of Senor Buscador's pedigree.

It marks the second time in the past three years that Peacock's family have had a horse on the Kentucky Derby trail. In 2018, Senor Buscador's half-brother Runaway Ghost won the G3 Sunland Derby to earn his spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.

Their Derby dreams fell apart, however, when Runaway Ghost suffered a fractured shin and had to be given time off, missing the Run for the Roses.

Connections of Runaway Ghost celebrate in the winner's circle after the Sunland Derby

It had felt like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so the entire Peacock clan decided to take the trip to Louisville, Ky., anyway.

“We already had all the plans in place,” Peacock explained. “We took Friday and went over to Shawhan Place where the mares are, and then it rained all day long on Saturday, but we still had fun.

“You know, we really enjoy the whole process, from owning the broodmare, determining who you want to breed to, raising the foal, and then seeing it out on the racetrack. I know that's not the way people are in this business very much anymore, but we love every part of it.”

It was one of the last trips Peacock would take with his father, the family patriarch Joe Sr., who passed in September of this year at 88 years of age. It was the elder Peacock who first fell in love with racing in the 1960s, coordinating trips from the family's home in San Antonio, Tx., over to Ruidoso in New Mexico to watch Quarter Horses strut their stuff on the track.

“That's kind of the closest place in Texas you can go to get to the mountains, so that's where we ran the horses in the beginning,” Peacock explained. “Eventually he switched over to Thoroughbreds, and since it's hard to get open-company races to go in New Mexico, we started running them all over. We took trips to Santa Anita, to Hollywood Park; we went to the races a lot. It was a wonderful childhood.”

Peacock Sr. purchased the family's foundation broodmare, Snippet, by Alysheba, at the dispersal sale of family friend Joe Strauss in the late 1990s. An Illinois-bred out of a G3-winning daughter of Damascus, Snippet won four allowance races on the track and earned just shy of $70,000. Peacock sent her to California's Old English Rancho for a mating to multiple G1-winning millionaire Peaks and Valleys (Mt. Livermore).

Miss Glen Rose, the resultant Kentucky-bred filly, didn't do much on the track, but it was a different story altogether with her daughter, Rose's Desert.

Rose's Desert was foaled in New Mexico in 2008, sired by the unraced Desert God (Fappiano-Blush With Pride, by Blushing Groom). The filly showed such promise in her early days that Peacock Sr. turned to a new up-and-coming trainer when she was ready for the track.

Fincher was winning a large number of the New Mexico-bred stakes races, and Peacock Sr. called him up out of the blue to offer him the chance to train Rose's Desert.

“The rest, as they say, was history,” Peacock Jr. said fondly. “She turned into an amazing race mare, and we trust Todd implicitly with all our racehorses, from breaking them to running on the track.”

Rose's Desert raced 15 times, winning 10 and finishing second the other five times, and was never beaten more than 1 ¼ lengths. Seven of her wins came in state-bred stakes races, and she earned a total of $626,035.

“She was just such a cool horse to have in the barn,” Fincher said. “She's definitely my all-time favorite. She was just unbelievably fast.”

An ankle chip ended the mare's career prematurely in 2013, and the Peacock family decided to send her after the best stallions in Kentucky. Her first mating to Ghostzapper produced Runaway Ghost in 2015, a horse who may have missed his chance at the Kentucky Derby but earned $783,509 and won eight of 15 lifetime starts. He'll stand his first season at stud in 2021 at Double LL Farms in Bosque, N.M.

Rose's Desert visited Curlin next, producing stakes-winner Sheriff Brown, and then produced a filly by Ghostzapper named Our Iris Rose, after the family's matriarch. Our Iris Rose is still in training, and while she's had a couple minor issues along the way, Peacock Jr. expects she'll be able to live up to her family's talent as a 4-year-old in 2021.

Senor Buscador is sired by Mineshaft, and marks Rose's Desert's third stakes winner from four foals on the ground. The mare took a year off from the breeding shed in 2018, then aborted a filly by Quality Road last December due to placentitis. Currently she's carrying a filly by Candy Ride due in February, and Peacock said he has no set plans for the 12-year-old mare's future.

Of course, should Senor Buscador continue to progress along the Kentucky Derby trail, a return visit to Mineshift could be on the horizon.

“It's a good problem to have, but we definitely haven't decided anything,” Peacock said. “We're just so grateful to her… I ought to take her some roses the next time I see her.”

Senor Buscador is listed as bred by both Peacock and his father, so his Friday night victory in the Springboard Mile was that much more special. The entire family, including Peacock's two sisters, his mother, five children, and six grandchildren will try to attend the colt's next start, whether it be in New Orleans or elsewhere, and cheer him all the way to Louisville.

“I guess nobody really knows what to expect, with everything this year,” Peacock said. “It would be incredible to take this horse to the Kentucky Derby. I never thought we'd be able to go twice.”

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“To be honest with you, we expected that, which is almost worse, having expectations like that, it really makes you nervous they’re just not going to show up,” Peacock said of the Todd Fincher trainee. “We were very happy with it. Todd has always been high on the colt. He said, ‘These don’t come around very often, and he’s one of those,’ so we’ve been excited about him for a while.”

