Kenny McPeek

1st-SAR, $115K, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:05 p.m. ET. Lance Gasaway, Daniel Hamby, and Brent and Sharilyn Gasaway's 4 G Racing celebrated mightily when Mystik Dan (Goldencents) won the 2024 GI Kentucky Derby. Now the same connections are sending out the Derby hero's half-brother in MYSTIK BAYOU (Wells Bayou). Out of Ma'am (Colonel John), the Oklahoma-bred was sent to Kenny McPeek. "If you are familiar with Wells Bayou then you know he won the Louisiana Derby and was headed to the Kentucky Derby," said Sharilyn Gasaway. "COVID hit and the Derby...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Honestly, Hall of Fame trainer Mark Casse didn't know what he was going to get from Silent Tactic (Tacitus) when he sent him to the GII Jim Dandy Stakes on the first day of August. It was his first race since March. The colt had battled a foot problem all spring. He was going up against two of the titans in the division in Renegade (Into Mischief) and Commandment (Into Mischief). "I went into it thinking if we got beat eight lengths to those horses, it...

Saratoga Maidens, presented by Keeneland Louisiana-bred Gaudreau (Nyquist) was well supported against a stacked field on paper, and when two challengers came calling late, turned them all away to graduate at first-asking at the Spa. Hailing from the female line of Venezuelan Horse of the Year and Triple Crown victress Gelinotte (Ven) (Never Bend), the son of GI Kentucky Derby hero Nyquist brought $220,000 as a yearling at the 2025 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky October Yearling sale and was sent to the barn of Chad Brown in late May this year to...

Getting your matings right is only ever a start. The babies then need to find their way into the right hands, generally something outside your control. But if there are degrees of expertise out there, you can at least be confident that the vast majority of our community will be reliably animated, first and foremost, by a passion for the horse. On those rare occasions when that confidence proves shockingly misplaced, however, even our best selves can seldom redeem the disaster. Happily, that has at least happened with one of...

2nd-SAR, $115K, Msw, 2yo, f, 5 1/2f, 1:08 p.m. ET. ANGEL OF KIRK (Yaupon) makes her first start for Greenwell Thoroughbreds and trainer Brad Cox. A $500,000 Keeneland September grad, the filly is the second foal for her graded stakes placed dam Crazy Sweet (Majestic Warrior). Also set for her unveiling is Kirk and Judy Robison homebred Hot Fries (Jackie's Warrior). The Steve Asmussen trainee is out of MSW Fast Gator (Diabolical), who is herself a full-sister to SW Mama Was a Rocket. Bluegrass Princess (Tiz the Law) is a...

Over the span of two decades as a professional jockey, Herbie Castillo, Jr. experienced success at the highest level of the sport. Among his 2,113 career victories, Castillo scored at the graded stakes level 36 times, including back-to-back wins in the 1993-94 GI Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park aboard Pistols and Roses (Darn That Alarm), success at Belmont Park in the 1999 GI Matron Stakes with Finder's Fee (Storm Cat), and a win in the 2000 GI Metropolitan Handicap with Yankee Victor (Saint Ballado). To an outsider, Castillo had everything...

Not seen since a fifth in Renegade (Into Mischief)'s GI Arkansas Derby in late March, 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard' Blackout Time (c, 3, Not This Time--Beauty Parlor, by Elusive Quality) left little doubt he's ready to return to the stakes ranks after a romping, six-length score in a Churchill allowance Saturday on the Stephen Foster undercard. Smooth out of the stalls, Blackout Time settled about three paths off the rail in fifth as 10-1 Non Conforming (Unified) showed the way up front while pressed by the 8-5 choice...

The runner-up from the GII Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct, Right to Party (Constitution) was scratched from the GI Kentucky Derby by state regulatory veterinarians on Friday morning and Robusta (Accelerate) will take his place in the Churchill Downs starting gate on Saturday. Trainer Kenny McPeek said he was upset with the scratch itself and the timing, as well as what he feels is a growing trend of regulatory scratches in Kentucky. "They said he [Right to Party] was lame all week." said McPeek. "Why didn't they call it before...

Trainer Brad Cox's trio of Kentucky Derby hopefuls--Commandment (Into Mischief), Fulleffort (Liam's Map) and 'TDN Rising Star, presented by Hagyard,' Further Ado (Gun Runner)--highlighted a bustling morning at Churchill Downs a week out from Derby 152. Working during the 7:15-7:30 (all times Eastern) training period reserved for Kentucky Derby and Oaks prospects, the Cox trio was joined by Chester Broman's Right to Party (Constitution) (five furlongs in 1:01.20) for trainer Kenny McPeek. For Team Cox the group included Wathnan Racing's Commandment (five furlongs in 1:01.40 in company with the 4-year-old...

It truly is spring in Kentucky when the penultimate preps for the marquee event in May start rolling out, and so was the story Saturday morning as Albus (Yaupon) and Right to Party (Constitution) led the work tab for GI Kentucky Derby hopefuls at Churchill Downs. The top two from last month's GII Wood Memorial Stakes both went out Saturday morning with winner Albus spotted first for trainer Riey Mott. He breezed four panels in :49 flat (35/65) for his first move over the track since arriving at the venue...

Looking every bit the 3-2 morning-line favorite for the GI Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park on Saturday, Renegade (Into Mischief) strode out of paddock schooling with top marks shortly before noon on Thursday. The colt had that, 'Take the test, don't let the test take you' sort of look. Renegade's trainer Todd Pletcher has won the Hot Springs track's signature race five times, but it hasn't been since 2018 when Magnum Moon (Malibu Moon) took the prize. Of course, that hero was campaigned by Robert and Lawana Low, who happen...

HOT SPRINGS, Ark.--Bearing witness to Thoropedo Anna (Fast Anna) putting on a show down the stretch at Oaklawn Park in the 2024 edition of the GII Fantasy Stakes before she became a champion was a special moment in her career. The track will honor the now-retired mare on Friday with a bobblehead giveaway, which in no uncertain terms equals immortality. On Friday in Hot Springs, the latest batch of 3-year-old fillies will take to the track in the Fantasy and chase a cut of the $1 million purse, plus a...