Rose's Desert | Horse Racing Free Tips

Long And Winding Road Lands Senor Buscador On World Stage

DUBAI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES — To coin a phrase uttered by the actor John Houseman from the Smith Barney television commercials of the mid-1980s, Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) has really 'earrrrrned it' as he approaches his second straight appearance in an eight-figure horse race, Saturday's $12-million G1 Dubai World Cup at Meydan Racecourse.

“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.”

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Shawhan Place Riding High After Memorable Weekend

What started out as a normal, busy Saturday in February at Shawhan Place quickly turned into an unforgettable day for the Paris-based farm when two horses foaled and raised at Shawhan celebrated breakout victories. First, fan favorite Senor Buscador (Mineshaft)–owned by Shawhan's longtime client Joey Peacock Jr.–won the $20 million G1 Saudi Cup. A few hours later Lemon Muffin (Collected) broke her maiden in the GIII Honeybee S.

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.”

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The Dams Connected to Todd Fincher’s Breeders’ Cup

by J.N. Campbell

If you didn't know the name of New Mexico's Todd Fincher, you do now. The past few weeks solidified it. “My phone's just blown up,” he admitted.

In the GII Thoroughbred Club of America S. at Keeneland on Oct. 8, the trainer's 4-year-old filly Slammed (Marking) set the pace early. Never looking back, she torched a solid field by more than a half dozen lengths. Once supplemented for $200,000, she will race on the same track in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint on Nov. 5.

That was Fincher's second trip to the heart of the Bluegrass, and his first victory at Keeneland. It gave him a pair of tickets to next month's international event. His 4-year-old colt, Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), won the GIII Ack Ack S. at Churchill Downs on Oct. 1, and will compete on the same day as his filly in the GI Breeders' Cup Big Ass Fans Dirt Mile.

But there is more to this story.

Flash back to 2013, when Fincher was facing a predicament. Two of his top mares were headed for the same race. There wasn't any way around it; he had to enter both. Keeping them apart had worked until then, but time had run out.

The elder was the short-priced favorite, Rose's Desert (Desert God), then a 5-year-old mare owned by Joe Peacock Sr. She would face her stablemate, Barbara Coleman's 4-year-old filly Hennesey Smash (Roll Hennesey Roll) in the Peppers Pride H. at Sunland Park.

Fincher said he had no idea how it was going to shake out, except that, he said, “It was going to be a showdown.” He was right.

From the bell, Hennesey Smash snatched the lead, forcing Rose's Desert to fan to the outside before the first call. Down the backstretch, Fincher's younger entry clung to the rail in control, but it looked like her more experienced rival was gaining. By the top of the lane, though, it was clear that Coleman's mare had much more left in the tank. The upset was on, all the way to the wire.

Ironically, Slammed and Senor Buscador are out of Hennesey Smash (MSW, $252,006, winner of seven of her eight career starts) and Rose's Desert (MSW, $626,035, winner of 10 of her 15 career starts), respectively. Maybe it's more prophetic. Since he took out his trainer's license 25 years ago, it's one of those full-circle moments, as both dams are connected to his Breeders' Cup berths.

Fincher was born in Denver, Colorado to a family of horsemen. They moved to Albuquerque, New Mexico in 1985.

“I weighed 100 lbs. and was about 5'1″ in middle school,” Fincher said with a chuckle. After he graduated from high school, he became a professional jockey in his home state, amassing $2,138,839 in earnings over some 4,100 starts. He got too big for the saddle by 1997, and the following year, he turned to training.

Despite a stellar record in New Mexico, Fincher surprised some people by ending up this October in the winner's circle with Senor Buscador and Slammed. The conditioner's success wasn't happenstance; instead, it was built on breaking and building up young runners to race. What Fincher calls, “my program,” which doesn't include claiming, is based 100% on patience. It isn't easy.

“The approach I have is slow and methodical and to let the horses dictate everything because they'll tell you when it's time,” he said.

With a crack staff, he helps choose those yearlings and 2-year-olds for his trusted clients, and then trains many of them to use early speed to an overwhelming effect. If owners decide to transfer to another barn to run elsewhere, Fincher takes pride that they were given a firm foundation.

A recent case in point, Smash Ticket (Midnight Lute), who is owned partly by Coleman, was moved to Rob Atras's barn over the summer. The half-sister to Slammed recently won the Weather Vane S. at Pimlico. Fincher said he was pleased.

“The right choices early in a horse's career mean everything, as far as I am concerned, so we start them out on the right foot,” he explained.

Managing equine form during training also requires a steady dose of forbearance. Back in early 2021, when Senor Buscador sustained an injury along the Derby trail after the GII Risen Star S. at the Fair Grounds, Fincher and owner Joey Peacock Jr., did everything in their power to give the budding star a chance to recuperate.

“There was nothing easy about that time up until this past summer, and it was supremely frustrating to see him have a couple of major setbacks, but he is the best he can be, right now.”

Fincher continues to forge strong bonds with clients. After the GIII Rancho Bernardo H. at Del Mar in August, he sold his share in Slammed to Barbara Coleman.

“She and her husband, who has now passed, sent me a number of really good horses over the years, and me and Brad King bought Hennesey Smash from her when she got out of the breeding and racing business, so it was the right thing to do,” Fincher said.

He might have missed out on the filly's future earnings, but he said he doesn't see it that way.

“I'm a trainer,” he said. “I have to pay the bills, so ownership isn't at the forefront of my mind.”

What is on Fincher's mind? Getting his filly and colt ready for the biggest races of their lives, and probably his own. As for Rose's Desert, she is currently in-foal to Authentic, while Hennesey Smash visited City of Light. The next generation of New Mexico-breds are coming.

In the meantime, another showdown looms. Luckily for Todd Fincher, Slammed and Senor Buscador don't have to race one another.

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Twice in a Lifetime? Senor Buscador May Give Peacock Family Second Shot at Derby

Most of the racing world was likely asleep or otherwise occupied late Friday night, but the small fraction that was awake and watching the action at Remington Park may have witnessed the breakout of a star 2021 3-year-old as well as the birth of a feel-good story of the year candidate. Senor Buscador (Mineshaft), a homebred with just one 5 1/2-furlong start under his belt, was slow out of the stalls in the $200,000 Springboard Mile S. before rocketing past every rival in the 10-horse field to score a dazzling 5 3/4-length romp. It was the kind of performance that gives owners goosebumps. But if you ask owner/breeder Joe Peacock, Jr. it was no surprise.

“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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