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McPeek, Gaffalione’s Agent Pointing Fingers Over Preakness Decision With Swiss Skydiver

Tyler Gaffalione rode top 3-year-old filly Swiss Skydiver to win the G1 Alabama and then to a second-place finish in the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks, and according to her trainer Ken McPeek, was scheduled to ride her in her next start, as well. This week, McPeek told the Thoroughbred Daily News that Gaffalione's agent, Matt Muzikar, had reneged on their agreement.

“I announced that we're going to run in the Preakness and Tyler was on board,” McPeek said on the podcast. “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.”

Muzikar responded Friday, telling TDN that McPeek had informed him, nine days prior, that Swiss Skydiver would be running in the Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, held on the day after this year's Preakness Stakes. Thus, Muzikar began booking Gaffalione mounts for Keeneland that weekend.

When McPeek announced that he planned to run the filly in the Preakness at Pimlico instead, seven days ahead of the race, Muzikar wasn't able to get out of his commitments at Keeneland on Saturday. McPeek wound up giving the Preakness call on Swiss Skydiver to Robby Albarado, who won the race.

“What did he expect us to do? Not take business for the Preakness card or at Keeneland and sit there and wait for Kenny McPeek because the world revolves around him?” Muzikar said. “Knocking me and the jockey, he crossed a line.

“Tyler had nothing to do with this whole situation, so I don't like him knocking the jockey. Tyler is the greatest kid and the greatest jock I have had in the 26 years I have been doing this. He did nothing to him.”

Read more at the Thoroughbred Daily News.

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Dirt Mile, Classic Under Consideration For Preakness Third Jesus’ Team

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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Mike Maker Captures $100,000 Preakness Weekend Trainer Bonus

Mike Maker edged defending champion Brad Cox and two-time winner Steve Asmussen to claim the top prize in the Maryland Jockey Club's $100,000 Sentient Jet Trainer Bonus offered to horsemen for their participation in stakes races over Preakness weekend, Oct. 1-3, at Pimlico Race Course.

Maker led the way with 43 points, three more than Cox and Asmussen, to earn a $50,000 bonus. Maker registered wins with 2-year-old colt Catman in the $150,000 Laurel Futurity and 3-year-old filly Evil Lyn in the $100,000 Hilltop on Saturday's Oct. 3 undercard of the 145th Preakness Stakes (G1).

Also on Saturday, Maker ran second and third with Somelikeithotbrown and Hembree in the $250,000 Dinner Party (G2), fifth with Admiral Lynch in the $200,000 Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash (G3), Storm the Hill in the $150,000 Gallorette (G3) and Golden Voice in the $150,000 Selima, and fifth and ninth with Jolting Joe and Chocolate Bar in the $100,000 James W. Murphy.

Maker also finished third in the $200,000 Chick Lang (G3) with Relentless Dancer and sixth in the $100,000 Jim McKay Turf Sprint with Tiger Blood Oct. 1.

Cox and Asmussen tied for second with 40 points apiece, each taking home $18,500. On Preakness Day, Cox beat Maker in the Dinner Party with Factor This and Gallorette with Juliet Foxtrot, finished second with Bonny South in the $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan (G2), fourth with Mundaye Call in the $150,000 Miss Preakness (G3), sixth with Landeskog in the De Francis and Nautilus in the Laurel Futurity and 7th with Andesite in the Murphy.

On Oct. 1, Cox ran second in the historic $250,000 Pimlico Special (G3) with Owendale, who ran third in last year's Preakness in the trainer's Triple Crown debut.

Asmussen, the top bonus winner in 2017 and 2018, was first and fourth with Yaupon and Little Current in the Chick Lang Oct. 1. He finished fourth with defending champion Tenfold in the Pimlico Special Oct. 2, and won the Miss Preakness with Wicked Whisper, was third with Nitrous in the De Francis and Bye Bye J in the $100,000 Skipat, and fifth with Hidden Enemy in the Laurel Futurity on the Preakness undercard.

In the Preakness, where he became the first trainer since fellow Hall of Famer D. Wayne Lukas in 2013 to saddle three horses in the race, Asmussen ran fifth with Max Player, sixth with Excession and 10th with Pneumatic behind historic filly winner Swiss Skydiver.

Fair Hill (Md.)-based trainer Graham Motion came in fourth with 37 points and earned a $7,000 bonus, largely thanks to runner-up finishes in the Selima (Invincible Gal), Laurel Futurity (Wootton Asset), Gallorette (Varenka) and Murphy (Bye Bye Melvin). With his other starters, Motion ran fourth with Pivotal Mission in the Laurel Futurity, fourth and eighth with Lucky Jingle and Shimmering in the Hilltop, and fifth and seventh with True Valour and Irish Strait in the Dinner Party.

Rounding out the top five was Claudio Gonzalez with 29 points, good for a $4,000 bonus. Stabled at Laurel Park, Maryland's three-time defending overall training champion won the Pimlico Special with Harpers First Ride, was second with Completed Pass in the McKay and Eastern Bay in the De Francis, seventh and ninth with Pitching Ari and Lebda in the Chick Lang, and respectively fifth, sixth and seventh with Princess Cadey, Fly On Angel and Ankle Monitor in the Miss Preakness.

To be eligible, trainers had to run a minimum of five horses in the 15 Thoroughbred stakes races during Preakness weekend, not including the $100,000 UAE President Cup (G1) for Arabians. Points were accumulated for finishing first (10), second (seven), third (five) and fourth (three) and by having a starter (one).

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‘She’s A Throwback Horse’: McPeek Reflects On Swiss Skydiver’s Preakness, Horse Of The Year Discussion

After walking Swiss Skydiver a few turns in the Preakness Stakes Barn at Pimlico in Baltimore, Md., on Sunday morning, trainer Ken McPeek was still trying to wrap his mind around the 3-year-old filly's sensational triumph in Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes (G1) under a heads-up ride from jockey Robby Albarado.

“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.”

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