Breeders' Cup Breakthrough: Kenny McPeek and Thorpedo Anna

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In the TDN'S Breeders' Cup Breakthrough series, we catch up with the six trainers who celebrated their first win at the Breeders' Cup in 2024. We discuss the road to securing that victory, what the breakout win meant to them personally and what they hope to accomplish from here. Our first episode features  Kenny McPeek, who secured a long-awaited Breeders' Cup victory with a filly that is known to her fans as 'The Grizzly.' Might this superstar filly return to the Breeders' Cup in 2025?

Transcript

00:00Someone said one time, I'm the best, worst Breeders' Cup trainer ever, because I had

00:28my in-the-money percentage was over 50%, but I had zero wins. And I couldn't explain that other than

00:36you just keep trying, and it finally came around.

00:43Grew up on the south side of Lexington, got involved in horse racing probably when my

00:50grandfather took me to Keeneland when I was in my single digits, and then I would actually ride

00:56horses at Keeneland when I was a boy with my grandmother.

01:01After I finished my last class in college, I was hanging out with my roommate, and I told

01:06him, I said, wow, I've got to get a job. And he says, well, what do you love? And I said,

01:10oh, that's easy. I love horse racing. And he says, good, do it. I'm going to bed. It was

01:14four in the morning. And then an hour later, I went to Keeneland and got a hot walking job.

01:19Well, my mother was furious. My mother was, you're doing what? Financially, I really struggled

01:24for a long time. But then I started hitting my stride, and people started hiring me, and

01:28I think I won 10 out of my first 50 runners. In the early years, I didn't have a horse talented

01:33enough to make the Breeders' Cup, but I did finally make the Breeders' Cup in 1994 with

01:38a horse named Tejano Run.

01:44And he ran a respectable third that first year. But after that, it seemed like we always hit

01:51the board, but we never won. One point, I think I had seven seconds and 10 thirds. One

01:57horse got left at the gate. She ended up second. Another one had the lead at the 16th pole,

02:03and the horse snuck up the rail and nailed her at the wire. Every time I took horses over

02:08there, I was real pleased with the way they ran. And so you just had to keep doing that

02:13and stay focused in on that one horse at a time.

02:15Torpedo Anna has got this aura about her. And then when you're in her presence, she really

02:25knows she's good, and she's ultra-intelligent, and obviously ultra-talented.

02:31Another stellar performance from Torpedo Anna. She'll win for fun by four and a half legs over

02:39Candid.

02:39There were a lot of people that really wanted me to run her in the Classic against Colts.

02:43But honestly, I wanted to get the Breeders' Cup win.

02:45But this brilliant filly's going to take them all the way. Torpedo Anna, what a year

02:51for her. She won it by three over Raging Seeds.

02:54It felt like on paper she had a real chance, and you just hope that Brian didn't have any

02:58trouble. And when she got away clean and was able to put himself up on the pace with

03:03her, then Torpedo Anna did the rest of the work. And hopefully there's a lot more to accomplish.

03:09She seems to be a filly that's a bit of a throwback. She's rock solid.

03:12And this filly loves to eat. She loves to train. She really does make our job easy.

03:18Two relatively easy wins in the Azaria and also the Apple Blossom. And in the next few

03:24weeks, we're going to take her to what looks like the Latroine at Churchill.

03:28And then after that, you know, the rest of the year is kind of wide open. Everybody keeps

03:31asking if I'm going to run Torpedo Anna against the Colts. If she runs the table this year,

03:37the classic would be for sure. Let's see. She's got work to do. There's no givens. And

03:42you just really have to take it one race at a time.

03:46When you win a British Cup, it's a, you know, it's the highest high. I think that event altogether

03:52is just epitomizes the sport and how difficult it is. And there's a whole long list of very,

03:59very talented horsemen that have never won one. So it's no disgrace to have not won one,

04:04but to hit that high level at the British Cup, it means everything.

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