Thorpedo Anna

Thorpedo Anna began her career with a win at first asking in a 2-year-old maiden race at Keeneland on Oct. 26, 2023, when she crushed a 12-horse field going seven furlongs by 8 1/2 lengths. Her second lifetime start was equally impressive, beating allowance-optional claiming horses by nine lengths going a mile at Churchill Downs on Nov. 10. That led to a runner-up finish in the Grade 2 Golden Rod Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Churchill Downs on Nov. 25 in the final race of her juvenile campaign.

Thorpedo Anna was given four months off and returned to make her 3-year-old debut in the Grade 3 $750,000 going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on March 30, 2024. Drawing the far outside 10 post as the 5-2 odds second choice on the tote board in the Fantasy, Thorpedo Anna stalked the pace close-up throughout, raced three wide on both turns, and then dominantly took charge in the stretch to draw-off to a four-length victory.

Entering the Kentucky Oaks, trainer Kenny McPeek said of Thorpedo Anna: “They better bring a bear [in the Oaks] because I’m bringing a grizzly. I wouldn’t be afraid to run her against the colts.”

His confidence was vindicated and then some when Thorpedo Anna enjoyed a ground-saving, pacesetting trip in the Oaks May 3 at Churchill Downs and powered well clear in the stretch to a runaway victory in 1:50.83 for 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track. She earned more than $900,000 and etched her name in the history books as the 150th winner of the Kentucky Oaks while strengthening her credentials as the leader of the 3-year-old filly division.

Following her Oaks blowout, Thorpedo Anna was pointed to the 1 1/8-mile, Grade 1 Acorn Stakes Presented by DK Horse on June 8. The race, scheduled at Saratoga while Belmont Park underwent reconstruction, was held around two turns instead of its usual one and attracted a quality field headlined by Oaks runner-up Just F Y I. After breaking from the outside post position, Thorpedo Anna settled into stride and pressed pacesetting Just F Y I through the backstretch before moving up early in the far turn to bid for the lead. The filly moved past her champion rival effortlessly under regular jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. and spurted clear of the field in early stretch en route to a dominant 5 ½-length victory over Grade 1 winner Leslie’s Rose, her fifth in six career starts.

Thorpedo Anna again proved unbeatable in yet another Grade 1 race for 3-year-old fillies in her next race in the $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks going 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga on July 20. Sent off as the prohibitive 0.25-1 favorite atop a four-horse field in the CCA Oaks, Thorpedo Anna got off to a bad start a step behind the rest of the field but then quickly raced up into contention and had no trouble trouncing the field by 4 1/4 lengths at the finish.

McPeek next tested Thorpedo Anna against males in the Aug. 24 DraftKings Travers Stakes, the famed "Mid-Summer Derby" at Saratoga, and she rose to the occasion even in defeat. Thorpedo Anna closed gamely in the stretch as she attempted to reel in champion Fierceness in the stretch of the 1 1/4-mile race, but she came up a head short in a thrilling finish.

Back versus 3-year-old fillies in her next start, Thorpedo Anna resumed her familiar spot in the winner's circle when she gutted out a neck victory in the Grade 1 $1 million Cotillion Stakes going 1 1/16 miles at Parx on Sept. 21. Sent off as the 1-9 favorite on the tote board in a field of eight fillies, Thorpedo raced boxed-in in traffic much of the race and didn't get room to swing out and come with her rally from a stalking position until the top of the stretch. It was at that moment when Thorpedo Anna burst through between horses to get the lead in the stretch, and then she was all-out to the finish to hold off a resurgent runner-up Gun Song by a neck.

Thorpedo Anna concluded her championship-winning 3-year-old campaign with a victory in the $2 million Longines Breeders' Cup Distaff going 1 1/8 miles at Del Mar on Nov. 2. Sent off as the 2-5 favorite atop a seven-horse field in the Distaff, Thorpedo Anna went right to the front, controlled the pace all the way, and drew off unchallenged in the stretch to a 2 1/2-length win in a final time of 1:49.10. She finished her season with six wins and a second in seven starts in 2024, with the lone defeat coming by a head against males in the Travers Stakes.

Her spectacular 2024 campaign earned Thorpedo Anna the Eclipse Award for 2024 Horse of the Year, which the connections received at the awards ceremony on Jan. 23, 2025. She also won the Eclipse Award as champion 3-year-old filly. She became the seventh female horse to be honored as Horse of the Year since the Eclipse Awards began in 1971.

Thorpedo Anna was brought back to the track for her 4-year-old season and began her campaign on March 8, 2025, in the Grade 2 $400,000 Azeri Stakes at Oaklawn Park. Sent off as the prohibitive 0.10-1 favorite in a five-horse field on a muddy track labeled "wet fast," Thorpedo Anna basically jogged around the track, faced an unexpectedly stiff challenge from runner-up Free Like a Girl at the top of the stretch, and eventually drew off to a comfortable victory by 3 1/2 lengths.

Thorpedo Anna added to her long list of Grade 1 wins with yet another victory that came in the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap going 1 1/16 miles at Oaklawn Park on April 12. Sent off as the 1-5 favorite atop a field of six fillies and mares as the 124-pound high weight, Thorpedo Anna sat off pace setting Wild About Hilary much of the race until effortlessly moving to challenge on the turn and accelerating at the top of the stretch enroute to a 4 1/4-length win in a time of 1:44.27. 

Thorpedo Anna’s four-race winning streak came to a halt in the $1 million Fasig-Tipton La Troienne Stakes May 2 on the Longines Kentucky Oaks undercard. She pressed pacesetter Randomized from second but ran out of gas in the stretch and faded to last in the seven-horse field.

Whatever went wrong in the La Troienne for Thorpedo Anna was quickly corrected when the champ was back in action and back to the winner's circle in her next start in the Grade 2 $500,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes going 1 1/8 miles June 28 at Churchill Downs. Thorpedo Anna pressed the pace, challenged on the turn, and took over in the stretch to draw off to a 2 1/2-length victory atop a five-horse field. Thorpedo Anna earned an automatic berth in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff with the victory via the “Win and You’re In” Challenge Series.

After her Fleur de Lis triumph, Thorpedo Anna took nearly two months off and then returned in a stern test, the Personal Ensign Stakes Aug. 23 at Saratoga. She was sent off as the 3-4 favorite in the 1 1/8-mile race and turned in one of her career-best efforts by pressing the early pace, taking a contested lead in early stretch, and outgaming a valiant Dorth Vader for a nose victory. 

In her final start before a planned repeat bid in the Longines Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Thorpedo Anna turned in another puzzling subpar effort as the 1-2 favorite in the Juddmonte Spinster Stakes Oct. 5 at Keeneland. She provided modest pressure to pacesetting longshot Gin Gin through the backstretch of the 1 1/8-mile Spinster but had no response when called upon by substitute jockey Flavien Prat in the far turn and faded to finish fifth of six in the homestretch.

Thorpedo Anna was bred in Kentucky by the sire Fast Anna out of the mare Sataves, by Uncle Mo. She is from the family of Grade 1 winner and sire Eskendereya.