Thorpedo Anna Cuts it Close in Cotillion Score

The filly deemed as the "Grizzly Bear" roared loud and clear for the fifth time this year, and the fourth time in grade 1 company, with Thorpedo Anna's gritty score in the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 21 at Parx Racing. When trainer Kenny McPeek reported a month ago that Thorpedo Anna, a heartbreaking runner-up to Fierceness in the Aug. 24 Travers Stakes (G1), would target the Cotillion against her own sex rather than re-oppose males in the Pennsylvania Derby (G1), victory appeared all but inevitable for the filly sensation. And so the racing public watched with bated breath as Thorpedo Anna cut the win a little too close for comfort Saturday afternoon, just edging out 44-1 shot Gun Song at the wire. "Oh my goodness. That's what horse racing is about," said co-owner and breeder Judy Hicks after the race. Hicks still owns Thorpedo Anna's dam, the Uncle Mo mare Sataves. "What I wanted to see today was whether her heart was 100% intact. This was going to tell me that." The official win margin was a neck. However, like champions that have run before her, Thorpedo Anna simply did what all good horses do—she got the job done no questions asked. In doing so, the 3-year-old filly added to her Eclipse Award-worthy résumé, having secured earlier season wins in every top race in her division—the Kentucky Oaks (G1), the Acorn Stakes (G1), and the Coaching Club American Oaks (G1). "A win is a win. I am going to take it," said McPeek. "I'm not complaining. Good ones overcome everything. She is head over heels above the 3-year-old fillies and as long as we didn't have anything real silly happen—and (it) almost did—I felt really confident." Cutting back to the 1 1/16-mile trip after traveling the classic distance in the Travers, regular rider Brian Hernandez tucked Thorpedo Anna into a stalking position just behind pacesetting Mystic Lake and Gun Song through the opening stages. Following splits of :23.94, :48.01, and 1:12.55, Thorpedo Anna found herself boxed in with nowhere to go as the field turned for home. Patient, well aware of the loaded cannon beneath him, Hernandez waited until Mystic Lake conceded her advantage and the early runners drifted apart before gunning the Grizzly loose on the leaders. Thorpedo Anna called upon her class and edged in front of her game rival, who had rerallied only strides from the finish. Hernandez, while encouraging his filly, only waved the whip at Thorpedo Anna. "(John Velazquez) got his filly (Gun Song) to leave there good, and he put us in a box, and we were just stuck there behind him for a long, long time," said Hernandez. "Then we finally got a little seam turning for home. She lengthened her stride, and she was able to just put her neck in front. She just showed how game she was from the eighth pole home." The fillies hit the wire in a final time 1:45.45 for the 1 1/16 miles on a fast main track. Second-place finisher Gun Song, winner of the George E. Mitchell Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2) and Cathryn Sophia Stakes this season, was 3 1/2 lengths clear of third-place finisher Tarifa. "That was a good run. I was proud of her," trainer Mark Hennig said of Gun Song. "I didn't ever have any confidence that we had her (Thorpedo Anna), but I was proud to see her fight back once she got passed. They had Anna boxed in a little bit, which was helpful, but big effort from our filly. We'll take the grade 1 placing and move forward." McPeek paid $40,000 for Thorpedo Anna at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale, a bargain price considering the filly's current earnings of $2,817,163. She races for the partnership of Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Hicks, and McPeek's Magdalena Racing. The next stop for the Grizzly—the $2 million Breeders' Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar.