Tag: Kenny McPeek

Swiss Skydiver owns stakes victories at five tracks, including two here at Santa Anita Park. She attempts to add Belmont Park to her stakes resume in Saturday's Grade 1 Ogden Phipps. (Image: Benoit Photo)

Swiss Skydiver Finally Lands at Belmont Park for Deep Ogden Phipps

Somehow, the Swiss Skydiver Stakes Tour bypassed Belmont Park. Somehow, the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly missed the biggest racing sandbox of them all – Big Sandy. How did a filly who won six graded stakes races over five racetracks miss America’s largest racetrack, Belmont Park? An oversight? Well, it’s an oversight […]

Undefeated Malathaat and John Velazquez go for their fifth consecutive victory as the 5/2 favorite in Friday's Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. (Image: Keeneland Photo)

Unbeaten Malathaat Takes Favorite Status in Kentucky Oaks

Malathaat and her undefeated record earned 5/2 morning-line favorite status for Friday’s 147th Kentucky Oaks at Monday morning’s post-position draw and morning-line announcement. The 1 1/8-mile Oaks anchors Churchill Downs’ 13-race, six-stakes Friday card. The 14-filly field of 3-year-olds runs for a $767,250 first-prize check out of the $1.25 million […]

King Fury's gritty victory in the Lexington Stakes led trainer Kenny McPeek to keep him in the Triple Crown mix. Friday, his patience was rewarded iwtha 
 berth in the Kentucky Derby. (Image: Jonathan Palmer/Keeneland)

Derby Dominoes: King Fury, Keepmeinmind In, Three Others Out

Two weeks ago, King Fury needed a miracle of falling Kentucky Derby dominoes to get him into the 2021 Kentucky Derby field. On Friday, the Lexington Stakes champion got that miracle. After the defections of Dream Shake and Hozier Friday and Get Her Number’s Saturday defection, King Fury sits comfortably […]

Swiss Skydiver is the 2/1 second favorite in Saturday's Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park. (Image: Coady Photography)

Monomoy Girl vs. Swiss Skydiver Brings Fans a Tasty Apple Blossom

You could make a credible case the Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park is the clubhouse leader for the best race of 2021. The reason you can make that case leads you to make cases for the two principals in Saturday’s Oaklawn headliner. Even-money favorite Monomoy Girl vs. […]

Simply Ravishing won her first three races, including this victory in the Alcibiades. After missing the board twice, she seeks a return to that form in Saturday's Grade 1 Ashland Oaks at Keeneland. (Image: Keeneland Photo)

Ashland Oaks Grows Another Filly Rivalry: Malathaat vs. Simply Ravishing

The Grade 1 Ashland Oaks is following the path of this year’s Kentucky Oaks prep races, which involves pitting two standouts against each other in a makeshift regional rivalry. You had Travel Column and Clairiere in the Fair Grounds Oaks in Louisiana. Beautiful Gift and Moraz tangle at Santa Anita […]

Swiss Skydiver had no company in deep stretch, winning Saturday's Grade 1 Beholder Mile by four lengths. (Image: Benoit Photo)

A Beautiful Finish Was in Swiss Skydiver’s Eye in the Beholder

Bring the jury in on Swiss Skydiver. Throw out whatever doubts you may have held on the Champion 3-Year-Old Filly impressing as a 4-year-old. Swiss Skydiver didn’t exactly pick up in 2021 where she left off in 2020 after stumbling out of the gate at the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Her […]

In a year of amazing moments, Swiss Skydiver's Preakness victory was near the top of the list. The standout 4-year-old returned to the track after a two-month break. (Image: AP Photo)

Swiss Skydiver Returns to Track, Virus Knocks Maxfield Out of Pegasus

As one 2020 standout returned to training, another one returned to the shelf – albeit temporarily. Swiss Skydiver hit the track, running for the first time since November’s Breeders’ Cup Distaff, while a report said Maxfield suffered a virus that will keep him out of the Pegasus World Cup Invitational. […]

