Four individual stallions have accounted for the four seven-figure yearlings thus far Wednesday.

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For consider him well, kids: this man before you is just a fifth link in the chain to one who knew Daniel Boone. Before founding Runnymede in 1867, Catesby's grandfather Colonel Ezekiel Clay lost an eye in the Civil War; and he was a grandson of Gen. Green Clay, a revolutionary soldier and frontiersman who came through Fort Boonesborough to Madison County as a surveyor. The history of this family is a prism for the history of Kentucky; and much the same might be said of Runnymede, as a bedrock of the evolving American Thoroughbred.

It says everything that Catesby, back in 2009, should have been the 78th Honor Guest of the Thoroughbred Club of America, when his stepfather Senator Johnson N. Camden had been favored as its fifth. Catesby was then already 87, and has understandably slowed down since. But he will be left in no doubt as to the warmth and reverence of the family convening at Kentucky's oldest continuously operative horse farm, a century after his birth on 25 July, 1923.

“Even in his later years, he has always remained an example to us,” says his son Brutus. “Because his faith, his love for his wife and his family, is so evident down to his very core. The kindness that he exhibits to everyone, and the gratitude that he has for his caregivers, just permeates everything that he does.

“We're blessed to have him around. He doesn't quite have the quick wit for which he was always known, but he's still able to appreciate situations. And he has always cared so deeply. I was always amazed that for all those years he was really working two jobs: a day job at Kentucky River [a land and coal corporation], and then he would stay up late, working on the matings, thinking about how to keep the farm going. It was truly a labor of love.”

Brutus is too modest to note that he similarly divides his role as Runnymede Chairman and CEO with several “day jobs” of his own, instead stressing the importance of farm President Romain Malhouitre as this venerable farm has adapted to a changing commercial environment. Its success, in making this adjustment, was marked in memorable fashion when Mage (Good Magic)–foaled, raised and prepped here on behalf of clients Grandview Equine–won at Churchill in May.

Brutus Clay (right) and Romain Malhouitre | Keeneland

“Without Romain, we wouldn't be sitting here talking,” Brutus says. “He's been with us about 10 years now. It was a time of transition, and we needed to find someone with the capacity to bring all the pieces together. With Pops, this was a private farm, with the exception of Peter Callahan who's been with us over 35 years; and just a few others along the way. You couldn't ask for a better partner, he and his daughters have been just extraordinary. But otherwise we didn't have many other clients.”

The 2009 recession changed all that. “My father looked at me and said, 'You need to figure out a way to make this more sustainable,'” Brutus recalls. “He had never given much consideration to the financial constraints, treated it more like a hobby-and, consequently, bred a lot of really good horses! So we're really working to make the farm a sustainable operation: Romain has been absolutely instrumental in that, and we now have over 40 different clients. We feel very blessed, but I like to think it has to do with us being pretty good partners, too.”

Mage, then, sets a fairly symbolic seal on that evolution. Aptly, Grandview came to Runnymede through another set of Clays-Robert, his son Case and partners-albeit the presumed kinship is by now a distant one.

“To have them as clients is such a privilege,” Brutus says. “Robert came to us four or five years ago, looking for somewhere to keep his mares. Grandview was about stallion shares, and buying some good mares to support those stallions. And we were really honored that he felt Runnymede was a good place to board those mares.

“So Puca (Big Brown) was among them. Everything that she's thrown has been able to run, and from what I understand her second Good Magic, the 2-year-old, is showing a lot of promise.”

Mage's brother, named Dornoch, was acquired by Oracle Bloodstock from Runnymede's consignment at Keeneland last September for $325,000. At that stage, of course, Mage remained unraced, so it has already been quite a ride for Dornoch's owners Randy Hill, West Paces Racing and former baseball star Jayson Werth-and Danny Gargan recently disclosed to Daily Racing Form that Dornoch is “the best horse I ever trained.”

Puca's next offering, a colt by McKinzie, will not be passing under too many radars this September, then.

“He's a nice, well-proportioned, athletic mover,” Brutus says. “Up to this point everything Puca has produced, has performed. They've all been different, physically, but they all like to run. And the McKinzie really looks the part.”

