Thorpedo Anna breaks perfectly, dominates Breeders' Cup Distaff

Del Mar, Calif.

Five Grade 1 wins and a narrow second against the boys in the mid-summer derby. Thorpedo Anna certainly staked her claim to be the 2024 horse of the year. She punctuated her case with a dominating, 2 1/2-length triumph Saturday in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar.

About 1 1/2 hours later, her rival for the most prestigious Eclipse Award came up short in the Breeders’ Cup Classic. But trainer Kenny McPeek was not waiting for Fierceness to lose to Sierra Leone before he declared Thorpedo Anna to be America’s best.

“She’s got to be. How could she not?” McPeek said. “Maybe if Fierceness wins?”

That final shrug was as much an acknowledgement of the only door that had been left ajar, but not because of anything Thorpedo Anna did or did not do.

“She’s done everything right,” said Flavien Prat, who rode Raging Sea and chased Thorpedo Anna around the two turns and 1 1/8 miles, never getting closer than a half-length from the lead.

Saturday’s gate-to-wire performance was textbook. Off at odds of 2-5, Thorpedo Anna rocketed out of post 2 in the field that eroded to seven fillies and mares. Brian Hernandez Jr. took her through pace-setting fractions of 23.81, 47.99 and 1:12.01.

As Thorpedo Anna turned into the stretch with a two-length lead, Hernandez gave her one right-handed touch of his crop to make sure she kept to the task through the finish line. Her winning time was 1:49.10.

“She’s the best filly in the country this year, so we wanted to ride her accordingly,” said Hernandez, whose one previous Breeders’ Cup victory came with Fort Larned in the 2012 Classic. “The biggest question is to just make sure she stood up in the gates and left there in good order. When she did that, it made my job so much easier. All I have to do after that is just stay out of her way and stay on her back more than anything.”

Prat, who would ride Sierra Leone’s triumph in the Classic, found his work to be futile on Raging Sea.

“I was trying to get as close as I could without burning myself,” he said. “I thought I was in a good spot. Just beat by a good mare who ran her race.”

In what resembled a carousel trip, runner-up Raging Sea (4-1) finished 3 3/4 lengths better than Candied (7-1), who in turn was a half-length better than Alice Verite (18-1). Sugar Fish (13-1), Che Evasora (49-1) and fading Honor D Lady (22-1) were fifth through seventh in that order.

Awesome Result, Batucada and Miss New York were vet scratches, but reigning older dirt female champion Idiomatic was the most noticeable absence. The now retired 5-year-old who was taken out of consideration because of a knee flare-up might have dueled Thorpedo Anna for the early lead. Maybe.

“I don’t think about those things,” said McPeek, who got off an 0-for-37 schneid in the Breeders’ Cup. “I don’t think anybody should. That’s all hindsight, and it’s just unfortunate that Idiomatic didn’t make the race. It’s certainly way out of our control and unfortunate for some of the fans.”

“They defected (last Friday) before the PPs or anything even came out,” Hernandez said. “We came in here prepared with our horse, and we knew the job we needed to do. That’s all that we’ve got to worry about.”

More concerning for McPeek was not how she would do in the race but how she would come into it. After the victory he revealed that her travel from Saratoga on Sunday was not all that smooth.

“She got off the truck from the plane flight and had a cut on her hip, and it was quite a concern,” McPeek said. “Then she had a large hematoma on her stifle, and she was a little stiff on it the first day. We actually lost a day of training because of it. The team did a really good job getting that problem cleaned up, and we had to treat her, so it wasn’t a straight line. It was a little nerve-racking the first couple days she was here to get that cleaned up and sorted out.”

Owned by Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, breeder Judy Hicks and McPeek’s wife Sherri, Thorpedo Anna ran her record to 10: 8-2-0. With her $1.04 million first-place money Saturday, she brought her total purse earnings to $3,843,663. And counting.

“Every intentions of racing her next year. We’ll put together a plan for that,” McPeek said before he rattled off a list of potential Grade 1 targets. “Who knows? Maybe the Gulfstream race with the Pegasus (World Cup), Saudi (Cup), Dubai (World Cup).”

Through that prism, McPeek took another view of the males who raced in the Classic.

“We’re going to keep a close eye on the Classic here today, and let’s see that group of horses compete,” he said. “See what else is out there. At this stage, she could certainly fit against about anything.”

For now a break is in order. Thorpedo Anna, who is certain to be named the champion 3-year-old filly, can spend the rest of the fall not being so much the grizzly bear who McPeek has described. The Fast Anna filly out of Uncle Mo mare Sataves can get back to being a horse.

“She’s been big and tough, but she also has a soft side,” Hicks said. “We know that she allows anybody and everybody to give her a peppermint. Lida (Fannin), who’s not with us today, the gal who foaled her out, actually got her to where she’d lay down and put her head in her lap and go to sleep. She’s got two sides to her. She’s got the grizzly and the laid-back girl.”

Laid back with a couple Eclipse Awards in her immediate future.