Humble, High Hopes

A horse owner for about 35 years and a longtime client of trainer Dan Hendricks, Cecil Peacock has always had a thoroughbred preference.

The man who made his fortune in oil asked Hendricks to find him a horse good enough to win the derby. No, not the one held on the first Saturday of May every year in Louisville.

The Canadian-born Peacock’s dream wasn’t quite so lofty.

“He told me to buy him a horse good enough to win the British Columbia Derby,” Hendricks said, referring to one of the annual highlights of the spring-summer meet at Hastings Park in Vancouver. “I found him one, but he’s too good to win that race.”

Brother Derek has Peacock aiming for more significant derbies. Purchased for $275,000 slightly more than a year ago at Barretts’, the son of Benchmark has two important dates in his immediate future.

First up for the California-bred is today’s $750,000 Santa Anita Derby. Then, if all goes well, a trip to Churchill Downs will follow and he could be favored in the Kentucky Derby on May 6.

The founder of Peacock Energy Inc., Peacock is enjoying Brother Derek’s success, and admits that he has Derby fever.

That wasn’t the case in January, right after Brother Derek had beaten Stevie Wonderboy, the 2-year-old champion of 2005, in the San Rafael. Then, Peacock was reluctant to talk about the Kentucky Derby.

“It’s getting so close to reality now, I almost feel as if we’re going,” Peacock said recently from his home in Calgary.

“When we win a race, we lose our senses and act quite goofy. If Brother Derek were to win the Kentucky Derby, I don’t know if it would be safe to be around me. It would be a tremendous feeling.”

Peacock will be at Santa Anita today with his wife, daughter and son-in-law, Lance Giesbrecht, a veteran trainer in Canada. Peacock hopes to celebrate his 79th birthday a day early with another victory by the best horse he has ever owned.

In recent years, Peacock and Hendricks had some success with Littlebitofzip and Don’tsellmeshort, who was the 2-year-old California-bred champion of 2003 and is Brother Derek’s full brother.

Don’tsellmeshort’s success helped lead to the purchase of Brother Derek.

“Of course I was very interested in Miss Soft Sell [Brother Derek’s dam] because Don’tsellmeshort had done so well,” Peacock said. “Brother Derek had been purchased for $150,000 as a yearling, so the people who bought him must have been very impressed.

“We just quietly looked him over. We watched his work [a quarter of a mile] and it was so smooth and he had such great reach. His rider never touched him that day. I liked everything about him.

“Dan said there was no way he would go for under $250,000. When I got him for $275,000. I was smiling all over.

“A lot of times, I would get very nervous when I had to sign the ticket to purchase a horse, but this time there was no problem at all. I felt very comfortable and as the days went by, I felt even more comfortable.”

Brother Derek won in his debut, going 4 1/2 furlongs last May 14 at Hollywood Park. He has continued to blossom, reaching the point where many consider him the top 3-year-old in the country.

He has won each of his four races around two turns, all in graded stakes. In his only defeats in seven starts, he was third in the I’m Smokin last Sept. 5 at Del Mar and fourth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last Oct. 29 at Belmont Park.

And so Peacock, who bought his first oil well in 1971, shortly before he bought his first horse, has discovered a gusher of a different kind.

“It’s a dream,” he said. “When I was quite young, I went to the races and enjoyed myself. I won about $7 and, afterward had a steak dinner when you could still get a steak dinner for $7. I said right then that if I could ever afford it, I would own a racehorse.

“I got into the oil business because I used to see those pumpers working when I went to bed at night and they were still working when I woke up in the morning. I said, ‘I have to get involved in something that makes money while I’m asleep.’ ”

The day after Brother Derek was sold, his former owners, Craig Tillotson and John Brocklebank, contacted Peacock to try to buy the colt back or purchase a 50% interest. With apologies, Peacock said he was not interested.

Still, Brocklebank, who’d bought Brother Derek on behalf of Tillotson as a yearling at Keeneland, has continued to follow the progress of a horse he says he fell for at first sight.

“I was willing to pay whatever I had to in order to get him and I’m not usually that way,” Brocklebank said. “He was deep in the shoulder and tight all the way through his body. He was the easiest horse in the world to look at.”

After the Keeneland sale, Brother Derek went to the Salt Lake County Equestrian Center in South Jordan, Utah. Over the next six months, he was broken and trained by Shane Chipman, also a partner of Brocklebank and Tillotson.

Art Lovato, the program director for the last five years at the Equestrian Center, said Brother Derek’s success had been a source of pride.

“There’s a great deal of interest here,” Lovato said. “I’ve been following him on the Internet and a lot of people are pretty excited.”

The bay colt was named in honor of Tillotson’s teenage son Derek, who is on a mission in Armenia for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Derek, who has been kept apprised of the horse’s accomplishments by his father, is due to return home in September.

“Derek is an absolutely fearless kid and this horse is a perfect namesake for him,” Brocklebank said. “I would go watch Brother Derek gallop every day and it would give me goose bumps. I needed my fix and would feel better after I had seen him.

“Dan has done a crackerjack job with the horse. I was at Santa Anita not too long ago and I talked to [jockey] Alex Solis. If he had been wearing lipstick, it would have been on both of his ears because his smile was so wide when he talked about Brother Derek.”

Although he admits he expected Brother Derek to bring more than $275,000 last year, Brocklebank said that even if Tillotson and he had been able to buy the horse back, they would probably have sold him after his first start. They aren’t in business to race, but to buy young horses, then sell them as 2-year-olds.

“We’re proud of everything this horse has accomplished and we are tickled pink for everybody involved,” Brocklebank said.

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Santa Anita Derby Field

The field is set for the Santa Anita Derby, a $750,000 race at 1 1/8 miles. Scheduled as the sixth race on today’s 11-race card, the Derby is the last major California stakes for 3-year-olds heading to the Kentucky Derby on May 6. There will also be a $1-million guaranteed pick six pool.

*--* PP Horse Jockey Trainer ML 1. A.P. Warrior Corey Nakatani John Sherriffs 7-2 2. Brother Derek Alex Solis Dan Hendricks 3-5 3. Wildfang Omar Berrio John M. Meairs 50-1 4. Indy Wildcat Tyler Baze Paula Capestro 30-1 5. Sacred Light Aaron Gryder David Hofmans 9-2 6. Point Determined Rafael Bejarano Bob Baffert 4-1

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