If Derby day completed a turn of the wheel for his native farm, in another respect the experience brought things full circle for Brutus. For one of the turning points in his own journey with Thoroughbreds, having gone away to get his MBA and start out in business, was the success of a filly named Meribel (Peaks And Valleys)-co-bred by his father with Arthur Hancock-in a graded stakes at Keeneland in 2006.

“Up until then I had always thought owning a racehorse was stupid, because on average you lose money,” he remarks. “I was like, 'That's not a good bet.' But that became one of those indelible memories that made me realize their value. The whole family's there, grandchildren, there were 16 of us packed into the box, and she comes round the whole field, we're all screaming as she makes this late run, ends up winning by a half.     And afterwards my father looks at me, and I see tears coming down his cheeks, this look of disbelief, his mouth gaping.

Mage winning this season's Kentucky Derby | Horsephotos

“So anyway, Mage comes running down the stretch and I have that exact, same stupid look. My mouth is wide open. And I'm like, 'Is this happening?' It's funny, because you think of the genetic imprint for horses, and then how it works out in us, too.”

Fitting sentiments, those, in one of eight siblings who share a grateful sense of the remarkable dynasty they extend. The pioneering Green Clay came out of Virginia in the early 1780s, before there was any such thing as the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

“And the folklore has it that the fee for surveying was 40 percent of whatever was surveyed,” Brutus explains. “So he would pay someone to travel to the local courthouse, to file the claims. But do you know where the local courthouse was? Richmond. That's Richmond, Virginia, not Richmond, Kentucky! Anyway he obviously amassed considerable holdings. He had over 40,000 acres, he had taverns, toll roads, distilleries, and Clay's Ferry on the Madison and Fayette County line.”

Nearly 250 years on, of course, the world is a different place. Brutus is someone who reflects sensitively on the past, and how his family came by its affluence. He knows that the planters of that era owned many slaves; and, more recently, that the Clays have mined a lot of coal. But he is in tune with his own times, notably as a passionate entrepreneur in the growing of crops as a renewable source of energy. And he has also worked hard to engage the wider world with our community, for instance as a co-founder of Horse Country; and also through As One Racing, a partnership with a mission of diversity and inclusion.

“You look back at your ancestors, and you see what was done,” he says. “You can't really change that, but you're always thinking about how you can contribute in a meaningful way, going forward. There's this phrase, that families grow faster than businesses. In some respects, we've been privileged that my ancestors were first movers. But about each third generation has to reinvent. Otherwise, you don't continue.”

Green Clay had a son, Cassius Marcellus Clay, with whom Brutus likes to identify. (It was this same firebrand abolitionist that inspired the naming of a certain boxer who figures proudly in the history of African American Kentucky.)

“Cassius was a bit of a rabble-rouser,” Brutus explains. “He went to Yale, heard an abolitionist speak, and came to the conclusion that slavery was wrong. And there's a story of a rally and debate that took place at Mt. Brilliant Farm. Cassius went to share his views, which weren't particularly popular. Turns out that some of the local landowners had hired an assassin from New Orleans, who shot him at a point-blank range, three inches above his heart, with a single-shot pistol. Well, fortunately for Cassius, he carried his Bowie knife on his left side. And the sheath of the knife stopped the bullet. He then proceeds to pull out his knife, because he was offended, and nearly kills the guy.”

Sure enough, since the assassin was unarmed after discharging his one bullet, it was Cassius who was charged with attempted murder. Fortunately, he could hire no less eloquent a cousin than Henry Clay to secure his acquittal.

But it was not just communities, but families, that were riven by the slavery debate. Cassius had a brother, Brutus, whose son Ezekiel opposed their abolitionist views and acted accordingly when the Civil War began.

“His father promised to disown him if he joined the Confederacy,” says Brutus. “But being who he was, that's what Ezekiel did anyway. He rose to the rank of colonel, and fought a number of battles with a great deal of courage. He ended up losing an eye and being captured in the Battle of Paintsville, and spent some time up in Johnson's Island on Lake Erie.”

Yet just as division extended to many a family table, so did Reconstruction. His reconciled father either loaned or gave Ezekiel the funds to start Runnymede and, along with his brother-in-law Catesby Woodford at neighboring Raceland, “Zeke” did much to lay the foundations of the modern American Thoroughbred. Such epic careers as those of Ben Brush, Hanover and Miss Woodford began through their partnership.

