4.16.2002	Photo By: Susan Lustig McPeek
		Jenna McPeek (above), the daughter of trainer Kenny McPeek and his wife, Sue, discovered the joys of feeding carrots to horses on the backside of Churchill Downs in Louisville, Ky. on Apr. 16. According to Jenna's mother, once the inquisitive youngster discovered the cut carrots, she proceeded to feed them, one by one, to both Harlan's Holiday and Take Charge Lady, the probable favorites for the Kentucky Derby (GI) and Kentucky Oaks (GI), respectively. The horses have stalls next to each other on the McPeek shedrow at Churchill.

McPeeks Have Learned To Stop And Smell The Roses
April 24, 2002
By, William F. Reed

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (April 24, 2002) - As the days between now and the 128th Kentucky Derby (GI) dwindle to a precious few, Sue McPeek is smiling and savoring every moment. Here she is now, feeding one of her husband's horses at Barn 10 on the Churchill Downs backstretch. And there she is moments later, playing with daughter Jenna, whom she calls "The Princess."

But mostly she tries to be a soothing influence for husband Kenny, who trains Harlan's Holiday, the likely Derby favorite. Her job became more complicated when Kenny broke a bone in his right foot playing basketball at the Owl Creek Lodge in eastern Jefferson County.

He gets around the track on crutches or in a golf cart provided by Churchill Downs. But already Sue is worrying how her husband will handle the Derby Day mob. Where will he sit? Does he want 15-month-old Jenna with them? And if Harlan's Holiday is fortunate enough to win, how will they fight their way through the crowd to reach the Derby winner's circle in the infield?

But these are minor worries compared with fighting cancer, as Sue was forced to do about a year and a half ago when she was pregnant with Jenna. Once you undergo something so frightening and stressful, you change the way you look at life and horse racing.

"I couldn't be happier at this point in my life," said Sue in the diary she is doing with Jennie Rees of the Louisville Courier-Journal. "I couldn't feel stronger about who I am or what I have. Whether these horses win or lose, it's like the icing on the cake."

The McPeeks seem perfect for each other.

Kenny has been interested in racing almost as long as he can remember, due to his father, Ron, who owned a few horses. At Tates Creek High in Lexington, Ky., Kenny spent almost as much time reading The Blood-Horse and the Throughbred Times as he did playing football for the Commodores and Coach Roy Walton.

He then attended the University of Kentucky and earned a business degree. However, when he went to New York, it wasn't to find a job on Wall Street, but to work for trainer Shug McGaughey. He took out his own training license in 1985. At that point, there was no turning back.

When he met Sue, she also had a racing background. At one time or another, she had worked as a groom, a shedrow foreman, a handler at the sales, and an equine photographer. Now she's "Kenny's relief valve," and an advisor whose opinion McPeek values.

They were delighted when Sue, now 42, became pregnant with their first child. But 26 weeks into the pregnacy, she learned that a bump on the roof of her mouth was a rare form of cancer. Their daughter was delivered six months early by Caesarian section so Sue could undergo surgery and begin aggressive chemotherapy treatment.

Between Jenna's birth and Sue's 3 1/2-hour operation, Kenny won the Alcibiades Stakes (GII) at Keeneland with She's A Devil Due. With three outstanding 2-year-olds in his barn - the colts Harlan's Holiday and Repent, along with the filly Take Charge Lady - the McPeeks were finally realizing the potential that Kenny showed when he finished second in the 1995 Derby with Tejano Run.

Sue didn't like to think about the future because she wasn't sure she would be around to be a part of it.

"The focus of my life," she told the Courier-Journal's Rees, "was that 'I'm not gonna be here a year from now.' That was the way I felt at the beginning of my treatment. When I was diagnosed, then you start really appreciating things in life, and there's a clarity in the day-to-day joys."

Happily, however, Sue's treatment was successful. The McPeeks will never get a bigger victory, even if Harlan's Holiday wins the Kentucky Derby.

Now McPeek has a shot to be the first trainer to win the Kentucky Oaks (GI) and Derby in the same year since Calumet Farm's Ben Jones did it in 1952 with Real Delight in the Oaks and Hill Gail in the Derby. Take Charge Lady, winner of the Ashland Stkaes (GI) at Keeneland, will be one of the favorites in the Oaks.

Although Repent will miss the Triple Crown races because of an injury suffered in the Louisiana Derby (GII), and although Kenny's broken foot may eventually require surgery, the McPeeks have enjoyed a wonderful spring with their daughter and their horses.

Harlan's Holiday, considered as no more than McPeek's "other horse" at the start of the year, moved to the top of the contenders' list with dominating victories in the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park and the Blue Grass Stakes (GI) at Keeneland.

Every step of the way, Sue and Jenna have been at Kenny's side.

Like most moms, Sue loves to tell stories about the baby's activities. But if she relishes them more than most moms, it's because the cancer has remained in remission. Sometimes she feels so excited about the horses, or so worried, that she has trouble sleeping. But there's also something positive to occupy her mind, such as looking forward to a long life with Kenny and Jenna.

In what must be the most poignant pre-Derby quote of all, Sue said, "I no longer think about death as much as I did when I was first diagnosed." Instead, she's squeezing every last bit of excitement out of every Derby experience, and hoping for the best on the first Saturday in May.

Native Kentuckian William F. "Billy" Reed has been a sports writer in various capacities for 42 years and has missed covering the Kentucky Derby a mere two times since 1966. He has been a high-profile sports writer in Kentucky for the Commonwealth's two largest daily newspapers, the Louisville Courier-Journal and the Lexington Herald-Leader and was a national columnist for Sports Illustrated, covering among other sports, Thoroughbred horse racing and college basketball. Reed currently pens a column for the Louisville Sports Report, contrbiutes features to the Keeneland program and will be, among varied other assignments, filing Kentucky Derby installments on www.kentuckyderby.com.

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