McPeek going distance on a marathon card

Strap on the oxygen and break out the comfortable shoes. Gulfstream Park is asking its patrons – both on and off the track – to consider for their gambling pleasure the intricacies of no less than 14 races on Saturday, with the Triple Crown-significant Fountain of Youth Stakes serving as the cherry on top.

It requires a world-class level of endurance, or masochism, to fully embrace such a day. Still, there is money to be won for those who dive in with both feet. The betting pools will be deep and inviting, and pity the owner or trainer who can’t find at least a couple of opportunities to share in the wealth of the nine stakes and five undercard events on the program.

Ken McPeek has five starters sprinkled over the card, including three in stakes races he hopes could lead to bigger things down the road. Todd Pletcher and David Fawkes also run five on Saturday, but unlike those guys, McPeek is making his first attack on Gulfstream this week after spending

Park.nd most of 2018 competing at Fair Grounds and, more recently, Oaklawn

“I normally like to give my horses some time in December and January,” McPeek said. “March is about when we really get rolling, and I think I’ve got about 20 stakes-caliber horses in the barn.”

McPeek’s Saturday begins in the first race, a $30,000 claimer, and concludes with the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida in the 13th. His five starters represent five different ownership groups, including a large contingent from Brazil at Gulfstream to watch Some in Tieme take on Sadler’s Joy and Oscar Nominated in the Mac Diarmida at 11 furlongs on the grass. Some in Tieme won the Louisville Handicap at Churchill Downs last May.

“He doesn’t train all that well on the dirt,” McPeek noted. “But he’s a hard trier, and he’s given us some good efforts. But he’s going to have to step it up a notch if he’s going to compete with these.”

McPeek also has Princess Warrior going on the Gulfstream grass in the Grade 3 Herecomesthe-bride, at a mile and one-sixteenth. After finishing second in the Alcibiades in October, she took a swing at the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies at Del Mar and trailed home eighth behind Caledonia Road. A subsequent second in allowance company convinced her trainer to shake things up and try the turf.

“She’s not what I’d call a bullish kind of filly,” McPeek said. “I’ve always thought she’d like the grass, because there’s a lot of finesse in the way she moves across the ground.”

McPeek appears to be deep in 3-year-old fillies as the year unfolds. He already won the Silverbulletday at Fair Grounds with Stronger Than Ever, and just last week Eskimo Kisses, by To Honor and Serve, blew the doors off a first-level allowance race at Oaklawn Park, winning by 11 1/2 lengths and earning a shot at the Fair Grounds Oaks.

For Saturday’s Grade 2 Davona Dale at a mile on the main track, McPeek is going with Sunny Skies for the Normandy Farm of Nancy Polk. The daughter of Animal Kingdom has yet to make good on the promise she displayed in winning the Debutante Stakes at Churchill Downs last June.

“It looks like she might have distance limitations,” McPeek said. “She’s trained like she deserves a shot in there. More realistically, though, her goal this spring is the Beaumont at Keeneland.”

The last time McPeek and Polk made the front page was after Daddys Lil Darling won the Grade 1 American Oaks at Santa Anita on Dec. 30 in a slam-bang thriller. In the post-race excitement, there was no wheelchair immediately available for Polk, whose Normandy Farm in Kentucky was once owned by Joseph Widener. McPeek solved the problem by sweeping Polk into his arms and carrying her down the clubhouse steps to the winner’s circle, providing one of the most compelling images of the 2017 season.

“We’d been through a lot together with the filly, and that was a very emotional win,” McPeek said. “It was just the natural thing to do, something you’d do for family. Only thing is, now I’ve had several other owners ask me if I’d carry them to the winner’s circle. I’ve said it depends on how many kilos they’re pulling.”

Daddys Lil Darling, the object of their affection, is training steadily for her debut as a 4-year-old, most likely to come in the Hillsborough Stakes at Tampa Bay on March 10. In addition to her American Oaks score, last year the daughter of Scat Daddy also was second in the Kentucky Oaks, the Ashland, and the Queen Elizabeth II Challenge. McPeek envisions a domestic campaign in 2018 for Daddys Lil Darling, who got as far as the post parade for the 2017 Epsom Oaks before bolting and dumping her rider at the sound of a thunderclap.

“I’m more attracted to the races in New York for this year, especially when she gets to run a mile and a quarter,” McPeek said. “That’s when they have a hard time catching her.”

In the meantime, Saturday’s marathon looms, with McPeek’s first starter at 11:30 a.m. and his last at 5:34 p.m. He was asked how he’d handle the going.

“Non-alcoholic fluids during the day,” McPeek said, “then alcoholic fluids when we’re done, win or lose.”