By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – At 4 a.m. Thursday morning, trainer Kenny McPeek changed the game. With the prospect of stormy weather on the horizon courtesy of the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby, McPeek decided to move up the work of his star filly, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna).
So, instead of a Saturday breeze for Thorpedo Anna, she went five furlongs in :59.59 (1/4) on the Oklahoma Training Track with exercise rider Danny Ramsey at 5:30 a.m. Thursday morning. Thorpedo Anna is being pointed to the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes at Saratoga Aug. 24.
“I was looking at the weather report and it looked like we were going to get rain (Thursday) and tomorrow and the next day,” McPeek said as he stood outside of the Oklahoma with his trusty dog Sonny. “Originally, we were going to go Saturday, but I could not see that happening with all the weather coming.”
A filly has not won the Travers since Lady Rotha did so via a disqualification in 1915. The most recent filly to run in the Midsummer Derby was Wonder Gadot, who was last in 2018.
Thorpedo Anna has won six of her seven career starts by a combined 36 1/4 lengths. Her last two wins have come at Saratoga, the most recent being the GI Coaching Club American Oaks by 4 1/2 lengths July 20.
McPeek said Thorpedo Anna will have her final Travers work next Friday at her usual time of 5:30 a.m. She worked by herself on Thursday; next week she will have a workmate, McPeek said.
“I didn't want to work her over a sloppy track,” McPeek said. “She loves galloping on a sloppy track but when it's sealed, they don't get a whole lot out of it.”
McPeek said that Thorpedo Anna–owned by Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy B. Hicks and Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek)–hasn't missed a step in her preparations for her date with the boys in the Midsummer Derby.
“She is pretty easy-peasy,” he said. “It's not rocket science. She makes our job easy. She is eating good, she's happy. We could run her tomorrow if we wanted to.”
Brian Hernandez, Jr. will ride Thorpedo Anna in the Travers.
Dornoch Pleases Gargan in His First Work Since Haskell Victory
Just after 7 a.m. Thursday morning, trainer Danny Gargan sent who he believes is the best 3-year-old in the country to the main track at Saratoga. Dornoch (Good Magic), winner of the GI Belmont Stakes and the GI Haskell Stakes, had his first work since his victory on the Jersey Shore.
Dornoch, with exercise rider Priscilla Schaefer on board, worked four furlongs in :47.20 (2/172), exactly what Gargan wanted to see. He worked in company with Rookie Card (Adios Charlie), an unraced 2-year-old.
Dornoch | Sarah Andrew
“He looked good doing it … galloped out really well and he came back good,” Gargan said back at his barn on the backstretch. He is right on schedule.”
Gargan did not have to alter the plans for Dornoch's work because of the predicted impending nasty weather. After the Haskell, which he won by 1 1/4 lengths as the third choice, Gargan said Dornoch would have two works before running in the Travers.
He penciled in either Thursday or Friday for the first one.
Dornoch has won three of five starts this year and is the current leader of the division off the two Grade I victories. Gargan isn't going to argue that.
And, if he wins the Travers, the colt–owned by West Paces Racing LLC, R.A. Hill Stable, Belmar Racing and Breeding LLC, Two Eight Racing LLC and Pine Racing Stables–will have a stranglehold on the division.
“And he might be third choice (in the Travers),” Gargan said. “He was third choice in the Haskell. He is going to run well. If we get an outside post, he will be so tough to beat. If he can sit on the outside of horses like he did in the Belmont, they are in big trouble. We are just hoping we don't draw the rail.”
Dornoch had post position one in the GI Kentucky Derby and was never a factor, finishing 10th.
Gargan said that Dornoch's final Travers work will be either next Friday or Saturday, depending on the weather. His regular rider is jockey Luis Saez.
The Queens M G May Attempt Rare Triple for Joseph at Saratoga
The last time it happened, in 1987, Saffie Joseph, Jr., was just shy of eight months old.
At the end of the Saratoga meet, Joseph is hoping to make a little Spa history with his 2-year-old filly The Queens M G (Thousand Words).
The Queens M G | Sarah Andrew
The Queens M G could attempt to become the first 2-year-old filly since the D. Wayne Lukas-trained Over All in 1987 to win all three Saratoga stakes races for juvenile fillies. The Queens M G, who has already won the Schuylerville Stakes and GIII Adirondack Stakes, goes for the triple in the $300,000, GI Spinaway at seven furlongs Aug. 31.
“We are going to try it,” Joseph said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Thursday morning. “She will ultimately tell us, but, right now, it's the target.”
The Queens M G, owned by C Two Racing Stable and Mathis Stable LLC, went back to the track for the first time since her nine-length score in the Adirondack on Thursday morning. She jogged once around the track counter-clockwise with exercise rider Omar Tapia Droguett aboard.
“She is a very relaxed filly, a smart filly,” Joseph said.
The Queens M G turned some heads when she won the Schuylerville with jockey Dylan Davis by 2 3/4 lengths at odds of 44-1. She romped to win the Adirondack by nine lengths at 5-2 odds.
“She was a little worked up in the paddock the other day before I put the saddle on her,” Joseph said about the Adirondack. “She got hot–it was hot and the other horses were not getting as hot as her. It concerned me. Once I got the saddle on her, she was quiet and that gave me confidence.”
Joseph said that he was unaware that it has been 37 years since a filly has swept the juvenile stakes races at the Spa. When Over All did it, the meet was only 24 days long.
But he is also a fan of the history of the sport and it would mean a great deal to him if The Queens M G could pull it off.
“It would be huge,” he said. “She bounced out of (the Adirondack) better than she did (in the Schuylerville). Once we are sure she is doing well, we will give her that chance. That is something that racing needs. It would be special.”
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