BY BROCK SHERIDAN

Trainer Kenny McPeek hit the 2,000 milestone in career training victories Wednesday night at Turfway Park when Stoneleigh Farm’s homebred Winnable won the fifth race, a one-mile maiden special weight with Colby Hernandez riding.

With odds of 14-1, the 3-year-old daughter of Justify raced on the rail in third, about two lengths off front-runner Pink Moon through fractions of :23.71 and :47.25 before taking over in the stretch to win by three-and-a-half lengths in a final time of 1:39.64 on the synthetic main track.

The bay filly paid $30.28 to win.

McPeek, who owns and operates Silverleaf Hills Training Center in Summerfield, Fla., won his first race with Final Destroyer at River Downs on Oct. 27, 1985.

He won the 2002 Belmont (Grade 1) with Sarava and the 2020 Preakness (G1) with the champion filly Swiss Skydiver, who is one of six female winners of the second leg of the Triple Crown. His best finish in the Kentucky Derby came in 1995 when Tejano Run was second to Thunder Gulch.

Some of his other top runners include Grade 1-winning millionaires Take Charge Lady, Rattle N Roll, Harlan’s Holiday, Golden Ticket, Daddy’s Lil Darling and Noble’s Promise.

Through racing Wednesday, McPeek runners have earned $117,262,004 from 13,319 starters who have also finished second 1,800 times and third in 1,759 races. He has a 15% career win rate and 42% of his trainees have finished in-the-money.

His best year in terms of earnings came last year when he ranked 11th nationally with $10,773,078 from 83 winners, 102 seconds and 75 thirds.

A native of Fort Chaffee, Ark., McPeek, 61, grew up in Lexington, Ky., and graduated from the University of Kentucky with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

Return to the Feb. 22 issue of Wire to Wire