Kentucky native Mike Pegram, a long-time owner best known for coming within a nose of winning the Triple Crown with Real Quiet in 1998, will be honored with the Laffit Pincay Jr. Award on Sunday at Del Mar. Named for the classy Hall of Fame jockey, the award recognizes those who have served racing “with integrity, extraordinary dedication, determination, and distinction.” Pegram, 73, reflected on his racing career during a question-and-answer session conducted on behalf of America’s Best Racing.

PEDULLA: What does it mean to you to win the Pincay Award?

PEGRAM: Any time you get recognized by somebody like Del Mar, which has grown to be my favorite racetrack over the years, and get that recognition from the community, how can you not enjoy it? We all work hard to keep the sport going. To be recognized like this is an honor.

Pegram in his happy place at Del Mar. (BENOIT photo)

PEDULLA: What is it about Del Mar that makes it your favorite track?

PEGRAM: Del Mar has always kept a positive attitude. They value the horsemen and it shows. It’s just great to be part of that. The setting at Del Mar is second to none. The way management has run Del Mar through the years, it’s top class. They keep trying to be innovative and keep on pushing the ball forward.

PEDULLA: How did you get into racing?

PEGRAM: I cannot remember not going to the racetrack. My racetrack was Ellis Park [in Henderson, Ky.]. Ellis has come a long way since the days when I went there with my father as a kid. I was always a racing fan. I always loved the action. The first horse I owned was with my father [Jim] and a couple of buddies that ran in a claimer at Ellis and we ended up buying the horse privately.

PEDULLA: What was the name of that claimer?

PEGRAM: Storm Strike. He ended up not being a claimer. He won a stake. He was a hard-knocking horse that traveled that Midwest circuit and did well for himself.

PEDULLA: You were influential in convincing Bob Baffert to train Thoroughbreds instead of Quarter-Horses. What happened there?

PEGRAM: I went through a divorce and got out of the horse business for a while. When I got back in, a buddy of mine said, ‘Do you want to buy a Quarter-Horse with me?’ Baffert ended up being the trainer. My father died in 1987 and he had a stable of horses that I kind of took over. That’s when I realized I was missing the Thoroughbreds. I told Bob, it was kind of tongue in cheek but it was true, ‘Why are we running for $4,000 at night when we can run for $40,000 during the day at Santa Anita?’ He jumped over and started buying Thoroughbreds with us.

PEDULLA: You had success together very early with Thirty Slews, who went on to win the 1992 Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Gulfstream Park.

PEGRAM: The first horse Bob bought at auction was Thirty Slews [at the 1988 Keeneland September yearling sale]. The name Thirty Slews came from $30,000. That’s what he bought him for. We had success early on. I knew I hooked my wagon to the right star.

PEDULLA: Does Thirty Slews hold a special place for you?

PEGRAM: Oh, yeah. I’ll tell you a cute story on that. We were a bunch of tinhorns showing up at Gulfstream [for the Breeders’ Cup] that day. I was nervous as hell that day. I went to the beach and came back and Bob said, ‘Where have you been?’ I had a pair of shorts and my normal Tommy Bahama shirt on. He said, ‘We’re running for a million dollars. You can’t go to the track looking like that. Get dressed up. Put on your jeans.’

Real Quiet winning the 1998 Kentucky Derby. (BloodHorse/Skip Dickstein)

PEDULLA: Real Quiet was another bargain. You purchased him for $17,000. Why was he so inexpensive?

PEGRAM: I was not at the sale. I got in that night. Bobby told me, ‘Hey, we bought a Derby horse today’ and he showed me the page. The bottom side was as strong as strong can be. He said, ‘He needs to grow into his body,’ because he had this long, narrow body. That’s the reason why we called him “The Fish.” His nickname at the barn all the time was “The Fish.” He wound up growing into this big, beautiful horse and he took us on the ride of a lifetime.

PEDULLA: He missed by a nose in the Belmont Stakes after opening a big lead only to be caught at the wire by Victory Gallop. For a large part of that race, did you think you were going to win the Triple Crown?

PEGRAM: Yeah, when they turned for home. And I want to tell you, as soon as I thought it, that’s when everything started falling apart. When [jockey Kent] Desormeaux opened a big lead turning for home, I’m thinking, ‘Damn, this is like Secretariat.’ And then, all of a sudden, here came my buddy, Gary Stevens, with Victory Gallop.

PEDULLA: How did you react to such a tough beat?

PEGRAM: I didn’t think no more about it after getting beat. That had to be the most fun I ever had in five weeks of my life, getting re-acquainted with people from all walks of life that I met along the way. 

From left to right: Pegram, Paul Weitman, Karl Watson, and Baffert (BENOIT photo)

PEDULLA: Did you ever discuss the race with Desormeaux?

PEGRAM: No, never did. He rode the best race he could ride. I’ll say it publicly now. He just misjudged it. He moved too early. Real Quiet always ran the turn. That’s where he took the lead in the Derby. That’s where he opened up in the Preakness. So, Kent let him run the turn but that’s a big, sweeping turn at Belmont and he got out of synch that last sixteenth of a mile. The horse fought all the way to the wire and it was the bob of a nose. I can’t ride a horse, so I ain’t   going to start telling a jockey how to ride and how not to. 

PEDULLA: Because it was a defeat, where does that Belmont moment rank for you?

PEGRAM: Well, you’ll never forget it because it was the end to an absolutely wonderful five-week ride. You learn in this sport that you’re not going to win every time. If you want to have a .500 batting average, you get into another industry because you ain’t going to do that with racing. I don’t think it really sunk in because I had a little filly in the barn named Silverbulletday. Even with the thrills she gave me, winning the Derby has to be the most memorable thing that I’ll ever do.

PEDULLA: You’ve had so many good horses. Which one was your favorite?

Pegram enjoys a win by Lookin At Lucky in 2009. (BENOIT photo)

PEGRAM: Real Quiet, naturally, and then Silverbulletday and everything she took us through, and then [2010 Preakness winner] Lookin At Lucky. What did Lookin At Lucky ever do wrong? But the one that sticks out to me is Midnight Lute [two-time Breeders’ Cup Sprint winner] because Midnight Lute is a son of Real Quiet. I’ve always said that Real Quiet is the gift that kept on giving. That’s not knocking the whole list of Grade 1 winners we’ve had. But it still goes back to Real Quiet.

PEDULLA: You’d have to say Real Quiet was your best horse?

PEGRAM: Yeah. I mean there are only so many Derby winners. And this is the other thing about Real Quiet where he didn’t get his due in my opinion because Real Quiet won a Grade 1 as a 2-year-old, 3-year-old and 4-year-old. How many horses could say that? The only race he ever lost [longer than] a mile and an eighth was by a nose in the Belmont. You go back and look at his past performances and he was just an amazing horse. He went from being “The Fish” to being “The Man.”

PEDULLA: What has been racing’s impact on your life?

PEGRAM: I’ve had a very successful business life and a great family life. But I couldn’t imagine either one of them without racing.