Fast Anna sheds blinkers for Gallant Bob

Fast Anna comes into the Grade 3 Gallant Bob on Saturday at Parx off a sharp second in the Grade 1 King’s Bishop at Saratoga and likely will be a short-priced favorite.

A 3-year-old Medaglia d’Oro colt out of owner-breeder Frank Calabrese’s $2 million earner Dreaming of Anna, Fast Anna began his career with two blowout wins at Gulfstream Park, one in April and the other in July.

For his third start, trainer Kathy Ritvo brought Fast Anna to Saratoga. He sprinted off to an open lead in the King’s Bishop, remained clear into the final sixteenth, but was run down by The Big Beast and beaten a neck. In three starts, his Beyer Speed Figures have climbed from 84 to 87 to 95.

Ritvo will make an equipment change for the Gallant Bob and remove Fast Anna’s blinkers.

“He’s a super, super smart horse,” she said. “He’s matured enough. He doesn’t need them anymore.”

The $300,000 Gallant Bob is at six furlongs, which suits Fast Anna perfectly, at least for now. Dreaming of Anna could sprint, stretched out to win the 2006 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies, and then developed into a distance turf runner. Fast Anna might also get a chance to try new things down the road.

“For right now, we want to keep him sprinting. All of the other good horses kind of have the jump on us – they’re more seasoned,” Ritvo said from Delaware Park, where she has been training Fast Anna since the close of Saratoga. “In the future, he will obviously be able to run on turf, and I don’t see anything that will keep him from running long.”

This steady, patient approach is reminiscent of how Ritvo guided the career of Mucho Macho Man, who raced from 2010 until this year and won the 2013 Breeders’ Cup Classic after finishing second in 2012.

“I just want to bring him along the right way,” Ritvo said of Fast Anna. “I love the horses, and I just want to do what’s right for them.”