Ken McPeek | Horse Racing Free Tips

McPeek Bullish On Crazy Beautiful In Alabama

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Without hesitation, trainer Kenny McPeek used a four-letter word to describe his level of concern about Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map) entering the GI $600,000 Alabama S. Saturday after missing the GI Coaching Club American Oaks.

“None,” he said.

After the 'TDN Rising Star', owned by Phoenix Thoroughbred III, rebounded from an uncharacteristic poor performance in the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks with a pair of impressive wins, McPeek aimed her for Saratoga's two big races for 3-year-old fillies. That plan was scuttled the evening of opening day, July 15, when the horses in Barn 86, which McPeek's stable shares with Jorge Abreu, were placed under a 21-day quarantine. The ban on racing and limits on training were put in place when an unnamed, unraced 2-year-old filly trained by Abreu tested positive for equine herpesvirus.

Though none of McPeek's horses had any issues, he was prohibited from entering them in any races until early August. That meant Crazy Beautiful had to pass the Coaching Club on July 24 and GI Runhappy Travers S. prospect King Fury (Curlin) missed the GII Jim Dandy S. on July 31.

Crazy Beautiful, winner of half of her 10 career starts, has trained up to the historic Alabama, the 1 1/4-mile test that is the companion to the Travers. The Alabama will be her first start since a smashing six-length victory in the GIII Delaware Oaks July 3. During a phone interview from France where he was attending the Arqana sale, McPeek said Crazy

Beautiful is ready for the Alabama.

“I think she's doing well,” McPeek said. “I thought she would have run well in the Coaching Club, but, of course, that didn't happen. She's doing super and we're excited about it.”

This season, Crazy Beautiful was on what was roughly a once-a-month racing schedule. She started the campaign at Gulfstream Park with a second in the Feb. 27 GII Davona Dale S. and won the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks Mar. 27. Following her 10th in the Kentucky Oaks, McPeek sent her to California, where she won the GII Summertime Oaks under Mike Smith May 30. Smith, who was up for the Delaware Oaks, has a commitment at Del Mar and will be replaced by Jose Ortiz. The break between the Delaware Oaks and the Alabama is 49 days.

“I think the added time is going to help her, probably,” McPeek said. “And I do think that she will run big. She's done everything right all year. We've shipped around and done a lot of good stuff with her. She's won three out of her last four. The Alabama would be a home run for her.”

In the Alabama, Crazy Beautiful is expected to face Kentucky Oaks winner and division leader and fellow 'Rising Star' Malathaat (Curlin) as well as Maracuja (Honor Code), who handed Malathaat her first career loss in the CCA Oaks. Also expected to enter are Army Wife (Declaration of War), Clairiere (Curlin), Played Hard (Into Mischief) and Will's Secret (Will Take Charge).

McPeek won the Alabama last year with Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) and the 2018 running with Eskimo Kisses (To Honor and Serve). The last trainer to win the Alabama in consecutive years was Todd Pletcher with Princess of Sylmar (Majestic Warrior) in 2013 and Stopchargingmaria (Tale of the Cat) in 2014. The last trainer to win the race three times in four years was Oscar White (1949-51-52) with horses owned by Walter Jeffords. According to Equibase, McPeek has won with two of his four starters.

Crazy Beautiful is out of Indian Burn (Indian Charlie) and was purchased as a yearling in 2019 at Fasig-Tipton October for $250,000. She is McPeek's first purchase for Phoenix and the syndicate's top earner.

All three of Crazy Beautiful's wins this year have been at 1 1/16 miles. The Kentucky Oaks, her lone try past 8 1/2 furlongs, was her worst finish.

“It was a terrible trip,” McPeek said. “She got off awkward and bumped in and never really got up into the race,” McPeek said. “I think it was a bit of a toss. I think she is certainly better than that. Hopefully she makes amends. We'd like to get a Grade I with her. She's done everything else.”

With all the traveling she has done, running her 10 races at six tracks and with wins at four tracks, McPeek said a victory over Malathaat in the Alabama could put the one-run filly in contention for the division title.

