Mystik Dan working at Fair Grounds; Thorpedo Anna to join him after vacation

After their remarkable two-day early May run for trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., the 3-year-old campaigns of Thorpedo Anna, who won the Kentucky Oaks, and Mystik Dan, who captured the Kentucky Derby a day later, sharply diverged. Now, the pair is set to come together for a winter in New Orleans.

Thorpedo Anna remains in Kentucky but soon will join Derby winner Mystik Dan at Fair Grounds, with both 3-year-olds on track to race in 2025.

Mystik Dan after the Derby took a competitive defeat two weeks later in the Preakness, finished eighth in the Belmont on June 8 at Saratoga, and hasn’t raced since.

Thorpedo Anna went 4 for 5 after her Oaks, the lone loss by a neck to high-class Fierceness in the Travers Stakes. Thorpedo Anna won three more Grade 1s – the Acorn by more than five lengths, the Coaching Club American Oaks by more than four, and the Cotillion by a neck – before capping a championship campaign with a victory in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff.

The five Grade 1s, the win over older foes in the Breeders’ Cup, and the gallant loss in the Travers make Thorpedo Anna a Horse of the Year candidate in a season during which no other horse outside the juvenile ranks has more than two Grade 1 wins.

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Thorpedo Anna came out of her Distaff win in good order and has begun a 60-day respite at McPeek’s farm near Lexington, Ky. When she’s ready to resume racetrack training, she’ll ship to McPeek’s barn at Fair Grounds, overseen by assistant trainer Greg Geier. McPeek said Thorpedo Anna will have the Apple Blossom on April 12 at Oaklawn Park as her major spring objective.

As for Mystik Dan, he has settled into a rhythm at Fair Grounds, posting two timed workouts there after breezing twice at Keeneland following his extended absence. McPeek said Mystik Dan won’t race before next year.

“We’ve got him in a nice little routine and he’s doing well. We’ll probably sit down and come up with a plan about where we’re headed in the next couple weeks,” McPeek said. “There’s nothing I can announce yet, but we’re working on some things right now for a future stallion deal. But that’s not for this year.”

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