“To me, it's a prodigal son kind of story,” Brutus remarks. “Over the 30 years or so that they were breeding horses, nine were leading sires, either standing or bred by Runnymede. They bred two Kentucky Derby winners, two consecutive Belmont winners, a Preakness winner. Four in the Hall of Fame. The litany of champions they had was pretty extraordinary.”

Incredible to reflect that “Zeke” died just three years-virtually to the day-before his heir (another Brutus) celebrated the birth of his son Catesby W. Clay. Sadly, it was not even three years later that Catesby lost his own father in a staircase fall. (To this day, a stair-gate at their elegant manor house reminds the family of that tragic night.) In time, however, his mother's remarriage introduced Catesby to a cherished mentor in both business and breeding. Senator Camden was chairman of Churchill Downs for many years, and Catesby would eventually serve 45 years on the board there himself.

In the winner's circle after Rogue Romance takes the GIII Bourbon S. | Keeneland

“His stepfather was a real father to Pops,” Brutus says. “He was also one of the founders of the Kentucky River Coal Corporation, which was kind of that third generation change I mentioned. And, candidly, that was what carried the farm through the ups and downs you get in this business.”

Even so, the Depression required Senator Camden to disperse his own 1,500-acre Hartland Farm near Versailles, and relocate his diminished broodmare band to Runnymede. Catesby himself had gone away for his academic and business education and it was only after a third farm graduate won the Derby-Count Turf in 1951-that he began to engage with the challenges of breeding.

Meanwhile he did a fair bit of that himself, raising eight children with his wife Biz (nee Elizabeth Gerwin). These include Father Chris Clay, who was once a turf writer but discovered a more salubrious purpose in life and now tends a flock full of horse folk in Versailles.

“I remember when my mother mentioned that Chris might not run the farm,” says Brutus with a smile. “I looked at her incredulously, I was like, 'Mother, don't be ridiculous. What else would he want to do?'”

Yet curiously Catesby's own tenure at Runnymede had itself been contingent on a similar call heard by his own Jesuit brother. In the meantime these 365 rich, undulating acres along Stoner Creek in Bourbon County have continued to nourish a chain of champions parallel to the four generations of Clays to have supervised their development. Lady Eli (Divine Park), Collected (City Zip), Agnes Digital (Crafty Prospector) and Awesome Gem (Awesome Again) are among those to have started life here, even though the average crop was averaging no more than a couple of dozen.

And now we have Mage, a flagbearer for this latest chapter in Runnymede's long story. Brutus reiterates his family's debt to their team. “I have such admiration for good horse people,” he says. “They're so committed to these horses: our assistant managers Kathy Bacon and Edgar Hernandez, our night watchman Kenny Gibson. And Romain, of course. He's really passionate about the business, constantly learning, trying to figure it out.

“Nobody is ever going to do that. But we're all students, right? And I've never met a good horse person that isn't meticulous. Attention. Acute memory. Detail. The little things that add up to a big difference.”

But this is first and foremost a day to celebrate the man whose long stewardship at Runnymede unites the legacy of Colonel “Zeke” all the way through to Mage. And while few of his contemporaries have lasted the course, many who might now consider themselves old still look up to Catesby Woodford Clay, and will gladly join succeeding generations in raising a toast of affection and esteem.

Certainly Brutus sounds slightly mortified that we should be approaching him as anything more than a figurehead for the collective engagement of his family, and the toil and skill of their help. “We just hand off the baton, right?” he says. “I always say there are three attributes to making a good horse. There's the land, the bloodstock-and the people. So many different people that play a role in every single horse: the farriers, the grooms, the night watchman, the veterinarians, the office manager. So when you have success, there's a sense of ownership and pride between us all. And it's exciting to have so many good people to share the celebrations.”

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The 6-year-old mare, who defeated males in the 2020 GI Preakness S. and also won the GI Alabama S. and GI Beholder Mile, was purchased for $4.7 million by Katsumi Yoshida at the 2021 Fasig-Tipton Fall Mixed Sale and was then sent to England, where she was bred to Kingman at Juddmonte Farms' Banstead Manor Stud before shipping to Yoshida's Northern Farm in Japan.

Campaigned by Peter Callahan and trained by Kenny McPeek, Swiss Skydiver retired in 2021 with a career line of 16-7-3-2, $2,216,480. She was honored with the Eclipse Award as 2020's champion 3-year-old filly.

