Runaway Ghost Could Give Peacocks a New High

Joe Peacock, Sr. has been involved with horse racing for five decades, but the 85-year-old Texan may have his first graded stakes winner with his third-generation homebred Runaway Ghost (Ghostzapper). Coming off a romping victory in the Nov. 11 Golden Nugget S. at Golden Gate, the 2-year-old is expected to go postward in the Dec. 9 GI Los Alamitos CashCall Futurity.

“So far Runaway Ghost has done everything right,” Peacock's son Joe, Jr. said Wednesday while sitting alongside his father at the office of the family's Peacock Oil and Gas Properties, Ltd. “We are just really excited to see what he can do from here.”

The elder Peacock's initial involvement in horse racing started in the 1960s and he raced Quarter Horses in the '60s and '70s before expanding into Thoroughbred racing.

“Dad started getting active in the Thoroughbreds in the early to mid-80s,” Peacock said. “He raced some Thoroughbreds in California, but mostly in New Mexico. Our family has had a vacation home in New Mexico since the '60s, so a lot of the racing was in New Mexico where we could enjoy watching them run.”

Eventually, the family's patriarch started breeding Thoroughbreds.

“Joe Straus was a San Antonio breeder who was very involved in racing and when Mr. Straus passed away they had a dispersal of a bunch of broodmares,” Peacock said. “My dad bought four or five broodmares out of that estate.”

One of the early mares to join Peacock's broodmare band was Snippet (Alysheba), purchased for $9,500 at the 1997 Keeneland January sale. The mare's third foal was Miss Glen Rose (Peaks and Valleys), who in turn produced Rose's Desert (Desert God).

Rose's Desert became Peacock's most accomplished Thoroughbred to date, winning seven stakes in New Mexico from 2011 through 2013 and earning $626,035. When the dark bay filly retired from racing, the family had a decision to make.

“Rose's Desert had such a great racing career, we just really felt like she deserved that chance to go to Kentucky and see if she could be a first-class broodmare,” Peacock said. “Our New Mexico trainer, Todd Fincher, really helped guide us on where to send her. She's been at Shawhan Place ever since she was retired from racing.”

Rose's Desert rewarded the family's decision with her first foal, Runaway Ghost. The colt showed promise from the start and, on Fincher's recommendation, was sent to the Southern California barn of trainer Mike Machowsky.

The 2-year-old defeated subsequent 'TDN Rising Star' Serengeti (Algorithms) to graduate by 1 3/4 lengths at Santa Anita in June (video). Sidelined after that effort by sore shins, he returned with a powerful victory over the Tapeta in the Golden Nugget (video).

Of expectations going into the Golden Nugget, Peacock said, “We've always been really high on the colt, but when you've been in racing as long as our family has, you know not to get too far out over your skis. So we always had high expectations for him, but coming back off a six-month layoff, we were just hoping that he would go well and that he would stay healthy.”

Runaway Ghost did more than that, winning geared-down by 7 1/2 lengths.

“He ran a terrific race,” Peacock said. “There was some trouble early in the race, we got bumped and others got bumped, but fortunately Runaway Ghost has speed, so he was able to get out of there and clear out and the rest of it was smooth sailing.”

After his win at Golden Gate, connections had to choose between following up in Saturday's Gold Rush S. in Berkeley or seeing if their colt could compete at a higher level in the GI CashCall Futurity.

“We really relied heavily on our trainers, Todd Fincher in New Mexico and Mike Machowsky in California,” Peacock said. “Obviously, dad makes the decisions, but they felt like he was ready to go see if he could compete at the next level. And this is really a big breakout opportunity for him. It's a step up in class, it's a step up in distance–all of those things. But we'll just see how he can do.”

Runaway Ghost's maiden win came over five furlongs and his Golden Nugget victory came was over six furlongs. He'll be looking to stretch out to 1 1/16 miles for the Futurity.

“We're not concerned about stretching him out,” Peacock said. “The mare won stakes races at a mile and certainly Ghostzapper had the ability to run out the distance. And in the races that Runaway Ghost has run, he's always been just cruising at the end without much pressure. Time will tell.”

Runaway Ghost continued preparations for the Futurity with a seven-furlong work at Santa Anita Tuesday in 1:28.40.

Rose's Desert, the only broodmare owned by the Peacocks, produced a colt by Curlin in 2016 and a filly by Ghostzapper this year. She is currently in foal to Mineshaft.

Runaway Ghost and his yearling half-brother are the only horses the family has in training.

“The Curlin colt, Sheriff Brown, just started training with Todd Fincher in New Mexico,” Peacock said. “He is built differently than Runaway Ghost. He's taller and he's got a bigger frame, but the weanling full-sister looks just like Runaway Ghost. She is built just like him and looks just like him.”

Asked if the family might be tempted to sell the weanling should her full-brother become a Grade I winner next week, Joe Peacock, Sr. was quick to jump in.

“No, ma'am,” he said. “We don't sell horses. We've had several people wanting to buy half of this one or all of this one. But we just don't sell horses. We race them.”

His son added, “We started getting calls after he broke his maiden, beating Serengeti in a maiden special weight at Santa Anita. But Pop's been pretty adamant. He's not for sale.”