By Tim Wilkin
SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY — Once the $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes is history, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will head back to running against fillies.
Trainer Kenny McPeek said he has no plans on running his talented miss against the colts after the centerpiece of the summer meeting at the Spa.
“No, no, no,” McPeek said outside of his barn at annex off the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. “A 3-year-old filly against the colts in the Breeders' Cup Classic? Unless it fell apart.”
The plan moving forward for Thorpedo Anna is for her to run in the $1-million GI Cotillion Stakes for 3-year-old fillies at Parx Racing on Sept. 21 and then the $2-million GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar on Nov. 2.
Thorpedo Anna has won six of seven career starts–all against fillies–by a combined 36 1/4 lengths.
“If everything goes well, she is going to Parx,” McPeek said.
Thorpedo Anna will have her final work before the Travers Saturday morning at 7 a.m. on the main track at Saratoga Race Course.
It will be her first work on the main; all six of her breezes since coming to Saratoga have been on the Oklahoma Training Track.
McPeek said she will work in company with Elko County (Gun Runner), a 3-year-old colt who is winless in eight career starts.
“She needs something to run at and something to run down,” McPeek said. “She should handle him pretty easily.”
Earlier this year, McPeek spilled of confidence before he sent Thorpedo Anna to the prestigious GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. Before that race, which she won by 4 3/4 lengths, he used a line that displayed how sure he was that Thorpedo Anna would do what she did.
He is bringing the same line out for the Travers.
“I said they better bring a bear because I'm bringing a grizzly,” McPeek said, grinning. “She is as good as ever. We haven't seen her best and (jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr.) has not laid a whip on her. She has done everything easy, easy, easy and that is one of the reasons I am not afraid to do it. There is more horse there … how much more can she improve?”
With just over a week left until Thorpedo Anna tries to become the first filly since 1915 to win the Travers, McPeek was showing a calmness as he tended to his horses Thursday morning with his dog Sonny shadowing him.
No sense getting nervous.
“I'm just trying to keep it steady,” he said. “I don't worry too much out of my control. You can't get all wound up about it because the letdown is too hard if it doesn't go right.”
Candied Gets Her Chance To Shine In Alabama
Four weeks ago, in the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher gave his 3-year-old filly Candied (Candy Ride) her shot against Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna).
Candied was no match, losing by 4 1/2 lengths to the best filly in the division.
“Obviously, we were hoping,” Pletcher said when asked if he thought Candied could upset Thorpedo Anna that July afternoon. “But, no, we were not expecting it. We were hoping for a good effort, and I think we got that. We made a pretty good run at her on the turn, but we just could not sustain it.”
letcher and Candied get another chance to take down a big prize in the 3-year-old filly ranks when the $600,000, GI Alabama Stakes is run at Saratoga on Saturday.
Candied is the 7-5 morning-line favorite in the Alabama and that makes sense. Thorpedo Anna is not in this race.
In the CCA Oaks, Candied tracked Thorpedo Anna but was no match for her.
Pletcher, speaking outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning, said he was not sure if Candied would be in the Alabama if Thorpedo Anna was.
“I don't know,” he said. “I think it would have been a short field. I certainly have a lot of respect for Thorpedo Anna, and I think you can make an argument she might be the favorite in the Travers.”
Pletcher will also run Miss Justify (Justify), who is 6-1 on the morning line, in the Alabama, which drew a field of eight.
Miss Justify has won her last two starts, both at a mile.
“Pedigree-wise, being a daughter of Justify, you would expect her to handle the added distance,” Pletcher said. “She is coming into this off two good wins, one of them (the Wilton Stakes) over the track here.
Brown Well On His Way To Another Saratoga Training Title
With 14 racing days left in the 40-day Saratoga meet, Chad Brown has positioned himself to win his seventh training title in the last nine years.
After Thursday's card, Brown has 22 wins, seven more than Todd Pletcher.
Included in Brown's haul are three Grade I victories. He won the Diana Stakes with Whitebeam (GB) (Caravaggio), the Test with Ways and Means (Practical Joke) and the Fourstardave with Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}).
“Just past the halfway point, we have three Grade Is, which is very important,” Brown said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday morning. “You can go a whole meet without winning any.”
Brown ended up tied with Linda Rice for the most wins at last year's meet (35). He set the all-time Saratoga record for wins in 2018 when he visited the winner's circle 46 times.
Despite the success in the first half of the season, Brown is not taking any bows yet. He knows there is still much work to do.
“If I had my choice, I would be leading trainer every year and it would be something I could count on,” Brown said. “But this is a really tough meet, and things can change quick. We have had a strong meet, but weather can be a factor, you can have illness in your barn or bad racing luck and, all of a sudden it becomes tight.”
Brown is preparing two colts for the biggest race on the Spa schedule, one that has eluded him. The $1.25-million GI Travers Stakes will be run next weekend and Brown has one of the main contenders in 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) as well as fellow 'Rising Star' Unmatched Wisdom (Cairo Prince), who has won all three of his starts, including the restricted Curlin Stakes at Saratoga on July 19.
Fifteen horses have run in the Travers for Brown. He has finished third twice, with Miles D (Curlin) in 2021 and Zandon (Upstart) in 2022. Sierra Leone may be his best chance ever.
Sierra Leone has three wins, three seconds and a third in seven career starts. He was purchased for a sales-topping $2.3 million at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Yearling Sale.
After winning the GI Toyota Blue Grass Stakes this year, he was second by a nose in the GI Kentucky Derby, third in the GI Belmont Stakes and second in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes.
“He has proven he is a very consistent, top-level horse,” Brown said. “A couple races, by circumstances, he was not able to get there. I would like him to get the credit he deserves to break through and win a race of this magnitude. He is a real good- looking horse and there have always been high expectations. By the time they break from the gate, that doesn't really matter.”
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