SWISS SKYDIVER (Daredevil) and her filly by @JuddmonteFarms' Kingman (GB) https://t.co/QzQYUGcmNV

— TDN (@theTDN) April 17, 2023

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“It's been an honor to train her over the last three years,” said McPeek. “She's sound and healthy. Her owner, Peter Callahan, and I thought she deserved a little rest from racing. She's a classy filly, a sincere pleasure. She has the heart of a true champion and gave her all. She's an exceptional horse–one of those rare horses you don't see very often.”

During her championship season, Swiss Skydiver won the GI Preakness S. in a battle over eventual Horse of the Year and GI Kentucky Derby winner Authentic (Into Mischief). The chestnut is one of only six fillies to win that jewel of the Triple Crown. At three, she also captured the GI Alabama S., GII Fasig-Tipton Gulfstream Park Oaks, the GII Santa Anita Oaks, and the GIII Fantasy S. in addition to finishing second in both the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks and the GII Toyota Blue Grass S., the latter against the boys.

Swiss Skydiver began this year with a win in the GI Beholder Mile S., but finished third in the GI Apple Blossom H. behind Letruska (Super Saver) and Monomoy Girl (Taptizar). A barn quarantine changed her summer schedule, but she reemerged against males again in the GI Whitney S. and came away fourth behind Knicks Go (Paynter). She was last seen again behind Letruska in the aforementioned Personal Ensign. Overall, Swiss Skydiver has a record of 16-7-3-2 and earnings of $2,216,480.

“It's the right time to let her move into her next chapter,” said Callahan. “A once-in-a-lifetime horse, she gave me and my family everything we could have possibly dreamed of and more, the biggest thrills we've had in this business so far. I just can't say enough good things about her. We're looking forward to seeing great things from Swiss Skydiver in her next chapter.”

Also from the McPeek barn, both Crazy Beautiful (Liam's Map–Indian Burn, by Indian Charlie) and Simply Ravishing (Laoban–Four Wishes, by More Than Ready) will also be offered at The November Sale Night of the Stars. Crazy Beautiful, owned by Phoenix Thoroughbreds, is a triple graded stakes winner and Grade I-placed. Her year has included wins in the GII Gulfstream Park Oaks, GII Summertime Oaks, and GIII Delaware Oaks. She was also last seen at Saratoga, finishing off the board behind Malathaat (Curlin) in the GI Alabama S.

Simply Ravishing, who campaigned in partnership for Harold Lerner LLC, Magdalena Racing, and Nehoc Stables, won the GI Darley Alcibiades S. as well as Saratoga's P. G. Johnson S. last year. Her 2021 campaign has been limited with only two starts, neither of which yielded the type of fruit seen in her 2-year-old campaign.

Crazy Beautiful will be offered at Fasig-Tipton by Denali Stud, agent, and Simply Ravishing will be offered by Gainesway, agent.

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“It's been an honor to train her over the last three years,” said Kenny McPeek. “She's sound and healthy. Her owner Peter Callahan and I thought she deserved a little rest from racing. She's a classy filly, a sincere pleasure. She has the heart of a true champion and gave her all. She's an exceptional horse – one of those rare horses you don't see very often.”

Swiss Skydiver's win over Authentic in the 2020 Preakness was the pinnacle of her racing career, cementing her award for the 2020 Eclipse Award for champion 3-year-old filly. She won a battle in the stretch over Kentucky Derby winner Authentic to beat the colts. It was the second-fastest Preakness Stakes, finishing in 1:53.10 – only .10 seconds off Secretariat's 1973 record. Her Preakness victory will be remembered as one of the most memorable in Thoroughbred racing. Not only does she join the exclusive list of six fillies to ever win the Preakness, she tops this remarkable list of fillies as the fastest.

Other career highlights include victories in The 2020 Grade 1 Alabama Stakes and The 2021 G1 Beholder Mile winning both impressively by easily running away in the stretch.

“It's the right time to let her move into her next chapter” said owner Peter Callahan. “A once-in-a-lifetime horse, she gave me and my family everything we could have possibly dreamed of and more, the biggest thrills we've had in this business so far.  I just can't say enough good things about her. We're looking forward to seeing great things from Swiss Skydiver in her next chapter.”

