Joey Peacock Jr. is sure to experience a wave of emotion if Senor Buscador should win or run well in the $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes on Jan. 27 at Gulfstream Park.

The 6-year-old son of Mineshaft is the last horse he bred in partnership with his father, Joe. His father, a long-time student of bloodlines before he died three years ago, decided to send their successful broodmare, New Mexico-bred Rose’s Desert, to the 2003 Horse of the Year.

His decision paid off in a big way. Senor Buscador, trained by New Mexico-based Todd Fincher, may well attain millionaire status in the 1 1/8-mile Pegasus. The well-traveled Grade 2 winner has compiled a record of six wins, one second, and two thirds in 16 starts while banking $923,427.

Gulfstream will be the 11^th track at which he has competed following Remington Park, Fair Grounds, Lone Star Park, Del Mar, Churchill Downs, Keeneland, Sunland Park, Oaklawn Park, Santa Anita Park and Aqueduct. He comes off a runner-up effort to fellow Pegasus hopeful Hoist the Gold in the Dec. 2 Cigar Mile Handicap at Aqueduct.

Peacock Jr. discussed the pairing of Rose’s Desert with Mineshaft, the pros and cons of being based in New Mexico, and his Pegasus prospects as part of a question-and-answer session conducted on behalf of America’s Best Racing.

PEDULLA: How did you get involved in racing?

PEACOCK Jr.: My parents [Joe and Iris] started racing horses back in the late 60s, so we’ve been involved in it for a long, long time. … My wife [Kimberly] and I enjoy it and I’m trying to get all my kids indoctrinated. They all seem to enjoy going to fun places to watch horse races. We’re hoping to continue the family tradition.

PEDULLA: How many horses do you have?

Kimberly and Joey Peacock. (BENOIT photo)

PEACOCK Jr.: We have 11 horses. We have three broodmares. We have our original goose that laid the golden egg with Rose’s Desert and she just continues to produce amazing racehorses. Every horse that’s made it to the racetrack and has had time to run is a stakes winner. Two of them have won graded stakes, Runaway Ghost and Senor Buscador. We’re bringing Rose’s Desert back to Uncle Mo.

PEDULLA: You live in San Antonio but your racing base has always been in New Mexico. Why does that work for you?

PEACOCK Jr.: When my parents were racing, they loved to race in New Mexico because we had a home in Ruidoso, N.M., and we would spend the majority of the summers there. The racing season was from Memorial Day until Labor Day. The only reason I’m in New Mexico now is because of Todd Fincher. I have complete and total confidence in everything Todd does and everything he tells me. If Todd left New Mexico, I would be with Todd wherever he went.

PEDULLA: Are there advantages to being in New Mexico beyond access to Todd?

PEACOCK Jr.: It works for us because we can get these young horses started in New Mexico. We can sort of assess their talent level and then Todd is able to take them wherever we need to go. He’s got good people working for him.

PEDULLA: What are your ambitions in racing?

PEACOCK Jr.: We want to run at the highest level. We’re after quality, not quantity.

PEDULLA: I know Senor Buscador has been an exercise in patience. Tell me a bit about the journey that got him to the Pegasus.

PEACOCK Jr.: He won first out, a maiden special weight at Remington. He broke dead last, way behind, and ended up winning by 2 ½ [lengths] going 5 ½ furlongs. Then we went right back and ran him in the Springboard Mile, which was a Kentucky Derby points race. He broke dead last, he was beat 12 lengths, ended up circling the field and winning by 5 ¾. By 10 o’clock the next morning, I had 10 people wanting to buy him. He ran the fastest two-turn Beyer of a 2-year-old that year.

PEDULLA: What happened to set him back during his 3-year-old season?

PEACOCK Jr.: His next race was the Risen Star Stakes and he just didn’t have his usual finish. So we knew something was wrong. We X-rayed him and found out he had a chip in an ankle. He was on the Derby trail. He was in everybody’s Top 10. So we took him out of training, had the chip removed, the surgery went well, gave him four months off, and started bringing him back.

PEDULLA: What kept him from running until he won an allowance race at Lone Star the following July?

PEACOCK Jr.: He was training great and then Todd gets to the barn one morning and he can’t put his right rear foot on the ground. He just somehow injured it in the stall. Freak deal. It got infected. He had to have another surgery. He was out of racing for almost 18 months. He missed virtually all of his 3-year-old year and then half of his 4-year-old year.

‘Senor’ wins the 2022 Ack Ack at Churchill. (Eclipse Sportswire)

PEDULLA: He won the Ack Ack Stakes at Churchill Downs in October 2022 but then ran eighth in the Big Ass Fans Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. That must have been disappointing.

PEACOCK Jr.: We were really excited about him in the Dirt Mile. Ran terrible. We knew something was wrong. Turns out he bled. Never done it before. Never done it since, but something happened. We’ve had a lot of bad luck with him. But since then he’s been pretty steady. 

PEDULLA: What can you say about his running style?

PEACOCK Jr.: He’s a little quirky. He’s a deep closer. He’ll go straight to the back. It doesn’t matter if you’re running 5 ½ furlongs or a mile and a quarter. He’s going to be dead last getting away from the gate. But he’ll be running at the end. We’re really proud of the horse. He shows up. He puts the effort in. His running style drives me crazy because it’s [race] dead last and then see who we can catch.

PEDULLA: What does it mean to you that Senor Buscador is the last horse you bred with your father? Did he choose Mineshaft?

PEACOCK Jr.: Yes, he chose Mineshaft. At the time, I didn’t really see that. But if Senor Buscador does at all well in the Pegasus, it will put him over a million dollars [in earnings]. For a $10,000 stud fee, that’s a pretty good return.

PEDULLA: Was your father adamant about Mineshaft?

PEACOCK Jr.: He liked the stamina that you got coming from Mineshaft. Mineshaft ran the classic distances. My father would get the BloodHorse Stallion Register when it came out every year and he would go through it and he would look at all the pedigrees. He liked to see horses that made money all the way through the pedigrees. He looked for horses that were sound and ran quite a few races and made money. Mineshaft clearly fit that bill.

PEDULLA: Will your Pegasus chances boil down to what kind of pace you get?

PEACOCK Jr.: Pace always helps him. It doesn’t have to be a meltdown pace. It just has to be a good, honest pace. He’s got a hell of a kick at the end. We really feel he can compete on anything that’s playing fair. He’ll be running at the end. And there aren’t many that can outrun him at the end.