It was less than three years ago that the Peacock family, which is based in Texas but races mostly in New Mexico, felt similar excitement for a brilliant colt that could improbably take them to the GI Kentucky Derby, only to end up heartbroken. Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper), a half-brother to Senor Buscador–more on that later–had just scored a powerful victory in the GIII Sunland Derby and looked like a legitimate hopeful to wear the roses. But just a few weeks later, he suffered a fracture to his shin and had to be taken out of Derby consideration. Reasonably, Peacock assumed his one shot to run in America’s most fabled horse race had disintegrated the way dreams so often do in this game.

“When Runaway Ghost got hurt, we were devastated,” he said. “First for the horse, but also just for missing that opportunity. It’s kind of a once-in-a-lifetime deal, right?”

One would think. But along comes Senor Buscador, who posted a 93 Beyer, tied for the seventh-highest number among all juveniles in 2020, in his Springboard Mile romp.

“It’s huge for our family,” Peacock said. “Who doesn’t want to run in the Derby? This business has so many highs and so many lows, you have to not get out over your skis on these things, which is what we’re trying to do right now but it’s difficult.”

The fact that the Peacocks are in this position can be traced to their broodmare band, one that contains just a single mare. A small operation, to be sure, but when that one mare is a horse as prolific and consistent as Rose’s Desert (Desert God), who needs more? Bred by Peacock’s father, Joe Sr., Rose’s Desert was a New Mexico terror on the track, winning seven state-bred stakes and earning over $600,000 in her career.

“She was something else,” Peacock said. “She ran 15 times, won 10 and was second the other five. She never got beat more than a length and a quarter in her lifetime.”

But her racing accomplishments are now a side note to Rose’s Desert’s rapidly developing legacy as a star broodmare. When she retired from racing in the fall of 2013, the Peacock family wanted to give her a chance to truly prove her mettle in the breeding shed and secure matings with top stallions, which meant she couldn’t stay home in New Mexico.

“When we stopped running her, we said, ‘She’s special. She’s got to go to Kentucky and we have to see if she can make it as a broodmare,’ because we had the faith in her that she would do that,” Peacock said. “And she’s been remarkable. Everything she’s had can run. She’s had four foals race, three of them are stakes winners and the other one is a filly we own [Our Iris Rose {Ghostzapper}] who’s three and there’s no doubt in my mind she’ll win a stakes race when it’s all said and done. She’s in foal right now to Candy Ride, so we’re excited about that. She’s such a wonderful animal. I really feel like she’s the gift that we’ve been given and that’s the one we want to ride with.”

Back in that spring of 2018, the Peacock family thought they’d be watching the mare’s first breakout progeny run in the Derby. Instead, they (almost) saw her produce her next one.

“Senor Buscador was born Derby weekend in 2018 and we were there in Kentucky,” Peacock said. “We had made all these plans to take the family up there. Then when Runaway Ghost got hurt and wasn’t able to race, we had never been to the Derby so I said, ‘What the heck.’ We just went anyway, took all of the family, and we were hoping we’d get to see the foal when we were up there, but as luck would have it, she had him on Sunday right when we got home. We joked at the time that that might be a good omen, that he was born on Derby weekend.”

Racing is the family business for the Peacocks, and it goes back nearly 50 years to when Joe Sr. was running quarter horses.

“One of the first horses he had ended up running in the All-American Futurity, which is like the holy grail of quarter horse racing, so the hook was set there,” Peacock said of his father.

Eventually Peacock Sr. made the transition to Thoroughbreds full-time and brought along his son, who had been going to the track since he was 10 years old.

“It’s been special, our family’s been doing it for a long, long time,” Peacock said. “I’ve got five adult children, they’re all married and we have six grandchildren and it’s a real good opportunity and excuse to get everybody together, get away from home, go do something and hopefully see a horse win.”

The Peacocks’ half-century racing heritage has culminated by striking gold with Rose’s Desert. And while her first opportunity to produce a Derby starter fell just short, she incredibly has another contender in Senor Buscador, who Fincher is likely to point to Derby preps at Fair Grounds or Oaklawn next. Peacock gets choked up talking about the colt, who was the final horse bred by Joe Sr. and Jr. together. The family patriarch passed away earlier this year.

“I bred that horse with my dad and what he would like to do is get the stud book and go through it, look at all the pedigrees and find horses that all through the pedigree, won money,” Peacock remembered. “He liked to see that they were successful at the racetrack and made money, so he made the decision to breed to Mineshaft. It was the last horse we bred together, and it turned out to be the right one.”

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Runaway Ghost came back as a 4-year-old and won three stakes races at Sunland Park before shipping to Kentucky for the GII Commonwealth S. at Keeneland, where he suffered an ankle injury after twice clipping heels in the race. A third generation homebred for Joe Peacock of San Antonio, Texas, Runaway Ghost retires sound and will continue to be owned by the Peacock Family as he starts his second career.

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With lifetime earnings of $783,509, he won a total of six stakes races, from six furlongs to a mile and an eighth, by a combined 27 1/4 lengths. His Grade 3 Sunland Derby win earned him the right to enter the 2018 Kentucky Derby, but he was forced to scratch prior to the Derby after suffering a training injury while at Sunland Park Racetrack in New Mexico.

Runaway Ghost came back as a 4-year-old and won three stakes races at Sunland Park before shipping to Kentucky for the G3 Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland, where he unfortunately suffered an ankle injury after twice clipping heels in the race.

A third-generation homebred for Joe Peacock of San Antonio, Texas, Runaway Ghost retires sound and will continue to be owned by the Peacock family as he starts his second career.

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