GI Preakness S. winner Ken McPeek and Robby Albarado will be the special guests on the Breeders’ Cup’s Cocktails & Conversations. The virtual happy hour will air Thursday at 6 p.m. on the Breeders’ Cup’s Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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It takes a certain kind of personality to enter a filly against the boys in a leg of the Triple Crown, and Kenny McPeek showed all of that personality on Wednesday’s TDN Writers’ Room podcast presented by Keeneland. Calling in via Zoom as the Green Group Guest of the Week, McPeek talked about his successful, outside-the-box campaign of Peter Callahan’s GI Preakness S. winner Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil), why he subbed in Robby Albarado to ride the chestnut, his approach to training 2-year-olds and much more.
Swiss Skydiver has run nine times this year, starting her campaign Jan. 18 at Tampa. Winning five of those starts, she beat 22 of 23 males combined in her two attempts against them and raced at nine different tracks. Already a top contender for champion 3-year-old filly, Saturday’s scintillating and game Preakness victory over GI Kentucky Derby hero Authentic (Into Mischief) has vaulted Swiss Skydiver into a wide-open Horse of the Year discussion, and McPeek was asked what he thinks she has to do to earn that trophy.
“She needs to run well in the Breeders’ Cup,” he said. “We haven’t decided where we’re going to run yet [Classic or Distaff]. We’ve still got some analyzing to do of who’s going to be out there and possible starters, but she’s run all year. If they call it Horse of the Year, she ran all year, so what else can you do? I think it’d be fitting, but she’s just really solid and that’s more credit to her than it is me. She kept telling us she wanted to go and the schedule really lined up well for us over the course of the year. And the fact that she ran East Coast, West Coast, North, South, Midwest, she’s entertained the racing world all year, all over the country.”
In addition to bouncing around to different venues, Swiss Skydiver has been ridden by six different jockeys through this campaign, with Albarado taking the reins for the first time in the Preakness. McPeek aired his frustrations as to why Tyler Gaffalione didn’t take the call.
“I announced that we’re going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” he said. “By maybe 6:00 that night, his agent tells us that he can’t ride. And I’m like, ‘Look, you’ve given us a two-race commitment [GI Kentucky Oaks and Preakness].’ He said, ‘Oh well, sorry, I’ve got to ride for Chad Brown at Keeneland.’ I said, ‘You can’t do this. It’s dishonorable.’ I’ve been doing this for 35 years and I’ve never had something like that happen. I still find it dishonorable. Shame on Tyler Gaffalione and his agent. So all the riders in New York were taken, most of the Keeneland riders were taken, and Robby Albarado had been breezing horses for me on a regular basis. I called him and said, ‘Robby, here’s the deal, I’m going to tell Peter Callahan you’re going down to Baltimore, Rob is filling in for the Preakness.’ He says, ‘All right, I’m ready.’ It gives me goosebumps thinking that we pulled it off. Sometimes you’ve got to take a negative and turn it into a positive. Robby needed the break and he was hungry. He knows what to do, and he deserves to ride more horses than he’s been riding. And I think he pretty well proved it. Put him on a big stage and he can handle it.”
Also touched on in the wide-ranging interview were McPeek’s GI Darley Alcibiades romper Simply Ravishing (Laoban), why he stepped away from training in the mid-2000s and why making video and data more accessible is the improvement he sees as most necessary to change racing’s fortunes.
Elsewhere on the show, the writers recapped and analyzed the rest of the action from a monster weekend of stakes across the globe and, in the West Point Thoroughbreds news segment, discussed how the demise of Calder is the latest in a troubling trend of Churchill-owned tracks shutting down. Click here to watch the podcast; click here for the audio-only version.
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Grupo 7C Racing Stable's Jesus' Team, who finished third in Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) at Pimlico, has taken up temporary residence at trainer Kenny McPeek's Magdalena Farm in Lexington, KY before moving to Keeneland Friday to begin preparation for a start on the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup program.
“He will run in the Breeders' Cup, 100-percent,” said trainer Jose D'Angelo, who was scheduled to saddle two starters on Wednesday's program at Gulfstream Park West. “We just don't know what race – maybe the [Dirt] Mile or maybe the Classic. I will wait for the decision from the owners.”
McPeek, who saddled Swiss Skydiver for a thrilling victory over Bob Baffert-trained Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Authentic in the Preakness, welcomed Jesus' Team to his farm after being contacted by D'Angelo.
“Always after his races, for Jesus, I give him four or five days in a roll pen or a little paddock. At Keeneland, they don't have that. So I called Kenny McPeek and he said, 'Hey, come on, bring your horse,'” said D'Angelo, whose first Preakness starter was stabled next to Swiss Skydiver in the Preakness Stakes Barn. “He's relaxing and enjoying his days off at Magdalena Farm.
“On Friday, we'll move him to Keeneland again and start jogging and galloping him slow for a week. He'll have two or three works for the Breeders' Cup. The horse came back from the Preakness very good.”
D'Angelo saddled his first horse in the U.S. at Gulfstream Park 16 months ago after winning the trainer's title in his native Venezuela, joining his father, Francisco, a multiple training titlist in the South American country before venturing to the U.S. in 2015.
“It was an amazing experience, spending one week with the stars of training, like Bob Baffert and Kenny McPeek,” said D'Angelo, whose stable is based at Palm Meadows, Gulfstream Park's satellite training facility in Palm Beach County. “I'm very, very proud of my work and my team for the third in the Preakness. I had confidence in Jesus before the race. I knew he was in good condition.”