Two other McPeek-trained fillies – Crazy Beautiful and Simply Ravishing – will also be offered for sale at The November Sale's Night of Stars. Crazy Beautiful, a multiple graded stakes-winning filly with earnings of $709,863, will be sold by Denali Stud, agent. The winner of the 2020 G1 Alcibiades Stakes, Simply Ravishing, will be offered by Gainesway, agent.

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With Irad Ortiz, Jr. aboard, the Kenny McPeek-trained 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil went five-eighths in 1:01.21 Sunday over a Saratoga main track rated fast.

A winner over six different ovals, including Saratoga when capturing last year's Grade 1 Alabama, Swiss Skydiver has won with five different jockeys aboard.

Ortiz, Jr. will look to increase that number when he pilots the chestnut filly in the Whitney.

“He loved her and said she felt great,” McPeek said. “We're excited, we should be ready. She's adaptable to racetracks and jockeys, it doesn't really matter.”

Swiss Skydiver has posted six graded stakes wins over five different ovals with her biggest claim to fame taking place against males in last year's Grade 1 Preakness Stakes. The last female to capture the Whitney was undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign in 1988.

McPeek breezed graded stakes winner King Fury over the Oklahoma training turf Sunday in preparation for Saturday's $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational going 1 3/16 miles over the Mellon turf course.

The son of Curlin, out of Grade 1-winner Taris, worked with Jose Ortiz aboard in company with Fighting Seabee, winner of the 2019 Grade 3 With Anticipation, and finished off his five-furlong move in 1:01.25.

Owned by Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm, King Fury scored in the Grade 3 Lexington on April 10 over a sloppy and sealed track at Keeneland two starts back. He arrives at his turf debut off a close second to Masqueparade in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 26 at Thistledown.

McPeek said he would like to run King Fury in the $1.25 million Grade 1 Runhappy Travers.

“Jose seemed to think that he can handle the turf,” McPeek said. “We'll learn a little something about him and it's a big purse. That's been our goal all summer is to get him to the Travers. The turf race is looking deep but it shouldn't hurt him.

“It's a very good group of 3-year-olds and Essential Quality had another workmanlike win yesterday, but it's hard to separate the 3-year-olds until the Breeders' Cup,” McPeek continued. “That's the race that really separates everybody.”

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The historic nine-furlong event offers a “Win And You're In” berth to the $6 million Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Classic on November 6 at Del Mar.

Owned by Peter Callahan, the 4-year-old daughter of Daredevil bested the boys in last year's Grade 1 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico, where she became only the sixth filly to win the American Classic.

Swiss Skydiver has registered two starts this year, shipping to the West Coast to capture the Grade 1 Beholder Mile on March 13 at Santa Anita ahead of a distant third to Letruska in the Grade 1 Apple Blossom on April 17 at Oaklawn Park.

Initially entered in the Grade 1 Ogden Phipps at Belmont Park, Swiss Skydiver scratched from the race when spiking a temperature. With sights set on the Grade 3 Shuvee on July 25, McPeek had to alter course when NYRA and the New York State Gaming Commission (NYSGC) placed Barn 86 at Saratoga under a precautionary quarantine on July 15 due to a positive case of Equine Herpesvirus-1 (EHV-1) in that barn.

McPeek said Swiss Skydiver is ready for a second triumph against males.

“She had some hiccups in the spring,” McPeek said. “She had a hind leg infection which contributed to her uncharacteristic run at Oaklawn, and she had a fever when we shipped to Belmont. We're hoping to get into a little rhythm with her and I'm looking forward to running her.”

Swiss Skydiver has notched six graded stakes victories, dating back to last March when taking the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks in gate-to-wire fashion. From there, she added miles to the tank with triumphs in the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn Park last May and the Grade 2 Santa Anita Oaks last June.

After making her first start against males with a game second in the Grade 2 Blue Grass at Keeneland Race Course last July, she recorded her first triple-digit Beyer with a 3 ½-length win in the Grade 1 Alabama in August in her lone start at the Spa, where she posted a 102 Beyer.

“Throughout the time I've had her, she's gone from a girl to a woman. She's as attractive as ever and maybe more so now,” McPeek said. “From two to three to four, you never know how they're going to evolve but she's doing everything right. She's bigger in her shoulder and her hip at this stage. She's always been an extremely intelligent filly. She's a happy horse and still loves her job.”

