Racecar Rhapsody is looking to earn the first graded stakes victory of his career when he runs in the May 17 Preakness Stakes (gr. I).
Trained by Ken McPeek, the 3-year-old son of Tale of the Cat enters the second leg of the Triple Crown off a fourth-place finish to Behindatthebar in the April 19 Coolmore Lexington Stakes (gr. II). Both Behindatthebar and Riley Tucker, who ran third in the Lexington, are scheduled to run in the Preakness as well.
Racecar Rhapsody has not won a race since breaking his maiden at Keeneland last October. In his next start, he finished third in the Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes (gr. II) before reeling off three consecutive fourth-place finishes. Prior to the Lexington, he ran fourth in the 2007 Boyd Gaming's Delta Jackpot Stakes (gr. III) and the March 22 Lane’s End Stakes (gr. II).
If his sale history is anything to go by, expectations have always been high for Racecar Rhapsody. Acting as agent, Lane’s End consigned him as a weanling to the Keeneland November mixed sale, and he was purchased by Eldon Farm Equine for $390,000. His next trip through the ring came at the 2006 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga select yearling sale where Gainesway, agent, sold him to M.W. Miller III for $400,000. Racecar Rhapsody was also offered at the 2007 Keeneland April 2-year-olds in training sale but failed to meet his reserve when bidding stopped at $240,000.
Jerry Carroll, Stan Kaplan, Ronald Plattner, and Mark Guilfoyle campaign the bay colt. Racecar Rhapsody made his first two starts solely for Carroll, who owned Turfway Park from 1986-1999 and now owns Kentucky Speedway.
Racecar Rhapsody will be McPeek’s third Preakness starter. He also saddled Harlan's Holiday in 2002 and Tejano Run in 1995. They ran fourth and ninth, respectively. McPeek won his first Triple Crown race when longshot Sarava took the 2002 Belmont Stakes (gr. I).
G. Watts Humphrey Jr. bred Racecar Rhapsody in Kentucky out of the A.P. Indy mare Reflect the Music. The bay mare was a homebred stakes winner for Humphrey during her racing career. Humphrey bought Racecar Rhapsody’s second dam, Light On Your Feet, for $75,000 at the 1992 Keeneland January mixed sale.
Reflect the Music has been sold twice since producing Racecar Rhapsody. Most recently, she was purchased by Mercedes Stable at the 2008 Keeneland January mixed sale for $450,000 from Paramount Sales, agent. She delivered a Johannesburg colt for that outfit Feb. 24.