Cairo Cat Continues Winning Trend for McPeek

Cairo Cat's victory in the Sept. 15 Iroquois Stakes (G3) at Churchill Downs furthered a trend that's been going on in the Thoroughbred world for nearly 30 years now—Ken McPeek's ability to identify future graded stakes winners at auction and buy them for modest sums for his clients.

McPeek was undaunted when he gave $130,000 to land Cairo Cat at last year's Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Select Yearling Sale, even though the colt was the first son of Cairo Prince  to sell as a yearling. Cairo Cat subsequently became the first black-type winner for the Airdrie Stud stallion.

"I'm not at all afraid to buy yearlings by unproven sires," said McPeek while inspecting horses at the Keeneland September Yearling Sale. "I started doing this as a Book 6 or Book 7 guy. I bought (grade 2 winner and 1995 Kentucky Derby [G1] runner-up) Tejano Run out of the last session in 1993 for $20,000.

"Cairo Cat was a big, lanky yearling, but looked like he would come around. He was a bit under the radar, but I liked that he was out of a Tale of the Cat  mare to add speed to the equation. He's gone in the right direction and is getting better as he's gotten older.

"It's about spending people's money wisely, and if you do that, they're more likely to give you some more to spend."

Cairo Cat gained entrance to the Sentient Jet Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) with his Iroquois win. McPeek scored another major victory last month when Eskimo Kisses won the prestigious Alabama Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course. Eskimo Kisses garnered so little interest when she was entered at auction that Gainesway scratched her before she entered the ring.

"I raced back to the barn after she was scratched because she was on my short list and I was waiting for her," McPeek said. "We worked out a deal with Antony Beck, who stayed in on her, and I put other people in and it's been a fun ride."

McPeek achieved notable success playing in the middle market at auctions. He plucked Take Charge Lady out of Fasig-Tipton's July Sale in 2000 ($175,000) and trained her to grade 1 victories in the Ashland Stakes and two editions of the Overbrook Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, along with four other graded scores. Take Charge Lady earned more than $2.4 million on the racetrack and sold as a broodmare prospect for $4.2 million. She enjoyed further success in that career and was named broodmare of the year.

McPeek bought Dothraki Queen for $35,000 in 2004 and she won the Pocahontas Stakes (G2). He purchased Dream Empress for $60,000 in 2007 and the daughter of Bernstein won the Darley Alcibiades Stakes (G1).

Birdbirdistheword cost $32,000 as a 2-year-old sale purchase and he won the Boyd Gaming's Delta Jackpot Stakes (G3) in 2006. Frac Daddy  cost $50,000 in 2011 and became a multiple graded stakes winner. Midnight Cry also won a graded stakes after going for $62,000 at auction. 

"My job is to get out there and find them," McPeek noted. "I haven't changed my approach since 1990."