A Whitney triumph would make Swiss Skydiver the seventh female to strike gold in the prestigious event for older horses. The most recent Whitney victress was Ogden Phipps' undefeated Hall of Famer Personal Ensign in 1988.

McPeek selected Swiss Skydiver for $35,000 from Select Sales consignment barn at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Through a career of 14-7-3-2, she has amassed $2,125,480.

“We'll see if she can pull it off. I think she should have a real good second half of the year,” McPeek said. “She's already got a Grade 1 this year which is good. Good horses ship well. Trainers like Todd [Pletcher] do it a lot, but good horses can and will ship well. We're blessed to have some quality stock in the barn.”

McPeek said Phoenix Thoroughbred III's Crazy Beautiful is likely to bypass the $700,000 Grade 3 Saratoga Oaks Invitational on August 8 in favor of the $600,000 Grade 1 Alabama on August 21 at the Spa.

The gray or roan daughter of third-crop sire Liam's Map worked five furlongs in 1:01.87 Saturday over the Oklahoma training track.

“I'm leaning against it today, but I have a couple weeks,” McPeek said of the Saratoga Oaks. “They are inviting her, but we need to make sure she's on tilt before committing to anything. I thought she'd work better than she did yesterday. I want to give her a few days. She will be nominated to the Alabama, but I just need to make sure she's 110 percent.”

Crazy Beautiful has already taken down three graded stakes events this season, capturing the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks on March 27 before running tenth in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. She returned to action with style when taking the Grade 2 Summertime Oaks on May 30 at Santa Anita Park before a six-length romp over a good and sealed track at Delaware Park in the Grade 3 Delaware Oaks on July 3.

While Crazy Beautiful appears unlikely for the Saratoga Oaks, McPeek plans on running King Fury in its male counterpart race – the $1 million Grade 1 Saratoga Derby Invitational on August 6.

Owned by Fern Circle Stables and Three Chimneys Farm, King Fury was a last out second beaten a half-length in the Grade 3 Ohio Derby on June 26 at Thistledown after an 18-1 upset win in the Grade 3 Lexington on April 10 at Keeneland.

King Fury blitzed through five furlongs Saturday over the Oklahoma training track in :59.86 seconds, the fastest of 19 recorded works at the distance.

King Fury has yet to race on turf, but McPeek said he should handle it well.

“His work was awesome yesterday. He was really impressive,” McPeek said. “He definitely will run in the Saratoga Derby. I think he can handle the turf. We'll give him a work over the grass next week and that ought to have him ready.”

King Fury boasts a royal pedigree being by multiple champion-producing sire Curlin out of Grade 1-winner Taris.

McPeek selected Curlin as a yearling for $57,000 and the talented chestnut went on to be named two-time Horse of the Year.

“They're a little different bodied horses, but he certainly his father's son,” McPeek said. “Curlin was a little heavier; this one is a little more finesse which is why I think he'll handle the grass.”

McPeek said graded stakes winner and dual Grade 1-placed Envoutante, a last-out third to Letruska in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on June 26 at Churchill Downs has been given a break with sights set on the $500,000 Grade 1 Juddmonte Spinster on October 10 at Keeneland.

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The daughter of Daredevil stumbled at the start of the race and never recovered, but she had a stellar 2020 campaign that included wins in the Preakness over males, G1 Alabama, G2 Santa Anita Oaks, G3 Fantasy, and G2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. Swiss Skydiver's record stands at six wins from 12 starts for earnings of $1,812,980; not bad for a filly that cost $35,000 as a yearling at the Keeneland September saale.

“I'm OK finishing where we finished at the back of the pack, because there is a life lesson to be learned,” Callahan told Horse Racing Nation. “In this day and age everybody gets a trophy, and that's nonsense. You've got to learn to lose. You've got to take disappointment and rejection.”

Swiss Skydiver emerged from the Distaff with a few nicks and bruises, and will head to Magdalena Farm for some down time before a 2021 campaign is mapped out. The Pegasus at Gulfstream on Jan. 23 is too soon and is not on the radar for the filly.

“It's been an amazing year. She's just been real special to be around,” added trainer Kenny McPeek. “Through all the pandemic and everything, she's just been a real shining light.”

Read more at Horse Racing Nation.

