Travers: Hernandez knows clean start is key for Thorpedo Anna

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. is pointing to the minutes leading to the race and to the start as key elements if Thorpedo Anna is to make history against the boys in Saturday’s Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga.

The dominant filly can ill afford a repeat of the early going of her last race at the iconic upstate New York track. She became worked up in the paddock before the July 20 Coaching Club American Oaks (G1) and got antsy in the starting gate, leading her to lunge and get off slowly.

Thorpedo Anna has little or no margin for error if she is to become the first filly to capture the mid-summer Derby since Lady Rotha benefitted from a disqualification in 1915. Her challenge became all the greater when she drew the rail in a talent-laden field of eight.

Hernandez was riding at Ellis Park when trainer Ken McPeek texted him the bad news stemming from Sunday’s draw. Asked if he winced when the text popped in, the jockey said during a phone interview, “It is what it is. We’re just going to have to work out a trip from that position.”

Much will depend on how the dark bay daughter of Fast Anna handles what is expected to be a frenetic atmosphere with almost all eyes on her. McPeek and his staff are doing everything possible to prepare her for the spotlight.

“Kenny and the team have schooled her in the paddock three or four times the last couple of weeks,” Hernandez noted. “She went over to the main track for her final work (last Saturday) and she schooled in the paddock before she worked, and then the next day they took her back over there and paraded her around.”

It will be critical for Thorpedo Anna to conserve every ounce of energy since she never has been asked to go as far as the Travers’ testing 1 1/4-mile distance. This marks her eighth lifetime start, and Hernandez believes her demeanor is improving with time and experience. Her success includes a 4-for-4 ledger this year, all in her division.

Hernandez said of her pre-race conduct, “I think she’s been better about it and she’s starting to figure out that everyone is there to see her,” he said. “Once we get in the post parade, she always tends to settle down and kind of take everything in.”

Hernandez knows they can ill afford the same poor beginning they endured in the Coaching Club American Oaks.

“She got a little anxious in there. She was just raring to go,” he recalled. “And then the horse to her inside, right before they popped them, she kind of jumped up and reared. She thought it was time to go. When the gates finally did open, she just hopped in the air a bit.”

It spoke of Thorpedo Anna’s tremendous athleticism that she recovered almost immediately and quickly put Hernandez in the stalking position he desired.

Breaking from the rail Saturday against battle-tested males, the filly could find herself in deep trouble if she does not break well.

“Any time you’re in these kinds of races, you need to get away from the gate cleanly,” Hernandez said. “In Grade 1s, everybody is in there for a reason. They’re all in there because they deserve to be. You hate to give up any kind of positioning in those races. You definitely need to leave the gate cleanly and get some position and go from there.”

Whatever the Travers brings, it already has been a memorable year for the McPeek-Hernandez team. Such strong relationships between a trainer and jockey are rare, but Hernandez is McPeek’s go-to rider almost all of the time. They know each other well and, of great importance, Hernandez possesses a keen understanding of almost every horse in the barn.

Their relationship paid enormous dividends when they combined to sweep the Kentucky Oaks (G1) with Thorpedo Anna and the Kentucky Derby with Mystik Dan. No trainer had accomplished that since Ben Jones in 1952.

Hernandez believes another huge moment might await in the Travers. “We’re going in there with all the confidence in the world.”