Just after watching his Kentucky Oaks (G1) winner Thorpedo Anna roll to a 5 1/2-length victory in the $500,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) June 7 at Saratoga Race Course, trainer Kenny McPeek was all smiles awaiting her arrival into the winner's circle.
"Could have run her in the Belmont," he said with a laugh, referring to the $2 million Belmont Stakes (G1) June 8 at Saratoga.
Most agree she would have fared well there, though the trainer understandably chose to sit the final leg of the Triple Crown out, knowing he has Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness Stakes (G1) runner-up Mystik Dan for the Triple Crown finale. That classic, which, like the Acorn and other Belmont Stakes Festival races, is at Saratoga this year due to ongoing construction at Belmont Park.
Without an apparent rival to challenge her in the 3-year-old filly ranks, she seemingly has the credentials to face male rivals at some point.
"We'll see. I'd like another Alabama first," McPeek said, referring to the $600,000 Alabama Stakes (G1) Aug. 17 at Saratoga.
The trainer is a two-time Alabama winner, taking it first with Eskimo Kisses in 2018 and then with Swiss Skydiver in 2020. The latter would defeat males later in the year in the Preakness Stakes during a COVID-19-impacted year that delayed that race until October.
McPeek captured his first Acorn Friday, as did jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., who delivered yet another well-positioned ride, as he did on Thorpedo Anna in the Oaks and Mystik Dan in the Derby.
Breaking from the far outside, he had his filly in second early, tracking a surprising pacesetter in reigning 2-year-old filly champion Just F Y I, who shot to the lead with fractions of :23.53, :46.75, and 1:10.24 in the 1 1/8-mile Acorn. A half-length off the leader after six furlongs, horse and jockey took over the lead coming into the stretch.
"She's just doing it effortlessly with her ears up," Hernandez said. "And we turned from home and I reached back, I slapped her one time just because she was kind of messing around a little bit. I didn't want something to really run at her and jump on her. And then once I did that, I was like, OK, we're in good order now."
Surging to a three-length lead in midstretch, she lengthened her advantage further to the wire over Ashland Stakes (G1) winner Leslie's Rose, who came on from a stalking position to grab the runner-up spot. She was 1 1/4 lengths clear of Power Squeeze, who rallied from last to show, 2 1/2 lengths ahead of New York-bred standout My Mane Squeeze in fourth.
Regulatory Risk, Just F Y I, Where's My Ring, and Gun Song completed the order of finish.
All but My Mane Squeeze and Gun Song had been well beaten by Thorpedo Anna in the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs five weeks earlier when Just F Y I ran closest to her when beaten 4 3/4 lengths.
Thorpedo Anna is now 5-1-0 in six starts with earnings of more than $1.7 million for owners Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing.
Hicks bred the 3-year-old daughter of late Three Chimneys Farm stallion Fast Anna, who was euthanized due to laminitis in February 2021. She was produced from the unraced Uncle Mo mare Sataves. McPeek bought her for $40,000 from the Grovendale Sales consignment to the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.
"Grizzly," the trainer said of Thorpedo Anna, repeating what he called her even before the Kentucky Oaks. "She has so much high energy, and she does everything so efficiently."
Big plans for Thorpedo Anna! @KennyMcPeek talks with @acacia_clement after the Grade 1 DK Acorn about what's next for this special horse. pic.twitter.com/WIqElyFR1I
— Belmont Stakes (@BelmontStakes) June 8, 2024
"I believe we have a superstar on our hands," added Hernandez. "Those are put in a rare air, but she seems to be one of those fillies. When the announcer calls you brilliant in a grade 1, you know it tends to make you believe that you are a part of something really magical, something really special."
She paid $3.50 to win the Acorn, favored among the Saratoga crowd of 27,529 and those playing the race off track. Saratoga's all-sources handle for the Friday card was $38,350,146.
If McPeek and Hernandez can win the Belmont Saturday with Mystik Dan, they will become the first trainer and jockey to pull off the Acorn-Belmont double since Cotton Blossom and Rags to Riches won the Acorn and Belmont, respectively, in 2007 for trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez, now Hall of Famers. Rags to Riches, a filly, defeated Curlin and other males in the Belmont.
Asked about pursuing the Acorn-Belmont double after he and McPeek combined to capture the Oaks and Derby a day apart at Churchill Downs, Hernandez replied: "It's a great joy, and I'm so grateful for Kenny to give us the opportunity with these good horses like this—to be able to wheel off these grade 1s over the last five weeks with these two good horses. It's a feeling that for the last 20 years we worked for and just such a huge accomplishment to be able to be a part of."