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Trainer Ken McPeek had set himself up for second guessing when he decided to run Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil) in the GI Preakness S.. Not only would she have to face males, the Preakness would be her ninth race of the year and Pimlico would be the ninth track she has competed at in 2020. With a start in October, she would have raced during every month on the calendar but April.

By modern standards, it has been a bruising schedule and one that few trainers would ever even consider. Most will not push their top horses, preferring a four or five-race campaign with ample time off between races. Had McPeek followed conventional wisdom, after a second-place finish in the Sept. 4 GI Kentucky Oaks, Swiss Skydiver would have “trained up” to the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Instead, McPeek picked the most difficult challenge out there, a start against males in the Preakness, where she was dismissed at 11-1.

But instead of running a tired horse, McPeek brought a battle-tested, sharp and game filly to Pimlico. In a stirring stretch drive, she outfought a GI Kentucky Derby winner in Authentic (Into Mischief) to win by a neck. It was the best race of her career, and also her trainer’s finest moment. McPeek proved that his way works, that horses don’t have to be babied to be successful.

“I do believe that if they’re doing well don’t be scared to run,” McPeek said. “We buy our racehorses to run not to just watch them train. I do think there is some over analysis, where people say, ‘Oh, no, you’re running them back too quickly.’ When I first started training it wasn’t anything to run a horse back in 10 days, two weeks. Now it’s almost as if they write you off if you do that. Four weeks is plenty of time. It’s no problem, especially if a horse is healthy. I have always believed that when you have one that is doing well you shouldn’t hesitate.”

McPeek never took the challenge of running a filly in the $1-million Preakness lightly. On paper, it looked like Swiss Skydiver might be overmatched. She had already faced males once, coming up short in the GII Blue Grass S. She finished second behind Art Collector (Bernardini), who she’d have to face again in the Preakness. And she probably wasn’t at her very best in the Oaks when beaten by long shot Shedaresthedevil (Daredevil).

But the more he thought about it, he couldn’t find a reason not to run. The other options were to face older fillies and mares in a race like the GI Spinster S., try the turf for the first time in the GI Queen Elizabeth II S., race in a GII Black-Eyed Susan S., which has a $250,000 reward or stay on the sidelines until the Breeders’ Cup. The risk of running in the Preakness was higher than it was for the other possible races, but so was the reward.

But if not for a push from his wife, Sherri, he might not have gone in the Preakness.

“I have to give some credit to my wife,” he said. “She said, ‘They’re athletes, she wants to run. Why not do this?'”

Owner Peter Callahan was also on board.

“I could have run her against older fillies or on the grass and she could have certainly won those races,” McPeek said. “But Peter Callahan and I both think big. Peter is as game as Dick Tracy and I am too. We talked about it and I told him I want to run her in the Preakness and he said go for it. Some owners might have over thought it. He just went with the flow on the whole thing all year. We’ve been rewarded, thank goodness.”

He collected his first Triple Crown victory in 2002 when winning the Belmont with Sarava, who looked hopelessly overmatched when facing War Emblem, who was shooting for a Triple Crown sweep for Bob Baffert. Sent off at 70-1, Sarava is the longest priced horse to win a Belmont S.

“I just didn’t know how good he is. You’ve got to throw them in the ring sometimes to find out,” he said after the race.

In some respects, his willingness to take chances hasn’t served him well. Owners flock to the trainers with the highest winning percentages and McPeek isn’t one of them. He is winning at a 17% rate this year, but is only a 15% trainer for his career. He says that owners need to look beyond winning percentages.

“I think trainer winning percentages are ridiculous,” he said. “I am what you could call a progression trainer. I like the first race to be a good race, the second race to be better and the third race to be the best race. If you don’t win first time out you hurt your percentage. You also have to remember how important black-type is. I could run in an allowance race or I could run in a stakes to get black-type and I will take chances in stakes. Black type is especially important with fillies. Black-type is the most important thing in the world to people who breed horses. Long-term success depends on their residual value. Worrying about my win percentage is probably about number nine down on my list of the things I worry about with each horse.”

The Preakness capped off the best two days of McPeek’s career. On Friday, he finished one-two in the GI Darley Alcibiades S. at Keeneland. Simply Ravishing (Laoban) romped and may be tough to beat in the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies. Like Swiss Skydiver, she hardly broke the bank at the sales. She was purchased for $50,000 as a yearling at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale. That’s $15,000 more than he paid for Swiss Skydiver at the 2018 Keeneland September sale.