Furosimide, sold under the name Salix or Lasix, prevents pulmonary bleeding in horses. It is now banned in all Kentucky Derby points races, along with the Derby itself. (Image: Anne M. Eberhardt/The Horse)

You’ll See a Lasix-Free Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in 2021

The 2021 Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks will mark the first time in the history of those prestigious races that horses may run without furosemide, better known by its brand name Lasix. The ban on the powerful anti-bleeding medication, widely employed at tracks all over the country, extends to the […]

Monomoy Girl and Florent Geroux stood tall in the 2020 Breeders' Cup Distaff. just as they did in this 2018 Distaff victory. Even after selling for $9.5 million, the standout mare returns to the track in 2021. (Image: Darron Cummings/AP Photo)

Not Every Horse Retired in 2020: Here are the Stars to See in 2021

Now that we’ve bid farewell to the Thoroughbred standouts who retired in 2020, which horses will we greet as the returning equine stars worthy of attention in 2021? We bid farewell to Authentic, Improbable, Maximum Security, Vekoma, Tom’s d’Etat, War of Will, McKinzie, Serengeti Empress, Enable, and Ghaiyyath in recent […]

Swiss Skydiver trainer Kenny McPeek congratulates jockey Robby Albarado for winning the 145th Preakness Stakes. That complicates McPeek's Breeders' Cup plans for his star filly. (Image: Mitch Stringer/USA TODAY)

Winning Preakness Complicates Swiss Skydiver’s Breeders’ Cup Plans

She’s run with the boys. Now, with her Preakness victory last Saturday, Swiss Skydiver beat the boys. So what’s the next challenge for one of the great North American fillies of her generation? That would be the Nov. 7 Breeders’ Cup at Keeneland. That much, we know. But what are […]

The venerable Pimlico Race Course clubhouse will play host to a small group of owners for Saturday's 145th Preakness Stakes. (Image: Getty)

The Triple Crown Ends Here: Breaking Down the 2020 Preakness Stakes

It’s October 2020, which in this bizarre of all bizarre years, means it’s Preakness Stakes time. That there is no Triple Crown at stake does not mean there is nothing at stake in the third and final jewel of a wild, 15-week Triple Crown campaign. The 2020 American Classics trail […]

Swiss Skydiver will be the first filly running the Preakness Stakes in six years. (Image: Coady Photography)

It’s Official: Swiss Skydiver Jumps into Preakness Stakes

Swiss Skydiver’s trainer Kenny McPeek confirmed Saturday his star filly will take on the boys in next Saturday’s Preakness Stakes. McPeek told the Daily Racing Form that the decision to run Swiss Skydiver in the final Triple Crown race of 2020 “was one of the toughest decisions of my career.” […]

Fillies, colts, it really doesn't matter who Swiss Skydiver runs against. Trainer Kenny McPeek is considering entering the filly in the Preakness Stakes. (Image: Coady Photography)

Swiss Skydiver’s Next Plunge Could be at Preakness Stakes

A second crack at Art Collector and a first crack at a Triple Crown race. That’s what Swiss Skydiver’s connections ponder as they explore running the filly in the Preakness Stakes. Kenny McPeek, Swiss Skydiver’s trainer, said the Oct. 3 Preakness at Pimlico is in the mix for the standout […]

John Velazquez will ride even money favorite Gamine in Saturday's Kentucky Oaks. (Image: Alton Strupp/Louisville Courier Journal)

Gamine Takes Even Money Favored Status In Kentucky Oaks

At even-money, Gamine enters Friday’s Kentucky Oaks as the shortest-priced favorite in 11 years, where she looms large over the smallest Oaks field in 15 years. Gamine starts the 146th running of the prestigious 1 1/8-mile race for 3-year-old fillies from post 5 in the nine-horse field, drawn Monday afternoon […]