By Alan Carasso
BENSALEM, PA — The look of sheer relief on the face of trainer Ken McPeek pretty much said it all.
Sent off the long odds-on pop and with the bullseye squarely on her back in Saturday's $1-million GI Cotillion Stakes at Parx Racing, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) was forced into a perilous trip and found herself locked away for the better part of the opening seven furlongs, but the great ones find a way to win when the chips are down and she clawed her way past a very game Gun Song (Gun Runner) to record a fourth elite-level victory in 2024.
“She's head over heels above the 3-year-old fillies, so as long as we didn't have something really silly happen–which almost did–I felt really confident,” said McPeek, who is fresh off shopping the Keeneland September Sale, where he signed for 37 horses for nearly $5.7 million in search of the next Thorpedo Anna.
He added, “She runs the turns the best, but they had her blocked in the whole turn. Thank God I didn't ride her. The good ones overcome everything.”
There was plenty to unpack in the Cotillion.
Thorpedo Anna was able to secure a forward position beneath her regular rider Brian Hernandez, Jr., but she found herself tightly at the fence as GII Charles Town Oaks runner-up Mystic Lake (Mo Town) set the pace from the two path while Gun Song, winner of the local prep in the Cathryn Sophia Stakes Aug. 24, prompted three deep down the backstretch. Shuffled back to be clearly third before they reached the turn, Thorpedo Anna appeared to be full of run, but 'TDN Rising Star' Tarifa (Bernardini) further complicated things by rolling up outside the favorite, keeping Thorpedo Anna in search of somewhere to run.
Making use of her athleticism and agility, Hernandez sent Thorpedo Anna three wide into the lane, quickening better than Tarifa to her outside, and she now had the better part of the final furlong to land the final telling blow. Thorpedo Anna hit the front with better than a sixteenth to race and looked on her way to a comfortable score, only to allow Gun Song to come back at her in the waning strides. Tarifa ran on at one pace for third.
Added Hernandez, Jr.: “We were having a tough trip the whole way around there, because looking at it on paper, it looked like (Mystic Lake) was going to be fast enough to clear us, and then we were going to be able to hop out and just get a nice cruising trip.
“But Johnny (Velazquez) had other plans. He got his filly (Gun Song) to leave there good, and he put us in a box, and we were just stuck there behind him for a long, long time. Then we finally got a little seam turning for home. She lengthened her stride, and she was able to just put her neck in front. She just showed how game she was from the eighth pole home.”
After tasting defeat for the first time in the GII Golden Rod Stakes last November, Thorpedo Anna resumed with a smooth success in the GIII Fantasy Stakes before making all the running to take the GI Kentucky Oaks by open lengths. So easy were her subsequent wins in the GI Acorn Stakes and GI CCA Oaks that McPeek decided to pass the logical next step in the GI Alabama Stakes in favor of a meeting with the boys in the GI Travers Stakes. Relegated to an off-the-pace trip on that occasion, she stuck her neck out and came after 'Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), just missing out while losing absolutely no admirers in defeat.
Pedigree Notes:
Thorpedo Anna is one of two winners from as many to race from her unraced dam, whose 5-year-old daughter Charlee O (Tourist) is a two-time winner for McPeek and Judy Hicks and is now worth considerably more than the $5,000 for which she was bought back at the 2020 Fasig-Tipton October Yearling Sale. Second dam Pacific Sky also never made the races and is a half-sister to the expatriated Grade I winner Eskendereya (Giant's Causeway) and Group 1 winner Balmont (Stravinsky).
Sataves is also the dam of the juvenile colt McAfee (Cloud Computing), a $40,000 purchase at last year's Keeneland September Sale and the weanling filly After the Storm (Known Agenda). The mare was bred to Gun Runner for her 2025 produce.
Saturday, Parx
COTILLION S.-GI, $1,000,000, Parx Racing, 9-21, 3yo, f, 1 1/16m, 1:45.45, ft.
1–THORPEDO ANNA, 126, f, 3, by Fast Anna
1st Dam: Sataves, by Uncle Mo
2nd Dam: Pacific Sky, by Stormy Atlantic
3rd Dam: Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew
($40,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT). O-Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark
Edwards, Judy Hicks & Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek);
B-Judy Hicks (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph
Hernandez, Jr. $586,500. Lifetime Record: 9-7-2-0, $2,817,163.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*.
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Gun Song, 124, f, 3, by Gun Runner
1st Dam: Nicole H (GSW & GISP, $811,144), by Mr. Greeley
2nd Dam: Hot Chipotle, by Victory Gallop
3rd Dam: Cajun Cat, by Storm Cat
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($120,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP; $400,000 2yo
'23 OBSMAR). O-R. Lee Lewis; B-Marianne Stribling (KY);
T-Mark A. Hennig. $195,500.
3–Tarifa, 124, f, 3, by Bernardini
1st Dam: Kite Beach, by Awesome Again
2nd Dam: Tizdubai, by Cee's Tizzy
3rd Dam: Cee's Song, by Seattle Song
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. O/B-Godolphin, LLC (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
$97,750.
Margins: NK, 3HF, 2. Odds: 0.10, 44.80, 13.50.
Also Ran: Mystic Lake, Everland, Scalable, Power Squeeze, Sidamara. Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.
The Grizzly Bear 🐻Thorpedo Anna had to claw the lead back deep in the stretch to win the $1M Cotillion Stakes at #parxracing under jockey @b_hernandezjr for trainer by Kenny McPeek. #TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/9IpDgZDjaP
— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) September 21, 2024
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