Zipse: Can Thorpedo Anna do what is simply not done?

Can Thorpedo Anna do what is simply not done? We’ll find out on Saturday when the sensational filly takes on the boys in the Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

There is a reason no filly has crossed the wire first in the Travers in 121 years. It’s not easy. The 1 1/4-mile affair at the popular upstate New York oval is typically a grueling race that features the best colts from the Triple Crown trail as well as up-and-coming males who are developing into major threats in the sophomore division.

This year’s field has all those ingredients with Dornoch, Fierceness, Sierra Leone and Honor Marie all battle-tested from the Triple Crown chase and Unmatched Wisdom, Corporate Power and Batten Down primed to make their push for divisional supremacy.

While seven stakes-winning colts would make this an interesting edition of the Travers in their own right, this year will be different. The presence of the best 3-year-old filly in the land has ratcheted up the anticipation level for the mid-summer derby several notches.

Trained by veteran Kenny McPeek, the daughter of Fast Anna has earned the right to try. Her dominance within the 3-year-old fillies division is unquestionable. We saw further proof of that in Saturday’s Alabama Stakes where Power Squeeze and Candied, two fillies she had defeated with disdainful ease, battled it out to the wire in the Grade 1 race.

Currently the top-ranked horse in America, male or female, Thorpedo Anna has overpowered her own gender this season, winning all four of her races by a combined margin of 18 3/4 lengths. Even that statistic falls short of telling the whole story.

If you want to see a confident rider sitting on the best horse the whole way, take a look at Brian Hernandez Jr. aboard Thorpedo Anna in Oaklawn’s Fantasy Stakes (G2). Breaking from the far outside post, her 2024 lid-lifter was as easy as it gets.

Next came the most prestigious race of all for 3-year-old fillies, where she had to overcome a big field and a sloppy track. Getting right to the lead despite fast early fractions, Thorpedo Anna proved much the best in the Kentucky Oaks (G1) at Churchill Downs.

Then her first two races over the track at Saratoga came with their own complications. Early in the Acorn Stakes (G1) she threw a shoe, and in the more recent Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) she broke poorly. No matter. She won both with absolute ease.

As good as she is, there are plenty of reasons why Thorpedo Anna will not win the Travers. First and foremost the aforementioned seven stakes-winning colts are a strong bunch. I mean that from both a size and talent perspective. Beating a group of boys this solid at 10 furlongs on the dirt at this stage of their development is a daunting task.

There is something to the theory that male horses develop physically a little more during the summer of their 3-year-old seasons than do fillies. Perhaps that is why only a single filly has attempted the Travers in the last 44 years. Wonder Gadot ran last in 2018.

Another factor that could be a stumbling block for Thorpedo Anna in the Travers is the distance. While her five-pound weight allowance for her sex won’t hurt, she never has been farther than nine furlongs before. Five of the seven males she will face on Saturday already have run 10 furlongs at least once.

Still, already assured of winning the 3-year-old fillies Eclipse Award, her connections are willing to test their star in an ultimate challenge. Win or lose they believe Thorpedo Anna taking a shot in the Travers is good for the sport. I couldn't agree more.

Horse racing has lost much of what made the sport great in the first place. The sporting challenge of taking on all comers to see who is best has been replaced by how quickly we can get to the breeding shed with a marketable product.

Thorpedo Anna has little to lose in the Travers. A defeat would still send her on to races like the Cotillion Stakes (G1) and Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) as the filly to beat. A victory, however, would leave her as a clear favorite in the horse-of-the-year race. It also would make her a filly to be talked about for decades to come.

Can Thorpedo Anna do what is simply not done? I believe she can.