By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.–Trainer Kenny McPeek sat in his office at his barn at the Annex across from the Oklahoma Training Track Saturday morning and began rattling off the names.
Ruffian. Genuine Risk. Winning Colors. Rags to Riches. Zenyatta. Rachel Alexandra. Beholder.
They are some of the best fillies to ever do it on the racetrack. McPeek is hopeful that, after next Saturday, the name Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) might join that illustrious group.
Thorpedo Anna, of course, is attempting to become the first filly since 1915 to win the $1.25 million, Grade I Travers Stakes.
It will be run next Saturday and, after entries are drawn Sunday, Thorpedo Anna figures to be one of the top choices on the Travers morning-line.
“She is as good as ever,” McPeek said after Thorpedo Anna had her final Travers work, going five furlongs in 59.81 seconds (2/19) on the main track at Saratoga Race Course. “She is just hitting on all cylinders, like she has been all year. Danny (exercise rider Ramsey) seems to think she is better now than she ever has been. She is going to have to be.”
Thorpedo Anna worked in company with Elko County (Gun Runner), who had jockey Julien Leparoux on board. The two horses walked down the horse path through the picnic area and made two laps in the paddock before hitting the main track around 7 on Saturday morning.
The work had one minor glitch when the two workers had to alter their course at the top of the stretch when they came upon a slower horse. McPeek said it was not a problem.
“That's all she needed,” McPeek said of the work. “We just wanted something nice and steady, let her stretch her legs across the main.”
Now, the final countdown to the Travers is on. McPeek said Thorpedo Anna will walk on
Sunday and, as long as it doesn't rain, will school in the paddock at the second race.
McPeek also said that he expects that Thorpedo Anna will stay in Saratoga until she ships to California for the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, which will be run on Nov 2. She will also ship from Saratoga to Parx Racing next month for the GI Cotillion.
Gargan Confident Dornoch Can Overcome An Obstacle And Win Travers
There is no shortage of confidence in trainer Danny Gargan when it comes to talking about his stable star Dornoch (Good Magic). He boldly predicted that Dornoch would be the best horse he ever trained before the horse ever ran a race.
So far, so good. Dornoch comes into next Saturday's $1.25 million GI Travers as perhaps the horse to beat as he is coming off victories in the GI Belmont Stakes and GI Haskell Stakes.
But he will have to conquer another Grade I race, something that is not lost on Gargan.
“It's hard to win three Grade I races in a row,” Gargan said outside his barn on the Saratoga backstretch Saturday morning. “We are hoping he can do it; he has done so much for us. I mean, it's next to impossible to win three Grade Is in a row. If you win three in a row, you are a Hall of Fame horse.”
Dornoch had his final Travers work on Saturday, working four furlongs in 47.65 (14/161) with Priscilla Schaefer on board. They worked in company with stablemate Ringy Dingy (Dialed In), a 3-year-old filly who was piloted by Carol Fisher.
“He looked great doing it,” Gargan said. “It was just a normal maintenance work. We were trying to go in 48. This is a big-time race; you don't want to go in 51. It was ok. He will need to be fit for this, and he is. I thought he looked amazing.”
Once the Saratoga meet ends, Gargan said that he will most likely have Dornoch stay and do his training up to the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at the Spa.
Pletcher Keeps Hearing the Same Question Over and Over About Fierceness
Standing outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Saturday morning, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher was asked if he was sick of hearing the same question day after day.
The question: Why can't Fierceness (City of Light), the top 3-year-old in the barn, put two good races together back-to-back?
“I hope HE is getting tired of it, that's what I need,” Pletcher said with a smile. “I need him to step it up.”
Fierceness gets that chance next Saturday when he runs in the $1.25 million, GI Travers at Saratoga. If he is able to find the winner's circle, the notion that Fierceness can't put consecutive wins together will finally be a moot point.
Fierceness has been near brilliant in his four career victories but not so much in the three career losses. When last seen, Fierceness impressed when he won the GII Jim Dandy at Saratoga by a length over Travers rival Sierra Leone (Gun Runner).
The race before that, he was 15th in the GI Kentucky Derby as the favorite.
The beat goes on through his entire career although Pletcher will argue the third-place finish in the GIII Holy Bull at Gulfstream Park (which was right before he won the GI Florida Derby by a record 131/2 lengths}) wasn't so bad.
“On paper, it's in black and white,” Pletcher said of Fierceness' resume. “I think the Holy Bull gets overly criticized. It was a pretty roughly run race and I don't think he ran that poorly. I think he is giving us all indications that he is sitting on another good race. He just has to go out and prove it.”
Fierceness had his final pre-Travers work on Saturday, breezing four furlongs in 48.22 (32/161) with exercise rider Danny Wright. They worked in company with Bright Future (Curlin).
“Super happy with it,” Pletcher said. “He went well and finished up strongly and galloped out great. He did it seemingly effortlessly. He has always been a very good work horse.”
Sierra Leone, Batten Down, Honor Marie Have Final Travers Works
Because he is from nearby Mechanicville, the $1.25 million, GI Travers Stakes has always been a race trainer Chad Brown covets. So far, it has eluded him.
Maybe this year the trophy has his name on it. He says Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), the $2.3 million purchase at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale, is his best shot.
“He has been pointed to this race for a very long time,” Brown said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. “Going into the race, it sure looks like he is my best chance to win.”
In the nine Travers Stakes that Brown has participated in, he has run 15 horses. Zandon, in 2022, and Miles D in 2021, both finished third. Those are the top results for Brown.
Saturday, Sierra Leone had his final Travers work, going four furlongs with exercise rider Kriss Bon in :49.20 (13/70) on the Oklahoma Training Track.
Two other horses had their final moves for the Midsummer Derby.
Batten Down (Tapit), with regular rider Junior Alvarado on board, worked five furlongs in 1:01.85 (4/15) for Hall of Famer Bill Mott on the Oklahoma. They worked in company with Bendoog (Gun Runner). Batten Down, the GIII Ohio Derby winner, was last seen finishing third in the GII Jim Dandy at Saratoga.
Trainer Whit Beckman sent Honor Marie (Honor Code) to his last Travers work Saturday morning on the Oklahoma. With jockey Tyler Gaffalione on board, Honor Marie covered four furlongs in :50.50 (54/70).
“Just what we were looking for,” Beckman said by phone. “Just something easy and smooth. Good work, nice gallop out. Nothing flashy.”
The draw for the Travers will be held on Sunday. Two other horses–Unmatched Wisdom (Cairo Prince) and Corporate Power (Curlin)–had their final Travers works on Friday.
Unmatched Wisdom, also trained by Brown, went five furlongs in 1:00.41 (3/6) on the main track and Corporate Power, from the Hall of Fame barn of Shug McGaughey, had a bullet four-furlong breeze in :47.44 (1/45). He worked on the Oklahoma.
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