Thorpedo Anna, with Brian Hernandez Jr. in the saddle, was well clear of her rivals in the Acorn Stakes June 8, winning her fifth race in six career starts with an overpowering stretch run. (Eclipse Sportswire)
“Could have run her in the Belmont,” he said with a laugh, referring to the $2 million, Grade 1 Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets June 8 at Saratoga.
Most agree she would have fared well there, though the trainer understandably chose to sit the final leg of the Triple Crown out, knowing he has Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner and Preakness Stakes runner-up Mystik Dan set for the 2024 Triple Crown finale. That classic, which, like the Acorn and other Belmont Stakes Festival races, is at Saratoga this year due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park.
Seemingly without a rival to challenge her in the 3-year-old filly ranks, Thorpedo Anna has the credentials to face male rivals at some point.
“We’ll see. I’d like another Alabama first,” McPeek said, referring to the $600,000, Grade 1 Alabama Stakes Aug. 17 at Saratoga.
The trainer is a two-time Alabama winner, taking it first with Eskimo Kisses in 2018 and then with Swiss Skydiver in 2020. The latter would defeat males later in the year in the Preakness Stakes during a COVID-19-impacted year that delayed that race until October.
McPeek captured his first Acorn on Friday, as did jockey Brian Hernandez. Jr., who delivered yet another well-positioned ride, as he did on Thorpedo Anna in the Oaks and on Mystik Dan in the Derby.
Breaking from the far outside, Hernandez had his filly in second early, tracking a surprising pacesetter in reigning 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I, who shot to the lead with fractions of :23.53, :46.75, and 1:10.24 in the 1 1/8-mile Acorn. A half-length off the leader after six furlongs, horse and jockey took over the lead coming into the stretch.
“She’s just doing it effortlessly with her ears up,” Hernandez said. “And we turned from home and I reached back, I slapped her one time just because she was kind of messing around a little bit. I didn’t want something to really run at her and jump on her. And then once I did that, I was like, ‘OK, we’re in good order now.’”
Surging to a three-length lead in midstretch, Thorpedo Anna lengthened her advantage further to the wire over Central Bank Ashland Stakes winner Leslie’s Rose, who came on from a stalking position to grab the runner-up spot. Leslie’s Rose was 1 ¼ lengths clear of Power Squeeze, who rallied from last to show, 2 ½ lengths ahead of New York-bred standout My Mane Squeeze in fourth.
All but My Mane Squeeze and Gun Song had lost to Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs five weeks earlier when Just F Y I ran closest to her, 4 ¾ lengths behind.
The ‘Thorpedo’ heads to the winner’s circle. (Eclipse Sportswire)
Thorpedo Anna is now 5-1-0 in six starts with earnings of more than $1.7 million for owners Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing. Hicks bred the 3-year-old daughter of Three Chimneys stallion Fast Anna, who was euthanized due to laminitis in February 2021. McPeek bought her for $40,000 from the Grovensale Sales consignment to the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
“Grizzly,” McPeek said of Thorpedo Anna, repeating what he called her even before the Kentucky Oaks. “She has so much high energy, and she does everything so efficiently.”
“I believe we have a superstar on our hands,” added Hernandez. “Those are put in a rare air, but she seems to be one of those fillies. When the announcer (Frank Mirahmadi) calls you brilliant in a Grade 1, you know it tends to make you believe that you are a part of something really magical, something really special.”
Thorpedo Anna paid $3.50 to win the Acorn, favored among the Saratoga crowd of 27,529 and those playing the race off-track. Saratoga’s all-sources handle for the Friday card was $38,350,146.
If McPeek and Hernandez can win the Belmont on Saturday with Mystik Dan, they will become the first trainer and jockey to pull off the Acorn-Belmont double since Cotton Blossom and Rags to Riches won the Acorn and Belmont, respectively, in 2007 for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez, now Hall of Famers. Rags to Riches, a filly, defeated Curlin and other males in the Belmont.
Asked about pursuing the Acorn-Belmont double after he and McPeek combined to capture the Oaks and Derby a day apart at Churchill Downs, Hernandez replied: “It’s a great joy, and I’m so grateful for Kenny to give us the opportunity with these good horses like this – to be able to wheel off these Grade 1s over the last five weeks with these two good horses. It’s a feeling that for the last 20 years we worked for and just such a huge accomplishment to be able to be a part of.”
