Trainer Ken McPeek Gets 1,000th Career Victory

May 26, 2009 Gary Yunt

Trainer Ken McPeek posted his 1,000th career victory on Monday when Lawrence Carroll’s Old Man Buck won the eighth race at Churchill Downs under Calvin Borel.

            McPeek, a 46-year-old native of Fort Chaffee, Ark., got his first win on Oct. 27, 1985 at River Downs with Final Destroyer.

Monday’s victory was the fifth of the Spring Meet for McPeek and 235th overall at Churchill Downs. McPeek was the leading trainer at Churchill Downs’ 2002 Fall Meet.

POST-RACE QUOTES – KEN McPEEK 1,000 CAREER WINS

KEN McPEEK: “Now it’s on to 2,000. I’ve got a lot of people to thank from my clients to the staff. I mean, I’m just part of it. There are a lot of people who have worked really hard for me for a long time, and I appreciate it. Really, I think I’ve come from the bottom and worked my way up through the years. I think I’ve done more with less for a long time, and I get a lot of satisfaction out of that. [Owners] like Ray Cottrell and Roy Monroe when I was younger and my father have been a part of it and a big influence. We’re going to keep grinding along and we’re going to get 2,000; it’s just a matter of time. We can do that in the next 10 years.”

SUE McPEEK: “I’m just relieved because Friday we have a girl scouts sleepover at the farm in Magdalena. She (daughter Jena) and I wouldn’t have been able to be here. Old Man Buck was carrying a lot of weight today!”