“It's a huge race, the Alabama,” he said. “and you'd have to put her, certainly, in the mix for champion 3-year-old filly, if she pulls it off.”

The post McPeek Bullish On Crazy Beautiful In Alabama appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Trainers React to Navarro Guilty Plea

On Wednesday, disgraced trainer Jorge Navarro pled guilty to one count of distribution of adulterated and misbranded drugs with the intent to defraud and mislead, a major development in the doping scandal that has rocked the sport since indictments were announced in March of 2020. Navarro will likely spend time in prison and has been ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $25,860,514. His career is over and he may be deported to his native Panama. But was this good day or bad day for the sport? And what needs to be done from here to clean up the game? Those were among the questions we posed to some prominent trainers who are known not just for their abilities but for their integrity. Here's what they had to say:

Mark Casse: It's a start and I hope there are others out there who can't sleep at night. I bet that Jason Servis is seeing this and is starting to change some of his ideas so far as how to go forward. Servis has been trying to get the wiretaps thrown out. He's got bigger problems right now than just the wiretaps. Navarro is a very bad guy and he is getting what he deserves. He's a big bully and he thought he could get away with anything. He made his bed. I hope he like sleeping in it.

Bill Mott: I'm not happy about it and I'm not pleased that this happened in the first place. I am sorry to see that some of these guys got themselves involved in this kind of stuff. The bottom line is to be good. I don't think you have to do what these guys were doing. I don't know where this all ends. I hope that some time the sport will become proactive enough to stay in front of this problem. This is a great sport. The fact that they are on to some of this stuff is a good thing. But they can also go overboard on therapeutic medications. The testing of the therapeutic medications has become much better and they are picking things up in picograms. I'm not comfortable or confident that the penalties are in line with the testing, for the therapeutic medications. People are worrying more about that than they should be. They should be worried a lot more about the performance-enhancing drugs like EPO that probably do make a difference and are given illegally. That's the challenge. USADA is coming in and I hope they will be more focused on finding the illegal, performance-enhancing drugs.

Shug McGaughey: I'm glad this happened because it has cleared the air. Hopefully, this will be another step toward getting this problem straightened out. The biggest creep I've ever been around or seen in my whole life is Jason Servis. I hope they start getting after him. He is a horrible, horrible guy and had has been horrible for the game. I didn't really know Navarro. I saw that video they took at Monmouth and that was terrible. But the good news is that we won't have to ever worry about him ever again.

Graham Motion: Every trainer should be appalled by what this guy was doing. I don't understand how you couldn't be. Basically, he was cheating all of us. I don't see this as a good day. I feel about as down about the sport as I ever have been. We need to clean it up more. Servis and Navarro aren't the only two guys. Where are we going? What else is coming? Is this it? These guys were beating some of us all the time and I find it hard to believe they were the only ones doing this. It's incredibly disappointing that these tracks aren't more proactive and doing something about this situation. With Navarro, it was also his behavior. He was so in your face with this. It's so upsetting to know what happened to XY Jet. We can all have horses get hurt but to actually treat a horse with something that probably ended up causing his demise is pretty shocking to me. This whole thing is pretty sad.

Ken McPeek: I am disappointed that this industry has to deal with something like this. This should get the attention of those who want to stain the game, so that makes this a good thing. Navarro claimed some horses off of me over the years, but he never really did anything significant with any of them. I had heard other trainers complain about him and what he was doing. Maybe their experience was different than mine. I don't know what tricks he was up to. I think we're headed in the right direction. The threshold levels are so low that we are practically racing drug free. Good horsemen can handle that and good horsemen have shown they can play by the rules and prosper.

Christophe Clement: What I want to know is will my owners ever get paid back for every time they were beaten by Jorge Navarro over the last four of five years? What have the racetracks done to protect my owners? It's not about me, it's about my owners. People are supposed to regulate the sport and protect them from this sort of thing happening. I'm not sure how many times Navarro beat me, but I finished behind Servis a number of times and in some big races. Unfortunately, this is nothing new. It's the culture out there. The vet is in charge. We need more horsemanship and less medication. There is a great difference between how people train around the world versus how they train in the U.S. Here, the vet is so much more powerful.

