McPeek: ‘Very good possibility’ Thorpedo Anna will be retired

After her disappointing fourth-place finish in the Grade 1 Spinster at Keeneland on Sunday, Thorpedo Anna is unlikely to race again.

Trainer Kenny McPeek discussed Thorpedo Anna's future in an episode of the Horse Races Now podcast released Friday morning. Though he did not make an official announcement of her retirement, he said there was a "very, very good possibility" that there would be such an official statement soon.

He emphasized that she was physically OK, did not bleed during the race and had been checked by two veterinarians after the Spinster. But he didn't think she was interested in racing any longer.

"It's been two fantastic years, and things don't last forever," McPeek said. "Definitely more mentally than physically, I think she's just had enough. She didn't hit her leads right the other day (in the Spinster), and it just looked to him like she was a bit struggling. And when they gathered around her in the middle of the turn, she threw the towel in."

During the podcast McPeek replied to a listener comment suggesting Thorpedo Anna did not run as well because regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr. was not riding for the Spinster.

"I do think she knew that Brian wasn't up. I'm not going to use Flavien Prat as an excuse for her running poorly. I don't think that's reasonable. I usually don't like to blame jockeys," McPeek said.

"But she got off on the wrong lead. Is that Flavien Prat's job? Somewhat. But if she broke on the wrong lead she probably did it because she might have been protecting something somewhere. She's had the smallest history of a little puff in the left ankle, but it X-rays clean. But no, I'm not going to blame Flavien. She's has a long career, and she's run against the best. And in her last race (the Personal Ensign, G1), she had to fight, fight, fight to win that."

McPeek noted in the interview that Thorpedo Anna's workout before the Spinster, as compared to her stablemate Mystik Dan, did not go as well as usual.

"One thing that I'll say that we started to kind of question, she worked against Mystik Dan a couple weeks before this race. And she's typically had him … and she didn't this last workout. Robby (Albarado, Mystik Dan's regular exercise rider) was on Mystik Dan, and Robby said he thought Mystik Dan was the better horse in the workout, and that was somewhat of a surprise. We thought maybe it was for fitness, that she needed the fitness work, but she came back and she didn't run well."

In his next start after that workout, Mystik Dan won the Lukas Classic (G2).

Plans remain up in the air for Thorpedo Anna. She likely will be bred to Curlin, though that decision will ultimately fall to John Sikura of Hill 'n' Dale Farms, which bought a half interest in Thorpedo Anna over the summer. Co-owners McPeek and Judy Hicks plan to retain their ownership interests in her, though there is a small chance she will go to an auction if another co-owner decides not to stay in for her breeding career. McPeek said he did not know yet where he would board Thorpedo Anna upon retirement, though he would like to keep her at his Magdalena Farm so fans can see her on horse-country tours.