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Racecar Rhapsody

Post Position TBA

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PHOTO CREDIT: Horsephotos/NTRA

Racecar Rhapsody is another of the Kentucky Derby hopefuls that came up short on graded stakes earnings and was excluded from the file of 20 for the Run for the Roses. That meant the Preakness Stakes became a viable option for the son of Tale of the Cat.    In his most recent start, the colt finished fourth in Keeneland’s Coolmore Lexington Stakes, making him the third hose to exit that race and head for the Preakness, following winner Behindatthebar and third-place finisher Riley Tucker.    In two previous starts on dirt tracks, Racecar Rhapsody was third in Churchill Downs’ Grade II Kentucky Jockey Club last year as a 2-year-old and fourth in Delta Downs’ Delta Jackpot two weeks later.

TRAINER -  Kenneth McPeek, origionally from Fort Chaffee, Ark., now resides in Lexington, Ky. Triple Crown victories: Belmont Stakes – Sarava (2002).    Ken McPeek, son of horse owner Ron McPeek, grew up in Lexington, Ky., and graduated from the University of Kentucky in 1984 with a bachelor’s degree in business, but his heart was always with Thoroughbred horses. That became even more obvious when he went to New York in search of a stock broker’s position and wound up as a hotwalker for trainer Claude R. (Shug) McGaughey III.     He took out his trainer’s license in 1985. His father was his first client, but he got his first big break from Roy Monroe, whose son Brian had played high school football with McPeek. Through Monroe, McPeek picked up some quality horses, including Tejano Run, who was third in the 1994 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and late-closing second in the 1995 Kentucky Derby. Purchased for $20,000 for Monroe, Tejano Run earned $1.1 million at the track.    Repent and Take Charge Lady are other major winners for McPeek. Repent was second in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Take Charge Lady was sixth in the 2001 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies and ’02 and ‘03 Breeders’ Cup Distaff.    McPeek was able to buy She’s A Devil Due for $30,000 and she reeled off four straight victories on her way to finishing third in the 2000 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies.    In 2002, McPeek had the morning-line favorite, Harlan’s Holiday, for the Kentucky Derby, but he finished seventh, and then was fourth in the Preakness Stakes. Owner Jack Wolf moved Harlan’s Holiday to the barn of Todd Pletcher prior to the Belmont Stakes. Ironically, Sarava, trained by McPeek and the longest shot on the board at 70-1, won the Belmont.    He took a hiatus for training for nearly a year, concentrating on seeking out bloodstock for clients and turned over his stable to former assistant Helen Pitts. One of his buys – for Midnight Cry stable – was a yearling colt that brought $57,000 at auction. The colt became Curlin, winner of the 2007 Preakness Stakes and Breeders’ Cup Classic and eventually was Horse of the Year.    McPeek and his wife, Sue, purchased the former Pillar Stud property in Lexington and renamed it Magdalena. It covers 115 acres.    He returned to training in mid-2006 with a stable of about 70 horses.    His career stakes victories number more than 80, including 30 of the graded variety. Besides Racecar Rhapsody, McPeek can also count on A to the Croft as one of his stable stars.    McPeek’s purse earnings for 2007 totaled $2,865,159.

