by Tim Wilkin, courtesy Wednesday's Pennsylvania Derby & Cotillion News
The echoes that bounced off the rafters at Saratoga Race Course last month are still fresh in the mind of Brian Hernandez, Jr. The 38-year-old jockey can still hear the noise as he rode Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) to a heart-pounding second–beaten by a head–behind Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes.
Thorpedo Anna's bid to become the first filly to win the Travers in 109 years came up just short.
Now, the page has turned to Parx Racing and Thorpedo Anna will be the headliner in the $1-million GI Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. Hernandez is more than happy to be along for the ride again.
“She gave me a lot (in the Travers)” Hernandez said, “but I don't think we got to the bottom of her. She wasn't tired after that race. She still thinks she won. That's encouraging.”
Thorpedo Anna, trained by Kenny McPeek and owned by Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Sherri McPeek's Magdalena Racing was made the 4-5 morning-line favorite in the Cotillion by Parx Director of Racing and Racing Secretary David Osojnak.
She is undefeated in four starts this year against fillies, winning those by a combined 18 3/4 lengths. Hernandez has been aboard for all of them, three of the races being Grade 1s.
Earlier this year, Hernandez became the ninth jockey in history to win the GI Kentucky Derby and GI Kentucky Oaks in the same year. He won the Derby with Mystik Dan (Goldencents), who is also trained by McPeek.
“She has gotten so popular after her summer at Saratoga,” Hernandez said. “The crazy thing about this year is that I rode the Kentucky Derby winner, and no one is talking about him. It's all about Thorpedo Anna. She has taken the spotlight.”
She will certainly have the spotlight at Parx.
Hernandez, who rides regularly in Kentucky, won the 2004 Eclipse Award for outstanding apprentice jockey. He is the all-time leading rider at Kentucky Downs and is annually near the top of the list at Churchill Downs.
In 2012, he won the GI Breeders' Cup Classic with Fort Larned, but it wasn't until this spring that he was vaulted into the national spotlight. And he has embraced that.
“Winning the Breeders' Cup is a huge, huge accomplishment,” he said. “And we have had some good years, but it goes to a different stratosphere when you win the Kentucky Derby. It definitely puts you on the radar.”
Having the best filly in the land as a partner sure doesn't hurt, either.
Hernandez expects that Thorpedo Anna will be just as regaled at Parx as she was in Saratoga this summer and Kentucky this spring.
“That has made this so much more fun,” Hernandez said. “Over the summer, she had the fan base and there were hats and posters. She knows she is special. She is the big horse in the barn. When horses get good like she has, they understand how good they are. She doesn't know she's a filly. She just knows she is all racehorse. We are really looking forward to the rest of the year.”
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