Trainer Ken McPeek exuded confidence heading into Saturday\u2019s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign that his reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna would claim victory in the nine-furlong test for older fillies and mares. While the margin was a desperate nose, the filly nicknamed the \u201cGrizzly Bear\u201d came out on the winning end of a dramatic stretch duel with Grade 1-winner Dorth Vader in front of a raucous Saratoga Race Course grandstand.<\/p>\n
In victory, the 4-year-old daughter of Fast Anna was awarded a \u201cWin and You\u2019re In\u201d berth into the Grade 1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Distaff, a race she won last November to cap her tremendous sophomore season that featured a Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks coup and two Grade 1 scores at the Spa in the DK Horse Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks ahead of a head second to Fierceness in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers and another top-level victory in Parx Racing\u2019s Cotillion.<\/p>\n
McPeek was quick to give credit to the George Weaver-trained Dorth Vader for her admirable effort.<\/p>\n
“George did a great job, that filly ran super and seems to be improving,\u201d McPeek said. \u201cShe’s a tough customer.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Personal Ensign was Thorpedo Anna\u2019s fourth win from five starts this year, and came with a stalking trip engineered by regular pilot Brian Hernandez, Jr., who held the dark bay in third through the early stages after breaking from the outermost post 7 as dual Grade 1-winner Randomized zipped up the rail to mark an opening quarter-mile in 23.24 seconds under pressure from 50-1 longshot Bernietakescharge.<\/p>\n
A tightly-bunched group followed the top pair with Thorpedo Anna racing to the outside of last-out Grade 2 Shuvee-winner Leslie\u2019s Rose just ahead of Dorth Vader and a sizable gap back to Dazzling Move and the late-running Raging Sea heading onto the backstretch. Hernandez, Jr. kept the pacesetters within his grasp as the half-mile elapsed in 47.11 and coaxed Thorpedo Anna into contention to make it three across the track approaching the turn.<\/p>\n
McPeek said he was comfortable with Thorpedo Anna being wide down the backstretch.<\/p>\n
“I think he needed to stay out of trouble,\u201d McPeek explained. \u201cI gave him [Hernandez, Jr.] instructions, ‘don’t worry about the loss of ground, you are going to lose a little ground, but I’d rather you do that than get her in behind horses and give her a chance to get stopped and blocked.'”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Bernietakescharge threw in the towel and Randomized came under a ride as Thorpedo Anna swept to the lead with ease in the turn, leaving the closers to give chase through three-quarters in 1:11.27 with Dorth Vader the main danger on the outside and Leslie\u2019s Rose creeping closer.<\/p>\n
Thorpedo Anna held a half-length lead over Grade 1 Odgen Phipps presented by Ford-winner Dorth Vader at the stretch call, but her margin was threatened with every stride as the Weaver trainee did everything in her power to pass the Champion through one mile in 1:36.42. In a spectacular stretch drive, Thorpedo Anna dug in with great fortitude to will herself to the wire a nose better than her game challenger, and completed the course in 1:49.18 over the fast footing.<\/p>\n
Hernandez, Jr., aboard for each of Thorpedo Anna\u2019s 15 starts, said Saturday\u2019s result proves Thorpedo Anna is still among the best horses in North America.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know if she was all out, but it\u2019s just the fact of in these Grade 1 races these horses they keep taking shots at you and you gotta respect them all and today\u2019s another version of that,\u201d Hernandez, Jr. said. \u201cYou know, our filly is Horse of the Year, and she showed why she deservingly should be.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe put herself in a great spot. She showed what a true Champion she was,\u201d Hernandez, Jr. continued. \u201cYou know, all I had to do was kind of stay out of her way. She decided to make her run. I just let her do her thing. She showed the heart of a Champion down the lane to hold Dorth Vader off and be able to get her nose down at the wire. A really special win.\u201d<\/p>\n
It was a further 9 3\/4 lengths back to Leslie\u2019s Rose in third with last year\u2019s Ensign-winner Raging Sea completing the superfecta. Dazzling Move, Randomized and Bernietakescharge completed the order of finish.<\/p>\n
McPeek praised his prized filly for her grit, while also tipping his cap to Dorth Vader, who entered from a pace-pressing fourth in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher on July 19 at Monmouth Park.<\/p>\n
“She just shows how brave she is,\u201d McPeek said. \u201cI thought George Weaver’s filly ran fantastic, she ran really the race of her life, but my filly, maybe, Brian seemed to think she got quite tired out of the race, too. I think that will actually lead her into the next one in even better shape. That wasn’t as easy as we’d want it to be, but she is a Champion. That is why she wins.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver was equally complimentary of the dual Champion, and said he welcomes a rematch in this year\u2019s Grade 1 Breeders\u2019 Cup Distaff on November 1 at Del Mar.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cI actually thought she got her nose down and won,\u201d Weaver said of Dorth Vader. \u201cWhen they threw the photo up and I watched the replay, I though, \u2018oh no, we got nosed.\u2019 It was a great race. Unfortunately, I\u2019m on the losing end of the photo but all in all, I think Dorth Vader validated her status in this division and we\u2019re looking forward to going to the Breeders\u2019 Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thorpedo Anna has raced and won at six different racetracks, and could visit a new one next as McPeek said the Grade 3 Delaware Handicap on September 28 is a potential target moving forward. Another possible spot is the Grade 1 Spinster on October 5 at Keeneland, the track she broke her maiden over on debut in October 2023.<\/p>\n
“I’m going to cross-nominate to the Spinster and the Delaware Handicap,\u201d McPeek said. \u201cThere’s a chance we could go to Delaware with her, we are going to talk about it, and there’s a chance we could go to Keeneland.”\u00a0<\/p>\n
Campaigned by Hill \u2018n\u2019 Dale Equine Holdings, Magdalena Racing, Mark Edwards and breeder Judy Hicks, Thorpedo Anna adds to wins earlier this year in the Grade 2 Azeri and Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, and entered from a win in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on June 28 at Churchill Downs. She banked $275,000 in victory while improving her lifetime record to 15-12-2-0 and returning $3.50 on a $2 win ticket.<\/p>\n
Out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Sataves, Thorpedo Anna is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed McAfee, a son of Cloud Computing who runs in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. later on Saturday\u2019s card.<\/p>\n
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $150,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.<\/p>\n
Saratoga Live\u00a0will present live coverage and analysis of the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit\u00a0nyra.com\/tv<\/a>.<\/p>\n NYRA Bets is the official wagering platform of Saratoga Race Course, and the best way to bet every race of the summer meet. Available to horse players nationwide, the NYRA Bets app is available for download today on iOS and Android at\u00a0NYRABets.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trainer Ken McPeek exuded confidence heading into Saturday\u2019s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign that his reigning Horse of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":88454,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[3004,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-88453","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-racing","tag-racing","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88453","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=88453"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/88453\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/88454"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=88453"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=88453"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=88453"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}