McPeek will have one more chance to pick the tougher of two races for Swiss Skydiver. After the win in the Preakness, an argument can be made that she belongs in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic for another chance of beating males. The safer choice would be to go in the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff. McPeek said Sunday that he hasn’t made his mind up yet but said he prefers the Classic distance of a mile-and-a-quarter over the Distaff distance of a mile-and-an-eighth. A Classic would win would mean a Horse of the Year title, which might not be the case if she were to win the Distaff. The gunslinger, McPeek may not be able to resist the temptation to run in the Classic.

But no matter which race she runs in, Swiss Skydiver will no doubt show up. She’s been first or second in each of her last six races while facing the best 3-year-old colts and fillies in the sport. Her trainer must be doing something right.

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“I should probably retire today,” McPeek said, “because I don't think it can get higher than this. I really don't. She's beat so many odds. I'm beyond proud of her, proud of Robby and everyone who's handled her. It's been a real team effort. I have some unbelievable people who work for me that help handle the details.”

Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver not only beat the boys in the Preakness, the daughter of Daredevil registered the second-fastest running time in the storied history of Maryland's signature Triple Crown race. The 1:53.28 clocking for her thrilling 1 3/16-mile tour of the Pimlico oval was second only to 1973 Triple Crown champion Secretariat's 1:53 stakes-record time.

“It was surreal,” McPeek said. “It's still surreal.”

Swiss Skydiver defeated Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Authentic by a resolute neck to become the sixth filly to win the Preakness and first since Rachel Alexandra got the better of Derby winner Mine That Bird in 2009. After saving ground on the first turn and into the backstretch aboard the McPeek trainee, Albarado made a decisive move that propelled the filly into the lead heading into the far turn, easing his mount around tiring pacesetter Thousand Words before darting back to the rail inside Authentic. Swiss Skydiver and Authentic dueled around the turn and through the stretch with the 11-1 filly gamely holding off the 3-2 favorite to the wire.

The Grade 1 victory aboard Swiss Skydiver was Albarado's first since 2017, as well as his first graded-stakes win of 2020. The veteran jockey, who has ridden the winners of more than 5,200 races and $220 million in purses, has experienced slowing business the past few years but showed the racing world that he can still win the big ones.

“The thing about it was that we took a negative and made it into a positive. We didn't have a rider until Saturday night (Sept. 26),” said McPeek, who was left without a rider when Tyler Gaffalione opted out. “I called Robby right away and I said, 'Here's what it is going to take for you to ride her. We're going to offer the mount to Mike Smith and wait for his agent to call me back. If his agent says no then I'm going to present to the owner that you're going to ride her. He said, 'OK, let me know, let me know.'

Trainer Kenny McPeek

“We waited for Mike Smith's agent to return our offer, but once I got confirmation he couldn't ride her, I called Robby and said, 'You're on.' I said, 'But here's what we're going to do. We're flying up together; we're going to get on her all week.' I think it was fortuitous because he got on her every day and got to know her. He spent time with her and, every day, he got more confident in her. You need a rider with confidence because if she takes you there, she'll win. We pulled it off.”

Swiss Skydiver is scheduled to ship to Churchill Downs Monday morning to prepare for a start on the Nov. 7 Breeders' Cup program at Keeneland in either the Distaff (G1) or the Classic (G1).

“I like the mile and a quarter of the Classic, but the Distaff, today, is probably the wiser move. But the farther she goes the better,” McPeek said. “We can sit on it. We won't make a rash decision.”

Swiss Skydiver entered the Preakness with four graded-stakes victories against 3-year-old fillies, including the Alabama (G1) at Saratoga, and second-place finishes in the Blue Grass (G2) at Keeneland against the boys and Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill. Her victory in the final leg of the reshuffled 2020 Triple Crown puts her in the discussion for Horse of the Year, McPeek said.

“I think you have to make a case for her. I mean, she's run every month of the year except April, and she ran at the end of March and early May. You have to make a case for her. She's entertained coast to coast, north, south, east, west,” he said. “She's amazing. She's not even tired today. She's a throwback horse.”

The post ‘She’s A Throwback Horse’: McPeek Reflects On Swiss Skydiver’s Preakness, Horse Of The Year Discussion appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.

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