Ken McPeek

     Ken McPeek

     Birthdate: Aug. 2, 1962
     Birthplace: Fort Chaffee, Ark.
     Residence: Louisville, Ky.

     Family: wife, Sue; daughter, Jennifer Lynn


2007 Gulfstream Record

Starts 1st 2nd 3rd Winning % Earnings
65 9 8 6 14 $290,705



 Career:

  • Stopped training in the spring of 2005 to become a bloodstock adviser, only to reopen a smaller stable in summer of 2006.

  • Among his biggest victories was Sarava’s upset of War Emblem and his Triple Crown hopes in the 2002 Belmont Stakes at 70-1.

  • Saddled Harlan’s Holiday to victory in the 2002 Florida Derby and Blue Grass Stakes.

  • His first major horse was Tejano Run, who finished second in the 1995 Kentucky Derby behind Thunder Gulch.

  • Trained back-to-back winners of the Gulfstream Park Turf with Hard Buck in 2004 and Prince Arch in 2005 and helped select and train eventual 2006 winner Einstein before his sabbatical.

  • Acquired 2007 Horse of the Year Curlin during his year away from training for owners Midnight Cry Stable. Curlin raced once for McPeek’s former assistant, Helen Pitts, at Gulfstream before his owners sold a majority interest in the colt.

  • Other major stakes winners: Take Charge Lady and Repent.

  • Won the 2002 Churchill Downs fall training title.

  • Re-established his good reputation with young horses in 2007 with stakes wins and placings by juveniles Old Man Buck and A to the Croft.

Other:

 

  • Played high school football in Lexington, Ky., and went on to graduate from the University of Kentucky in 1984 with a B.A. in business. He immediately took a job as a hotwalker for Shug McGaughey ... Took out a trainer’s license in 1985. His father was his first client. He later upgraded the stable through owner Roy Monroe, whose son Brian played football with McPeek at Tates Creek High School