McPeek content to regroup with Signalman
HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Some people might have been troubled by Signalman’s seventh-place finish in Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, but his trainer Ken McPeek wasn’t one of them.
McPeek couldn’t have been more upbeat or confident in his Grade 2-winning Kentucky Derby hopeful when looking back on the effort the following day.
“He had several excuses for his performance and obviously this race was not our main goal, the Derby is,” said McPeek. “First off, I think I undercooked him for the race. I’ll take that bullet. His first half-mile breeze here was too fast, it jammed him up a little bit, so I had to back off on him. He also lost a shoe somewhere in the race and didn’t scope perfectly clean afterwards. He kind of reminds me of Eskimo Kisses a little bit. She got beat eight lengths and ran fourth in her prep for the Alabama last summer, then came back and ran a powerful race to win the big one.”
McPeek said the April 6 Blue Grass at Keeneland will be next on the agenda for Signalman.
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“He’s a big, strong horse and he put on a lot of weight after his last race at 2,” said McPeek. “I need to tighten him up, but I have plenty of time to do that. With a race under his belt and all those other things, I think there is 10 lengths of improvement in him.”
McPeek may also have another Triple Crown contender on his hands after Lemniscate won his maiden in both his turf and two-turn debut here Sunday.
“I entered him for a Florida-bred race at seven furlongs for Saturday, it didn’t go, there wasn’t going to be anything else for a while and I had a loaded gun with nothing to do with him,” said McPeek. “So I called the owner and said ‘It might sound crazy, but I’m going to go ahead and run him a mile and one-sixteenth on the turf.’ And I told her I think he’ll win. I stuck my neck out, and for once, I was right.”
McPeek said he’s considering putting Lemniscate back on the dirt for his next start, which could come at Oaklawn Park in the Arkansas Derby.
