Kenny McPeek horses escape Louisville trailer crash unharmed

All five Kenny McPeek horses aboard a trailer rear-ended in Louisville came through the crash unharmed, turning what could have been a disastrous transport wreck into little more than a scare on Interstate 264. Two fillies, Plaza Cue and My Lucky Wife, got loose after the impact, and one of them briefly ran down the Henry Watterson Expressway before the horses were rounded up.

The crash happened around 2:20 p.m. Monday on eastbound I-264 between Breckenridge Lane and the Browns Lane overpass, while the trailer sat in stopped traffic on the way from Churchill Downs in Louisville to Keeneland in Lexington. A truck struck the trailer from behind, pushing in the doors and shoving the horses forward enough to create the opening that let the fillies escape. Louisville Metro Police said there was also a small fuel spill, but it had been cleaned up by the time the scene was cleared around 4 p.m.

The split-second response came from people who happened to be nearby. One loose filly was caught by a groom, while the other was stopped by bystanders on the roadside. Meredith Kennard Park, driving in traffic, saw a horse trotting against the flow with no halter and leg wraps and handed over a strap from her handbag to help secure the animal. Greg Geier reportedly caught the other filly, My Lucky Wife, using his belt.

McPeek said the horses had only minor scratches, with one filly showing just a couple of superficial scratches. The driver was shaken but unharmed, and the horses were loaded onto another truck after the accident so the trip to Lexington could continue. That was the part McPeek called the hardest to manage, even after the horses emerged with little more than bandages and a few nicks.

The incident also hit a nerve inside a game that knows how quickly transport can turn dangerous. McPeek said he had seen a similar scare before, recalling Sunday Silence, whom he said was in a trailer accident as a 2-year-old in 1989. "Sunday Silence was in a trailer accident as a two year old, and the trailer actually rolled. Next year, he wins the Derby." Sunday Silence went on to win the 1989 Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes.

The Louisville crash ended well, but it also underlined how exposed racing stables are anytime horses are moving between training centers and tracks. A March 25, 2024 trailer wreck on the Bluegrass Parkway near Bardstown killed three Thoroughbreds and seriously injured four others, a reminder that this kind of trip can turn from routine to emergency in a matter of seconds.