Thorpedo Anna has captured the hearts of race fans after a sublime first half of her sophomore season that has seen her notch three Grade 1 victories, led by her first with a 4 3/4-length dismantling of the Kentucky Oaks on May 3 at Churchill Downs. She followed with equally impressive triumphs at Saratoga in the DK Horse Acorn on June 7 and the Coaching Club American Oaks last out on July 20 over Candied, who narrowly lost the Grade 1 Alabama presented by Keeneland Sales on August 19 here.
The near-perfect Thorpedo Anna is 6-for-7 lifetime, including an additional graded win in the Grade 2 Fantasy in March at Oaklawn Park. She is easily the most high-profile candidate McPeek has ever led over for the Travers, a race he captured in 2012 in dramatic fashion when longshot Golden Ticket dead-heated for the victory with the favored Alpha.
“I don’t know that I’ve had a horse that was one of the lower betting choices before,” said McPeek. “I don’t think too much about it. I think she’s perfectly capable and she’s doing super.”
McPeek has previously characterized Thorpedo Anna as a “grizzly bear,” and often notes the filly’s ease in which she does everything that is asked of her. With a tremendous amount of press coverage leading up to the Travers, McPeek has decided words are no longer sufficient to describe America’s darling filly.
“We’ll let her do the talking Saturday,” McPeek concluded.
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