Three challengers took their best shots at front-running Thorpedo Anna but each would be repelled by the determined, focused filly in the 150th edition of the Kentucky Oaks (G1) May 3 at Churchill Downs.
Moving to the lead and the rail the first time under the wire of the 1 1/8-mile test for 3-year-old fillies, Thorpedo Anna put away a backstretch challenge from Fiona's Magic, then as she entered the far turn fought off a challenge from grade 1-placed Ways and Means, and then entering the stretch dug in to hold off champion 2-year-old filly Just F Y I on her way to a 4 3/4-length victory in the slop.
Trainer Kenny McPeek said Thorpedo Anna "was like a rocket ship" at 2 and has only progressed since then. She entered Friday's race off a four-length victory in the Fantasy Stakes (G2) March 30 at Oaklawn Park and she has thrived since that seasonal debut. Earlier this week, McPeek said rival trainers better bring a bear to the Oaks because he was sending out a grizzly.
"It wasn't Babe Ruth calling his shot, but maybe," McPeek said.
Co-owner Mark Edwards said they've taken to calling McPeek "seven-second Kenny," because "that's about how long it takes for him to figure out if a horse is good or not at a sale." After Friday's thrilling win, McPeek said he's giving some consideration to starting Thorpedo Anna in the May 18 Preakness Stakes (G1).
"I've thought about it already," McPeek said. "It would be like me to do something like that."
McPeek won the 2020 Preakness with Peter Callahan's Swiss Skydiver, a filly he picked out for $35,000 at the 2018 Keeneland September Yearling Sale. Now he's considering a similar move with Thorpedo Anna, for whom McPeek went all the way to $40,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale and is now campaigned by Sherri McPeek's Magdalena Racing, Brookdale Racing, Edwards, and breeder Judy Hicks.
McPeek said he'll look at the speed figures of his filly and the top males pointing to the Preakness and make a decision, noting that there aren't a lot of good race options in the weeks ahead for 3-year-old fillies who want a route of ground.
Thorpedo Anna certainly was ready to stretch out from her 1 1/16-mile Fantasy Stakes victory. Early on she emerged from a group of four horses contesting the lead to seize a narrow advantage through a quarter-mile in :22.87 and a half-mile in :46.79. Soon after Thorpedo Anna registered that half-mile fraction, prompter Fiona's Magic called it a day. But bigger challenges awaited.
Chad Brown-trained Ways and Means would engage Thorpedo Anna in the turn, racing two wide, but her sustained move also would come up short as she faded to fourth. Then came the challenge the crowd had waited for as champion and 7-2 favorite Just F Y I took aim, but just as that effort became interesting, Thorpedo Anna, second choice at 4-1 in the wagering, found more and drew off to the easy win in 1:50.83.
Just F Y I held second while Regulatory Risk rallied in the stretch for third. Thorpedo Anna paid $10.98 to win, $6.06 to place, and $4.36 to show.
Winning jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. said Thorpedo Anna was engaged to her task throughout.
"She's just such a naturally talented filly," Hernandez said. "She went a little quick for the half—the whole way around there really—but she was just doing it with her ears up and cruising along."
One race after finishing second in the Ashland Stakes (G1) to start her season, Just F Y I settled for the runner-up spot again.
"It looked like we had that filly (Thorpedo Anna) on our radar," trainer Bill Mott said. "It looked like she could probably catch her from there and the other filly just didn't back up."
Brown would see his runners, both campaigned by Klaravich Stables, deliver solid efforts to finish third and fourth.
"The winner was making the fractions and she was a deserving winner," Brown said. "(Ways and Means) just couldn't keep up."
McPeek landed his first victory in the Oaks, and he shifted into celebration mode for the final furlong. His tension with Thorpedo Anna arrived over the winter after she completed a juvenile season in which she won her first two starts and placed second in the Golden Rod Stakes (G2) at Churchill.
"We don't know exactly what happened but she walked out of her stall lame," McPeek said. "She had a bruise on the side of her hip about the size, a little bit smaller than a softball."
It wasn't a serious injury but McPeek said it set her back about six weeks. With that delay, the big performance in the Fantasy was key to having her ready for Friday's score.
Kentucky-bred Thorpedo Anna is from a star-crossed pairing as her Uncle Mo dam, Sataves, was not able to race as she was born seven weeks premature and had crushed hocks. Hicks took her on as a breeding project and she's responded, producing not just Thorpedo Anna but also Charlee O, a Tourist mare who has earned more than $100,000. Laminitis would claim the life of her sire, Three Chimneys-based Fast Anna, in February 2021. Thorpedo Anna, from his final crop, is his first grade 1 winner.
