Frat Brothers Team Up on Lawn Ranger

There is a lot to be said about keeping in touch with old friends, and two fraternity brothers from the University of Kentucky chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon are very glad they’ve remained close through the years.

Trainer Ken McPeek and owner Rusty Jones liked to go to the Wildcat football games and also to Keeneland during breaks in their studies at UK in the ‘70s, and they have since teamed up on a series of good horses, including Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf (gr. IT) contender Lawn Ranger, winner of the Dixiana Bourbon Stakes (gr. IIIT) at Keeneland Racecourse earlier this month.

McPeek puts together various partnerships on many of the horses he purchases at sales, typically offering 20% stakes in them. He and Jones have forged a formidable roster of stable stars.

“As you go along you stay in touch and cross path with guys, and at some point Rusty asked me to buy him a couple of horse," McPeek said. "And he came in the game and we’ve had some fun. We both then bring in other partners from different angles. Pure Fun was a filly that we put together a partnership on. War Dancer, who won the Virginia Derby, gr. IIT, was another. My Baby Baby. There have been a bunch of them.”

Under different partnership names (Lawn Ranger races in the name of Turf Stables), the old UK team has excelled. Pure Fun won the 2012 Hollywood Starlet (gr. I) and the following year’s Indiana Oaks (gr. II), earning $487,360. War Dancer took the 2013 Virginia Derby and this year’s Louisville Handicap (gr. IIIT) and has banked $655,862 to date. My Baby Baby scored in the 2011 Early Times Mint Julep Handicap (gr. IIIT) and earned $509,744.

McPeek added that the fraternity brothers didn’t do anything but study while in school, but was less than totally convincing on that point.

He’s convinced Lawn Ranger is a nice horse, though. The aptly-named turf runner has made his three starts to date at three different racetracks, debuting last August at Ellis Park with a second-place finish to Juvenile Turf contender Danny Boy going one mile. Six weeks later he broke his maiden in impressive fashion at a mile at Kentucky Downs. He then ventured to Keeneland to take the Bourbon.

Lawn Ranger, byU S Ranger   out of the Dynamformer mare Lalka, was bred in Kentucky by Scott and Carol Ricker. McPeek, famous for picking up good horses at bargain prices, paid $50,000 for him at the Fasig-Tipton Kentucky July yearling sale.

“The way he is made, with nice long pasterns, said turf to us,” McPeek noted. “He has a very efficient stride and we went straight to running him long on the turf and he’s done everything right. The Kentucky Downs race was a pleasant surprise. I wasn’t sure the horse was going to mature that quickly. But he really zipped home in that race (winning by 3 ¾ lengths). You just never know with a young horse, but he romped and deserved the next step up.”

In the Bourbon, Lawn Ranger turned the tables on Danny Boy, defeating him by a ½ length. He will have to do battle at Santa Anita from the 13 post, a disadvantage going a mile.

But should he win, the old frat brothers will have a most memorable photo to add to their collection of memories.