Peacock Basking in the Aftermath of a Big Payday

The enormity of winning the world's richest horse race was still sinking in for owner Joey Peacock Jr. March 4. Ten days earlier, Senor Buscador , the last horse he bred with his late father, Joe Sr., stormed to victory in the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1). Half of the purse went to the winning connections. 

"Still trying to process it, to be honest with you," Peacock said from San Antonio, where the 65-year-old lives and works in the oil and gas business. "It was just such a phenomenal horse race, first of all, and then to come out on the winning end of it was just unbelievable."

Peacock was introduced to racing as a child through his parents, who initially owned Quarter Horses in the 1960s before transitioning to Thoroughbreds in the 1980s. He has some additional time to digest the Saudi win before Senor Buscador targets his next potential gargantuan payday in the March 30 Dubai World Cup (G1). A victory in the $12 million race would rocket the 6-year-old son of Mineshaft   who currently has earnings of $11,496,427 into rarified air as North America's leading all-time earner, a distinction held by the late Arrogate ($17,422,600), the winner of the 2017 Dubai World Cup.

LEASE DETAILS

Peacock acted on a deal that was brought to him before last month's win from Sharaf Mohammed S. Al Hariri, a Saudi businessman, who leased a minority interest in Senor Buscador for two races, the Saudi Cup and Dubai World Cup, with an agreement in place that the horse would run in the lessee's racing silks. 

"I was adamant that we were not going to sell an interest in the horse (for perpetuity) or any breeding rights," said Peacock. "We came up with the idea of doing a short-term lease agreement. We ended up getting that deal signed and funded, like two days before the race. This was a business decision. We had a chance to hedge our bet here. If we make this deal and something happens to this horse or he doesn't even get in the starting gate, we can take some money off the table here without giving up any (long-term) interest in the horse. That's what drove me. It was the right decision, and I would do it again tomorrow."

THINKING AHEAD

In the aftermath of the Saudi win, Peacock has had time to ponder what the Saudi score means for his Kentucky-bred's future as a stallion. A small breeder, Peacock owns three broodmares that are boarded at Shawhan Place in Paris, Ky., including Senor Buscador's dam, Rose's Desert . So far, he said, no one from Kentucky, his preferred spot for Senor Buscador, has come calling with an offer to stand the horse. Of course, that could change should he win the World Cup.

"Right or wrong, we wholeheartedly believe in our bloodline. Rose's Desert is a phenomenal mare," Peacock said. "I don't know how anyone can pick at that; look at what she has done. We think the dam's side is as strong as anybody's.

"I think Senor Buscador absolutely deserves the chance to stand in Kentucky. I know folks who are looking at this after a few conversations, saying, 'Well, Mineshaft was a nice horse and he's had some runners, but he's no elite stallion, like Gun Runner, Tapit, or Quality Road.' I see that, but that sort of dovetails into the article (pedigree analyst) Sid Fernando wrote (after the Saudi Cup) about maybe it's not Mineshaft you're going back to, maybe you're tapping back to A.P. Indy (Mineshaft's sire)."

Following his father's death in 2020, Peacock plans the matings for his mares. His blue hen is seven-time stakes winner Rose's Desert, a New Mexico homebred who ran in Peacock Sr.'s name. In addition to Senor Buscador, her progeny includes graded stakes winner Runaway Ghost , a son of Ghostzapper   and an earner of nearly $800,000; Our Iris Rose  ($307,880), another stakes winner by Ghostzapper and a current member of Peacock's broodmare band; and Sheriff Brown  ($603,681), a multiple stakes-winning son of Curlin  .

Rose's Desert will deliver an Into Mischief   filly this spring and will be bred back to Uncle Mo  .

"When my dad was alive, he would get the BloodHorse stallion book and would look through that," Peacock recalled. "He liked to look at horses who had a lot of races, which would indicate soundness to him. He liked to see that they made money and not just that the sire made money, but all through the families. He would take that as proxy for performing well on the racetrack.

"My dad came up with the first four matings: the (first and second) Ghostzapper, the Curlin, and then the Mineshaft, Senor Buscador." 

LAND OF ENCHANTMENT

Senor Buscador's come-from-the-clouds victory under Junior Alvarado at King Abdulaziz Racecourse vaulted his trainer, Todd Fincher, into the limelight. Fincher has conditioned the Peacock family's horses for years from his Sunland Park home base. Although Senor Buscador has traveled far and wide, the New Mexico track, where he won the Curribot Handicap in May 2023, is the horse's residence when he's not on the road. 

Fincher, 52, has deftly guided the sturdily built bay to a record of 7-2-2 from 18 starts while navigating some significant bumps in the road, including a suspensory injury and ankle chip that knocked him off the 2021 Kentucky Derby (G1) trail after he impressively won his first two starts as a 2-year-old, including the Remington Springboard Mile Stakes. Then there was a stall accident that resulted in a serious hock infection, which Fincher said the horse "was lucky" to have survived. Despite it all, Senor Buscador is a five-time stakes winner who flourishes wherever he goes, as evidenced by wins at six different racetracks. 

The accomplished Fincher, the winner of more than 1,400 races in a career that dates back to 1998, returned to New Mexico after the Saudi Cup. Senor Buscador, who is now in Dubai, is being looked after by Oscar Rojero, Fincher's assistant who has worked with him since his second year of training. 

Fincher wasted no time in comfortably settling back in at Sunland, where from five starters since the Saudi Cup windfall, he's won three races and finished second in two others. He will return to the Middle East the week before the World Cup.

"I got a lot of support from the hometown folks in New Mexico when I got back; it was nice to see," Fincher said. "All across the country, big-name trainers supported me with calls and texts.

"It's like winning the Kentucky Derby or something like that. It will be something you always have. It's going to be with us for the rest of our lives. When times are down, you can just think about that, and it will lift you back up."

The fact that Fincher accomplished this feat for the Peacock family makes the Saudi Cup triumph even sweeter.

"They've been like family and have supported me, from Senor Buscador's mother, Rose's Desert, who I trained, to every one of her foals," he said. "They have had to take bad news at times, but they've been rewarded by it by their patience. It couldn't happen to a better group of people."