D'Angelo will split his time between Keeneland and Gulfstream Park West leading up to the Breeders' Cup.
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TIMONIUM, MD – The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic Fall Yearlings Sale begins its two-day run at the Maryland State Fairgrounds Monday afternoon, with bidding scheduled to begin at 1 p.m., and trainers and agents were busy shopping the sales barns on a picture-perfect fall morning Sunday in Timonium. After cancellations and postponements caused by the global pandemic, the yearling sales season finally got underway a month ago with the Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearlings Showcase-an amalgamation of a trio of canceled auctions-followed by the two-week Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Both featured a highly polarized marketplace with steady action despite a host of economic uncertainties. Consignors expect those trends to continue in Timonium.
“I think it will be like the other sales, I think it’s going to be polarized like they all have been for the last five years or so,” said consignor Bill Reightler, who will offer 36 yearlings at the two-day auction. “It will be dramatic between the top horses and some of the others-the same old story as the rest of the sales.”
While the top-of-the-market early books at the Keeneland September sale featured a notably high number of buy-backs, the buy-back rate dropped through the later books and the expected drop-off in demand never seemed to materialize.
“The buy-back was almost 40% in the earlier books and then, when it started to get into the second half of Book 4, the buy-back rate went down to 17%,” Reightler said. “Now whether that’s a reflection of sellers who had to sell them no matter what and they adjusted their reserves, we don’t know. But frankly, with everything that has happened in the world today, it’s amazing that we still do have enough people buying horses.”
After a year’s absence, Paramount Sales returns with a consignment at the Midlantic sale, featuring several New York-breds rerouted from the canceled Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale.
“We had some New York-breds and, with the canceled sales, we had to try to find slots for some of our horses and we had a couple of RNA’s,” Paramount’s Gabriel Duignan said of the Kentucky-based operation’s return to Maryland.
Duignan saw positive indicators at the September yearling sales.
“I was pleasantly surprised how the trade stayed strong through Books 4 and 5 at Keeneland,” Duignan said. “That shows there is still a market for those middle to bottom-middle type horses. I thought that was encouraging. I think all of the money isn’t spent yet, which is nice to see.”
The Midlantic sale could benefit from a competitive September marketplace which saw pinhookers shut out by end-users.
“A lot of the pinhookers still have orders to fill, so I think they are going to be here shopping pretty hard,” consignor Sarah Sharp said. “The good horses at Keeneland sold very, very well and the bottom horses didn’t appeal to the pinhookers. It felt like the end-users and the pinhookers were landing on the same horses and the pinhookers kind of got outrun. I feel like there is going to be money left over that usually isn’t left over after Keeneland. Hopefully they will come up here and spend it. ”
Sharp is consigning under her own name for the first time at the Midlantic sale, offering four weanling-to-yearling pinhooks.
“I have sold weanlings with other consignors for a long time and it’s gradually evolved to me selling my own,” Sharp said. “We felt like Maryland was a good place to start. We brought a good consignment of four fillies, correct and by sires that people like.”
Sharp said she usually aims to purchase a dozen weanlings annually to pinhook.
“Probably in the next year or so, I’ll start selling all of my own instead of selling with somebody else,” she said. “I really enjoy selling with Fasig, they’ve done really well for us, so we’ll probably be at all the Fasig sales.”
The Midlantic sale will open Monday afternoon with an offering of 154 New York-breds. Fasig-Tipton’s Showcase sale had a similar opening section of yearlings from the Empire State, but demand for the offerings was soft.
“I had a filly in that sale, and after reflection I will tell you, that was awfully tough competition,” Reightler said. “We didn’t have a Saratoga sale, we didn’t have a July sale. And all of those selected horses were in one place. And for those New York horses to go up against those, it was a really tough go. We have seen New York agents and trainers here and they will make of them what they will, as always. People are looking for the best horses, the nice athletic individual and that’s what makes a big difference.”
One New York stallion who enters the sale on a hot streak is freshman sire Laoban, who has nine yearlings catalogued Monday. The Sequel stallion was represented by Friday’s GI Darley Alcibiades S. winner Simply Ravishing.
“Laoban had a big day the other day, so that helps,” Reightler said. “Overall, everyone who is here is a good judge of horses and they will sift through and separate the wheat from the chaff. It’s a good spot for a sale. I’ve always done well by keying nice horses for the sale and it’s never let me down.”
Fasig Midlantic traditionally hosts an auction on the heels of the GI Preakness S. at nearby Pimlico. It’s usually 2-year-olds on offer, but the buzz from an exciting day of racing at Old Hilltop could still carry over for the yearlings sale.
“I think this year, the sale fits in good with the Preakness being this weekend,” Duignan said. “I have seen a few trainers this morning who wouldn’t normally be here. It’s been quite busy this morning, busier than usual I’d say. It usually doesn’t get busy until the last minute here.”
Reightler agreed the sale’s proximity to the Preakness could expand its list of shoppers.
“I can’t remember the last time we had [Preakness-winning trainer] Kenny McPeek here and he came by Friday and we showed him our whole consignment,” Reightler said. “Somebody like that we haven’t had here. So we certainly capitalized by getting somebody like that here. [Bloodstock agents] Donato Lanni and Jacob West are here. We have some significant people here and there are veterinarians here, so there will be plenty of money for the right horses.”
At last year’s Midlantic sale, 300 yearlings sold for $7,275,900 for an average of $24,253 and a median of $14,000.
Following Monday’s afternoon session, which includes hips 1-200, bidding gets underway at 10 a.m. Tuesday for hips 201 through 553.
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