Kenny McPeek is as close to a renaissance man as horse racing gets. He invested more than $6 million of his own money to create a smartphone app that would put Kings sports in people’s hands. He has built a real estate portfolio that stretches from Kentucky and Florida to every corner of paradise in New York. McPeek’s is a full service barn. He can look after your thoroughbred dog from the moment they land, from their first running lessons to their time off the track. He has an artist’s eye for spotting talent at this year’s auctions in the United States, Europe and South America. McPeak has more than a dozen horses that have won him millions on the circuit, but his masterpiece is Curlin. He bought Curlin for $57,000 and the horse went on to earn over $10.5 million on the track and was named Horse of the Year twice.
Curlin is currently one of the most successful stallions in the world, earning over $250,000 per service. On Saturday, in the 155th running of the Travers Stakes, McPeek will try something bold as he gets older. She was born in 1915 as Mrs. Hoping to become the first filly to win a schoolboy race at Rota, she will ride the 3-year-old Torpedo Anna in the $1.25 million Summer Derby. “I’m trying to win Torpedo Anna. This is McPeek’s story of a filly that has won six of seven races. “But I’m trying to attract new fans to the sport, create excitement and show how beautiful and exciting horses can be.”McPeek is now forever a year older.
On the first weekend in May, Torpedo Anna won the Kentucky Oaks on Friday and McPeek’s Mystic Dan won the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, a feat not accomplished since Ben Jones won in 1952. She also has a long history of race mares. Swiss Parachute won the 2020 Preakness Stakes to become champion 3-year-old filly. Much more pressing is McPeek’s attempt (however ingenious) to make Torpedo Anna a household name. He admits that equestrian sports are in decline. Northern California’s Golden Gate Fields is the latest racetrack to close. Although the sport is still a billion-dollar ecosystem, the decline in numbers in the world of racing is alarming.
For example, more than 40,000 foals were born in the United States in 1990, according to the Jockey Club, which keeps the registry. Last year, the number of thoroughbred racehorses was 17,200. The amount of money in horse racing is also on the decline. According to the Jockey Club, more than $15 billion was wagered in 2002, up from $11.6 billion the previous year. “Our sport has been in decline since we started,” said McPeek, who debuted in 1985. “We’ve got to find a way to get it back quickly and quickly.”According to McPeek, sports are his worst enemy. Many of his peers have been slow to adopt stricter anti-doping and anti-drug regulations. In addition, the public has become aware of how often horses die on racetracks, which was exacerbated when about a dozen horses died at Churchill Downs before the 2023 Kentucky Derby.
But since May 2023, when a new federal agency called the Equine Safety and Integrity Authority took over oversight and enforcement, deaths have fallen by nearly half. Racetracks operating under the agency’s rules reported 0.76 horse deaths per 1,000 starts in the second quarter, compared with 1.48 per 1,000 starts last year. But stubborn thinking persists in one of America’s oldest sports. One of the favorites in the Travers is Dornoch, a colt who won the Belmont and Haskell Stakes this summer. He has already been sold as a stallion and is unlikely to race as a 4-year-old next year. “Every run with him is precious,” Dornoch trainer Danny Gargan said. “With his pedigree, no one would expect him to start racing as a four-year-old. “He’s probably the best thoroughbred in racing right now.”
McPeek knows a lot of money is poured into the stallion stables, where horses are mated 200 times a year for six-figure sums. But McPeek said Mystic Dan, who is resting after his Triple Crown campaign, will compete next year. “We need a star,” he said. To that end, McPeek tried to make Torpedo Anna a star. She invited visitors to watch her workout at 5:30 a.m., filmed the workout, and posted the video with commentary on her social media accounts.
McPeek has seen some numbers that give the sport hope. The Horse Races Now app has been downloaded over one million times in 217 countries. He believes that through promotion and positive energy, sports can reach a wider audience. So he joins Travers with Torpedo Anna and hopes to win. “If we beat them, she’ll be one of the best fillies of all time,” he said. “But it’s not a joke. If we win, everyone will say we beat the bad guys. In the end, it’s a horse race.”