The post Trainers React to Navarro Guilty Plea appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Knicks Go Meets Maxfield in Star-Studded Whitney

For a race that offers just a five-horse field, Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga will nevertheless feature plenty of intrigue, as two of the handicap division's top stars will meet the one-two finishers from the GI Metropolitan H. and a certain champion filly whose trainer called an audible to enter her in the meet centerpiece for older horses, a “Win and You're In” qualifier for the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic.

Given the morning-line at 6-5 is the Korea Racing Authority's enigmatic star speedball Knicks Go (Paynter). A shocking winner of the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity at 70-1 for Ben Colebrook in 2018, the gray failed to find the mark in his next 10 tries before being reborn when switching to Brad Cox's barn. Winning a pair of allowance/optional claiming events by a combined 17 3/4 lengths, Knicks Go survived a sizzling pace and kicked clear to a 3 1/2-length conquest of the GI Big Ass Fans Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile last fall at Keeneland and followed that up with a frontrunning score in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S.

It's been up-and-down in three starts since, however, as he retreated to a well-beaten fourth in the G1 Saudi Cup and filled the same slot with no visible excuse as a 4-5 chalk in the Met Mile. Shipping in to Iowa for the GIII Cornhusker H. July 2 at Prairie Meadows, however, he was back to the old Knicks Go, cruising to a devastating 10 1/4-length romp with a career-high 113 Beyer. In a short field with no definite other speed signed on, the 5-year-old figures to get the right setup in this nine-furlong test.

“He'll break running. We'll see how far he can take himself around there, hopefully the whole way,” Cox told the NYRA notes team. “He's set up for a big effort. He's been working really well at Ellis. [The Cornhusker] gave us the confidence to try the Whitney. It solidified that the horse needs two turns. We're excited about getting him back in the Grade I ranks going around two turns.”

Likely to be a close second choice is Godolphin's once-beaten sensation Maxfield (Street Sense), who tries for his first Grade I win since his juvenile season. He stamped himself as a potential championship contender when romping by 5 1/2 lengths from well back in the Breeders' Futurity, but a series of setbacks forced him to miss the Breeders' Cup and, after returning for a score in the GIII Matt Winn S. last May, eventually the Triple Crown. The imposing dark bay picked up where he left off with a 3 1/4-length success in the Tenacious S. last December at Fair Grounds, but suffered his first defeat when third at 11-10 in the GI Santa Anita H. Mar. 6. Since then, he notched open-length victories in the GIII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. at Churchill to run his impressive career record to 7-for-8.

“He's a horse that even still is lightly raced. We were always on the back foot with him,” trainer Brendan Walsh said. “He ran twice as a 2-year-old, and we've always been battling a little inexperience or a lack of seasoning. But ever since we ran him in California and his couple runs since, he's getting to where he's a more seasoned horse and I think that's going to [serve] him well from here on in because he's going to have to be at his best against the horses he's up against. It's a big test for him, so we'll see how he stacks up against them.”

The favorite of the fans–if not the bettors–will be Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), entered against the boys after a Saratoga barn quarantine forced trainer Ken McPeek to redirect her from a planned start in last Sunday's GIII Shuvee S. Reeling off a dazzling championship 3-year-old campaign that included 10 races at nine different tracks, five graded stakes triumphs and, of course, the chestnut's seismic defeat of eventual champion Authentic (Into Mischief) in the GI Preakness S. She flattened out to seventh in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff, however, and, after bouncing back with a tally in the GI Beholder Mile S. Mar. 13 at Santa Anita, could not stay with Letruska (Super Saver) or Monomoy Girl (Tapizar) when third, beaten 6 1/2 lengths, in the GI Apple Blossom H. Apr. 17 at Oaklawn.

