Thorpedo Anna draws rail in field of eight for Saturday's Travers Stakes
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Kenny McPeek has already made a bit of history this year by winning the Kentucky Derby and Kentucky Oaks in the same year, becoming the first trainer to accomplish the feat since Ben Jones did it in 1952.
Now, three months later, McPeek will try to make some more history when he sends out his Kentucky Oaks winner Thorpedo Anna against seven 3-year-old males in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes as she attempts to become the first filly since Lady Rotha in 1915 to accomplish the feat.
On Sunday, Thorpedo Anna drew the rail and was made the co-second-choice along with Fierceness [post 8] at 3-1 behind Dornoch, the Belmont Stakes and Haskell winner who drew post 7 and was made the 5-2 morning-line favorite by New York Racing Association linemaker David Aragona. Sierra Leone, the Kentucky Derby runner-up and Belmont Stakes third-place finisher, drew post 2 and is the 7-2 fourth choice in the 1 1/4-mile Travers.
Completing the Travers field are Unmatched Wisdom [post 3, 8-1], Corporate Power [post 4, 15-1], Batten Down [post 5, 20-1], and Honor Marie [post 6, 20-1].
Thorpedo Anna has been so dominant in the 3-year-old filly division - her victories in the Fantasy Stakes, Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and Coaching Club American Oaks coming by a combined 18 3/4 lengths - that McPeek felt there was nothing left for the filly to prove within her division. There is little risk for perhaps great reward, running in the Travers.
“I don’t see much downside, I think if she’s third or better it’s practically a victory,” McPeek said on a rainy Sunday morning in his Saratoga barn office. “Not that we want to be third. I think that’s a respectable race and if she wins, she’s immortal. You have to take those chances sometimes.”
In 2020, McPeek took the chance of running the filly Swiss Skydiver against males in the Preakness Stakes. He was rewarded when Swiss Skydiver prevailed in a stretch duel with Kentucky Derby winner Authentic and won by a neck. McPeek said part of the reason he ran Swiss Skydiver in the Preakness - which that year was run in October due to delays caused by COVID-19 - was because there were no opportunities for 3-year-old fillies at that point of the year. Swiss Skydiver had won the Alabama and was second in the Kentucky Oaks.
In the case of Thorpedo Anna, McPeek said “she’s just been so dominant and we’ve been running against all these 3-year-olds and I think she’s every bit as good as any of them. My litmus test has been her workouts with Mystik Dan. “
During the winter and early spring, Thorpedo Anna and Mystik Dan worked together a few times and, as McPeek said, helped get each other ready. In a span of 24 hours, Thorpedo Anna won the Kentucky Oaks and Mystik Dan took the Kentucky Derby.
Had McPeek not had Mystik Dan for the Belmont, he may have run Thorpedo Anna in that race. With Mystik Dan having gone to McPeek’s farm in Lexington for a rest following his Triple Crown campaign - he was the only horse to run in the Kentucky Derby, Preakness, and Belmont - Thorpedo Anna now gets her chance against the boys, who McPeek believes have their vulnerabilities.
“The way she’s just jumped through all those hoops so easily ... how high can she jump? I think all of them have a little chink in their armor here and there and they’ve all been going hard all year. She’s not even felt the sting of the whip.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. will take his usual seat on Thorpedo Anna.
On Saturday, Thorpedo Anna was one of six Travers starters to put in their final workouts for the race. Arguably, she was the most impressive, going five furlongs in 59.65 seconds over the main track while working outside a stablemate and with both having to go around a horse from a different barn in the stretch.
“He never gave her her head,” McPeek said, referring to exercise rider Danny Ramsey. “If he shoves on her around there, she’d go 56. She’s got sprinter speed and just keeps going.”
On Sunday, Thorpedo Anna schooled in the paddock for 12 minutes prior to the running of a 1 1/4-mile maiden race for 3-year-old fillies. The winner of the race, Miss Hebrides, was trained by McPeek.
The Travers will go as race 13 on a 14-race card that begins at 11:20 a.m. The long-range weather forecast calls for sunny skies and temperatures in the low 80s.
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