JOCKEY - Robby Albarado - Born: Sept. 11, 1973 in Lafayette, La., now resides in Louisville, Ky.    Albarado scored his first victory in a Triple Crown race with Curlin in the Preakness Stakes, following a third-place finish in the Kentucky Derby with the strapping chestnut son of Smart Strike. Curlin finished second in the Belmont Stakes and then went on to win the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Breeders’ Cup Classic to capture Horse of the Year honors and the Eclipse Award as the nation’s top 3-year-old. He was a regular rider for 2003 Horse of the Year Mineshaft.    In 2007, finished second to Eclipse winner Garrett Gomez in earnings with $19,399,249, far and away his best career standing and best earnings total, nearly $10 million more than his 2006 figure. Other top horses ridden during the year included stakes winners Jambalaya, Wicked Style, Student Council, Einstein, Slew’s Tizzy, Notional, Teuflesberg, Flashy Bull, Quite a Bride, Sheets and Lattic. Won the 2007 Risen Star Stakes with Notional, but colt went to the sidelines with an injury. Scored 3,000th career victory with a win at Fair Grounds in December 2004. Won the George Woolf Memorial Jockey Award for 2003. Set a new standard for himself in early March of 2004 by riding six winners at New Orleans’ Fair Grounds.    Like practically every Cajun youth who gets into riding, started by riding match races at bush tracks in rural Louisiana prior to his teen years. Spent a lot of time doing stable work and galloping horses before riding professionally at age 16. Scored first career victory at Evangeline Downs in 1990 aboard One Little Point. Rode mostly in Louisiana, Arkansas and at Chicago-area tracks before moving to the Kentucky circuit in the spring of 1996. Rides at Fair Grounds in the winter, where he has won five riding titles . Won consecutive riding titles at Oaklawn Park in Hot Springs, Ark., in 1996 and ‘97.    Other riding titles: 1996 Arlington Park meet, which he won by a margin of 48 victories; Keeneland’s 2002 spring meet. In nine Kentucky Derby rides, posted his best finish (third) with Steppenwolfer in 2006 and Curlin (2007); prior to that, finished 11th on Crimson Classic in 1997, 10th on Old Trieste in 1998, sixth on Kimberlite Pipe in 1999, eighth with Captain Steve in 2000, fifth aboard Request for Parole in 2002, 12th on Offlee Wild in 2003 and seventh on Read the Footnotes in 2004. Prior to Curlin’s victory, highest finish among five previous Preakness Stakes rides was a second in 2003 aboard Midway Road. Prior to that, finished third on Classic Cat in 1998, 10th on Vicar in 1999, fourth with Captain Steve in 2000 and ninth with Straight Gin in 2002. Other best horses ridden: Joyeaux Danseur, Quiet Resolve, Make No Mistake, Serena’s Tune, Orientate, Dancethruthedawn, America Alive, Banshee Breeze, Elloluv, Elusive Jazz, Silverfoot, Strut the Stage, Limehouse and Badge of Silver.

CO-OWNERS - Jerry Carroll, Stanley M. Kaplan, Ronald Plattner and Mark Guilfoyle    Jerry Carroll has changed his mode of horsepower from horses to cars in recent years after selling his interest in Northern Kentucky’s Turfway Park for $36.9 million and opening Kentucky Speedway, in Northern Kentucky’s Gallatin County, about 50 miles north of Louisville, Ky.    Prior to his purchase of Turfway Park, Carroll, a native of Aurora, Ind., across the Ohio River from Kentucky, operated a successful commercial development business in Nashville, Tenn., becoming a multimillionaire. He got out of that business and took over Turfway Park, putting him back close to his roots.    He got his first inkling of what it would be like to operate an auto raceway when he showed up at the Texas Motor Speedway near Fort Worth. He has said the size, the smell and the possibilities hit him immediately.    Stanley M. Kaplan is a well-known psychiatrist, teacher and patron of the arts in his hometown of Cincinnati. He also is an avid motorcyclist who has crisscrossed the United States, including Alaska, and Canada and Nova Scotia.    Kaplan graduated from Cincinnati’s Walnut Hills High School in 1940 and went on to study psychiatry at the University of Cincinnati’s College of Medicine, completing his medical training in 1946 and then becoming a resident in psychiatry. Later, he received training in psychoanalysis at the Chicago Institute for Psychoanalysis.    He joined the University of Cincinnati’s department of psychiatry. He went on to become a full professor and at one time served as interim chairman of the department.    Through the Kaplan Foundation, he and his late wife, Mickey, have been extremely prominent in the arts in Cincinnati, making numerous contributions to enliven the arts scene in the city. The foundation also has supported a number architect-design building projects and programming for area non-profit organizations, including the Cincinnati Art Museum and Taft Museum of Art.    Dr. Kaplan was named a Great Living Cincinnatian in 2007, an honor that, he said, left him “overwhelmed.”    Ronald Plattner is chief executive officer of H. Dennert Distributing Corporation, listed among Greater Cincinnati’s top 100 companies. The company, which has about 130 employees, is a wholesale distributor of beer, ale and wine.    Mark D. Guilfoyle is a partner in the Northern Kentucky law firm of Deters, Benzinger & LaVelle.    Aside from his legal cases, which included a successful defense of Turfway Park in a suit brought over a $1.6 million Pick Six matter, Guilfoyle has been involved in Kentucky politics as general counsel, budget director and secretary of the Executive Cabinet in the 1991-95 administration of Gov. Brereton C. Jones.    Guilfoyle earned his undergraduate degree at Xavier University in Cincinnati in 1980, and earned a law degree from George Washington University in 1983. His areas of practice are employment and labor relations, administrative law and media law.

BREEDER - G. Watts Humphrey, Jr. -   is a longtime breeder of Thoroughbreds on his Shawnee Farm near Harrodsburg, Ky. Humphrey and his wife keep all of their broodmares on the 800-acre spread.    The Humphreys have bred numerous stakes winners, including multiple Grade I winner Clear Mandate, who was bred in partnership with Pamela Firman.    G. Watts Humphrey is a longtime member of the board of directors at Churchill Downs.