“She's had a bumpy first half of the year,” McPeek said. “No major issues, but just stuff that kept her from showing off. She had a little hind leg infection that was bothering her. It didn't appear to be a big deal going into Oaklawn, but it might have been why she ran a little flat that day. We're excited about [the Whitney]. The Shuvee would have been ideal, she's been ready to run. I've always thought if you're here, you run where you're at. It's a little bit out of the box, but she's ready.”

There's a realistic possibility that streaking Silver State (Hard Spun) could give trainer Steve Asmussen his record-breaking 9,446th win in Saratoga's second-most prestigious race. Scoring just once–in a dead heat–in his first five career outings, the $450,000 Keeneland September buy has been unstoppable since returning from a seven-month layoff last October, visiting the winner's circle six straight times, including in the Met last out June 5. The runner-up that day, By My Standards (Goldencents), who was also second to eventual champion older dirt male Improbable (City Zip) in last year's Whitney, rounds out the field.

The post Knicks Go Meets Maxfield in Star-Studded Whitney appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post

Fantastic Five For Whitney

A compact, but talented field of five will face the starter for Saturday's GI Whitney S., a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar Nov. 6.

Korean Racing Authority's Knicks Go (Paynter) has been pegged as the 6-5 morning-line favorite for trainer Brad Cox and jockey Joel Rosario. The 5-year-old is perfect in his last five starts around two turns, including a latest blow-out, big-figure success in the GIII Cornhusker H. at Prairie Meadows July 2. Cox attributes his losses in the Saudi Cup in February and in the GI Met Mile to a one-turn route configuration

“There was no hangover with him [out of the Saudi Cup] with how he was training, but back of my mind that one turn isn't his thing,” Cox told NYRA's Andy Serling after Knicks Go drew gate four, before telegraphing an unsurprising race strategy.

“Once the gate opens, it's up to Joel. Speed is his weapon and we'll try to utilize it,” Cox said.

Cox won last weekend's GII Jim Dandy S. for Godolphin with champion Essential Quality (Tapit), and Maxfield (Street Sense) will look to keep the ball rolling for the 'boys in blue.' Defeated into third in the GI Santa Anita H. in March, the homebred has since rolled to easy victories in the GII Alysheba S. and GII Stephen Foster S. at Churchill Downs. The 8-5 morning-line second choice departs the five hole with regular rider Jose Ortiz.

“He like the rest of us has enjoyed the weather. He's had a great preparation and he's ready to go,” Godolphin USA President Jimmy Bell said post-draw.

Silver State (Hard Spun) carries an imposing six-race winning streak into the Whitney, capped by a one-length defeat of the re-opposing By My Standards (Goldencents) in the Met June 5. Ricardo Santana, Jr. rides the 4-1 chance from the two hole, while By My Standards, runner-up to Improbable (City Zip) last year, has regular partner Gabriel Saez in gate one.

Swiss Skydiver (Dardevil) has already beaten the boys once in her career, taking down the colors of eventual Horse of the Year Authentic (Into Mischief) in last year's GI Preakness S. She will look to join the likes of Personal Ensign and Lady's Secret as female winners of the Whitney.

“The way the ball bounced, we really wanted to get her back into the game,” said trainer Ken McPeek, whose barn has only recently emerged from quarantine. “She's doing super. We're excited, she's won here before and it's going to be a fun weekend. We try to get her in a nice rhythm out there and let her make a run.”

Irad Ortiz, Jr. has the call on the 6-1 gamble from post position three.

Saturday, Saratoga

WHITNEY S.-GI, $1,000,000, 3yo/up, 1 1/8m

1 By My Standards (Goldencents), Calhoun, G Saez, 10-1

2 Silver State (Hard Spun), Asmussen, Santana Jr, 4-1

3 Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), McPeek, Ortiz Jr, 6-1

4 Knicks Go (Paynter), Cox, Rosario, 6-5

5 Maxfield (Street Sense), Walsh, Ortiz, 8-5

The post Fantastic Five For Whitney appeared first on TDN | Thoroughbred Daily News | Horse Racing News, Results and Video | Thoroughbred Breeding and Auctions.

Source of original post