Saratoga: Thorpedo Anna looks to complete Oaks-Acorn double

This year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks winner will look to become the latest to score the Oaks-Acorn double on Friday when Thorpedo Anna takes on the Grade 1, $500,000 Acorn Stakes, a 1 1/8-mile test for sophomore fillies at Saratoga.

Trained by Kenny McPeek for owners Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing, Thorpedo Anna seeks to become just the 14th Kentucky Oaks winner to also capture the Acorn, most recently accomplished last year by Pretty Mischievous.

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The daughter of Fast Anna already been been part of major history this year with her Oaks victory, the first half of a tremendous weekend for McPeek at Churchill Downs where he went on to saddle Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan the next day. The feat made McPeek the first trainer to capture the Oaks-Derby double since 1952.

“I still get goosebumps over it,” McPeek said. “To do that at home, (those are) a couple of races I had sniffed around in but hadn’t gotten, but I told my wife Sherri before the race that we could win both races. I said the filly I expect to win, and (Mystik Dan), he’s doing fantastic, and if he gets the right trip, he can win. It’s been an amazing ride, and we are going to relish it for a long time and not take it for granted, but there’s a lot of work to do still.”

Thorpedo Anna appears more than ready to get back to work as she enters off three breezes for McPeek since the Oaks, including a blistering half-mile in 46.2 seconds on May 22 at Churchill Downs and a five-furlong move in 1:02.09 on Saturday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma dirt-training track in company with Midnight Concerto.

“She’s done everything right,” McPeek said. “She’s one that might be on the improve as well, because she’s only had two starts all year. She had the Fantasy and the Oaks, and I’m not sure she was even 100 percent yet. She might be improving.”

McPeek entertained the idea of entering Thorpedo Anna for a try against males in the Belmont Stakes next Saturday but decided against it due to Mystik Dan all but being declared for the 1 1/4-furlong test.

“She’s all that. Any other year we’d run her in the Belmont,” McPeek said. “I wouldn’t be scared to line her up with them. She might line up with them before the end of the year.”

Hernandez retains the mount from post 9.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who is in search of his fourth Acorn win, saddles Grade 1 winner Leslie’s Rose in her quest for redemption after a disappointing finish in the Kentucky Oaks. The Whisper Hill Farm color-bearer was among the favorites for the Oaks after an impressive score in the Ashland (G1) at Keeneland but did little to threaten after stalking 1 1/4 lengths off the pace under Irad Ortiz Jr., fading to 13th of 14 over sloppy and sealed footing.

Pletcher said the track conditions at Churchill were a large factor in the filly’s non-performance.

“I think she absolutely hated the slop, and I had concerns about it, because she had been training absolutely great every day we were there, except the Tuesday before the Oaks when we had a sloppy track,” Pletcher said. “She was noticeably less aggressive and didn’t seem to care for it. She never really had any experience on a sloppy track, so I was hoping maybe in a race scenario she could overcome it, but Irad said she hated it the whole way.”

The $1.15 million Keeneland September yearling-sale purchase will emerge from post 3 with Ortiz in the irons.

Last year’s champion juvenile filly Just F Y I, in post 4 with Júnior Alvarado, seeks her first win this year after two admirable runner-up efforts in the Ashland and Kentucky Oaks. ?Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, George Krikorian’s Kentucky homebred daughter of Justify returned in the Ashland, where she rallied from fifth to land three lengths in back of Leslie’s Rose, earning her a spot in the Oaks starting gate. There, she worked out a similar stalking trip under Alvarado to come on late and secure place honors 4 3/4 lengths behind Thorpedo Anna.

Just F Y I has posted two bullet works at Saratoga, covering a half-mile in 47.0 seconds flat May 20 and five furlongs in 1:01.20 Friday over the Oklahoma dirt.

R. Lee Lewis’s talented Gun Song, in post 8 with John Velázquez, was an emphatic last-out winner of the Black-Eyed Susan (G2) on May 17 at Pimlico, utilizing a stalking trip under Velázquez to overtake pacesetter Jeanne Marie in the final turn and waltz home 3 1/4 lengths in front.

The Acorn is slated as the final race on Friday’s 12-race card.