Photo:

Jason Moran / Eclipse Sportswire

Ken McPeek, at the height of his training powers, is
beginning to eye the end of that phase of his career.

“I don’t envision myself training 10 more years,” he told Horse
Racing Nation.

McPeek, 62, has been a trainer since 1985. He is nearing the
end of a remarkable season with an operation he has built steadily, sweeping
the Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks with Thorpedo Anna and Kentucky Derby 2024 with
Mystik Dan. He was the first trainer to accomplish that since Plain Ben Jones
in 1952.

Flashback: McPeek ends his Breeders’ Cup drought.

Thorpedo Anna, a leading candidate for horse of the year,
provided McPeek with his first Breeders’ Cup triumph with a commanding
gate-to-wire performance Nov. 2 in the $2 million Distaff. He had gone winless
with his first 37 Breeders’ Cup starters but had seven second-place efforts and
10 third-place results. Only one of his first 37 runners was favored.

His efforts extend far beyond the track. He works the sales
hard and is renowned for his ability to spot bargains such as Thorpedo Anna, a
$40,000 yearling. In addition he owns and operates Magdalena Farm in Lexington,
Ky., with his wife, Sherri. He developed the Horse Now app as a “passion
project.”

McPeek is not contemplating kicking back anytime soon. He
has begun considering the next phase of his career.

“In my 70s or early 70s, I’ll come up with an exit strategy,
maybe even find a young trainer to hand off to,” he said. “I just want to stay
steady for the next 8-10 years.”

McPeek went on, saying, “You’re not going to see me training
into my 80s. I’m not going to be Wayne Lukas. I think there is a point in time
where you say enough. It does take an enormous amount of energy to do what we
did.”

Lukas, at 88, became the oldest trainer to win a Triple
Crown race when front-running Seize the Grey denied runner-up Mystik Dan in the
Preakness. Lukas still climbs aboard his pony to oversee his horses on the
track in the morning.

Few trainers are as devoted to promoting their sport as
McPeek. The Turf Publicists of America honored him last month with the Big
Sport of Turfdom award for the second time for his cooperation with members of
the media and racing publicists. He previously won that award in 2002

The good of the game was very much on his mind when he
decided to test Thorpedo Anna against the boys in the Travers (G1) in a bid to
become the first filly to win that race since 1915. She staged a tremendous
rally and narrowly missed overtaking Fierceness by a head in an immensely
popular edition of Saratoga’s mid-summer derby.

When McPeek decided to send the filly Swiss Skydiver against
males in the 2020 Preakness, her success provided one of the few racing
highlights during a season turned upside down by the pandemic.

McPeek is proud of the impact of Horses Now. He said the app
continues to grow by an average of 5,000 users per month, a bright spot as
racing struggles to change an all-too-gray demographic.

“What I really want to see before I leave the sport is a
sort of correction on the direction of the sport,” McPeek said. “I’m willing to
step back and devote my energy to something like that at some point. Maybe at
the end of my training career I can do more of that.”

McPeek lamented that certain factions in the industry pursue
self-interests while losing sight of the common good and the big picture.

“I want to see the sport grow domestically,” he said. “We
just don’t have an answer as to why the sport is losing fans, losing market
share. The percentage of Americans who watch horse racing is ridiculous. It’s
been disconcerting for a long time.”