McPeek looks ahead to Iroquois with Ten City

McPeek had the big program favorites for the Aug. 20 Ellis Park Juvenile in Ten City and Ellis Park Debutante with Sunny Skies. Both finished third but McPeek has plenty of confidence in the 2-year-olds heading into Churchill Downs’ Sept. 16 Iroquois (Ten City) and Pocahontas (Sunny Skies). The winners of those races earn automatic berths in and travel stipends for the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Juvenile Fillies, respectively.

The trainer said Ten City lost a shoe when stumbling leaving the gate. 

“Legitimate excuse, though I thought Dale’s horse was impressive,” McPeek said of the Dale Romans-trained Ellis Park Juvenile winner Dak Attack. “I don’t think there was any shame in being third in either race. It was another good next step for both of them. They are obviously solid and overcame some adversity to continue to be third. Both horses in both races broke bad. Anytime that happens in a sprint race, your chances are compromised.

“But you might look back a year from now and those horses might be some serious horses who ran at Ellis. It’s still a testament to the program getting stronger down there. I think both of our horses needed the work. They were a month and a half (since racing) and we backed off both a little bit.both acted like they needed the race, drank a lot of water. It was just one step of many. So we got the race under their belt and we roll forward.”