Thorpedo Anna Gallops In the Apple Blossom

It was business as usual for reigning U.S. Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in Saturday's $1.25-million GI Apple Blossom Handicap, as she pulled clear of five overmatched rivals to score by 4 1/4 lengths to take her career record to 10 wins from 12 starts while barely drawing a deep breath.

Let the record show that all-time Louisiana-bred earner Free Like a Girl (El Deal) was closest to the champ at the wire and big-figure allowance winner Where's My Ring (Twirling Candy) was third as the 27-10 second favorite.

But make no mistake, the Apple Blossom was a one-horse affair.

Not the quickest away from the five hole, the champion was a fraction wide into the first turn but ultimately edged up into a clear second to sit just off 22-1 Wild Bout Hilary (Midnight Lute), who carved out fractions of :23.47 and :46.74. Going nicely in hand into the second turn, Thorpedo Anna was allowed to poke her head in front with 2 1/2 furlongs to race as Free Like a Girl and Where's My Ring tried to make a race of it two and three wide, respectively. But in the end, the 1-5 mortal–giving the 'competition' anywhere between five and seven pounds–opened up while just being shown the whip into the final furlong, got a single right-handed reminder from her regular pilot Brian Hernandez, Jr. and was ridden out to a comfortable victory in 1:44.27 for the mile and a sixteenth on a fast main track.

“Little nerve-wracking at that price, but just really proud of her, as always,” winning trainer Ken McPeek told FanDuel TV on his way to the winner's circle. “She's going to come right back in the [GI] La Troienne Stakes in three weeks [May 2]. We think we've got her in good-enough shape. She's a bit of an old-school filly and we're nominated. That's the plan.”

A $40,000 find at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton October yearling sale, Thorpedo Anna saluted no fewer than five times at Grade I level during her championship season, the lone blemish coming when a head second to 'TDN Rising Star' and subsequent GI Breeders' Cup Classic runner-up Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes last August. After overcoming some tag-teaming to scrape home in the GI Cotillion Stakes at Parx Sept. 21, she dominated the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff from the front Nov. 2 and repeated the dose when prepping for this in the GII Azeri Stakes over track and distance Mar. 8.

Pedigree Notes:

Co-owner Judy Hicks bred Thorpedo Anna in Kentucky out of the unraced Sanford Robertson-bred mare Sataves, a daughter of Coolmore's sadly departed Uncle Mo, whose daughters have produced 25 stakes winners. Sataves traces directly to 1974 Broodmare of the Year Cosmah and has a 3-year-old colt named McAfee (Cloud Computing), a debut winner at two for Rick Dutrow, Jr. and a latest fifth in the GIII Gotham Stakes Mar. 8. Hicks stayed in for a piece of McAfee after selling him at the 2023 Keeneland September sale for $40,000, the same price Thorpedo Anna brought a year earlier at Fasig-Tipton October. Hicks still has Sataves's yearling filly by Known Agenda and named her After the Storm. The mare was bred back to Gun Runner.

Thorpedo Anna is the sole graded winner from 14 black-type winners for the late Fast Anna, who was second in the 2014 GI King's Bishop Stakes. The Medaglia d'Oro stallion passed away from laminitis at Three Chimneys in 2021 just days after Thorpedo Anna was born. —Jill Williams

The grizzly bear does it again!!! 🐻✨

Thorpedo Anna delivers in the G1 Apple Blossom at Oaklawn Park with her regular rider @b_hernandezjr and trainer @kennymcpeek! 🏆

🎥 TwinSpiresReplay pic.twitter.com/i4uyJRisDr

— TwinSpires Racing 🏇 (@TwinSpires) April 12, 2025

Saturday, Oaklawn
APPLE BLOSSOM H.-GI, $1,250,000, Oaklawn, 4-12, 4yo/up, f/m, 1 1/16m, 1:44.27, ft.
1–THORPEDO ANNA, 124, f, 4, by Fast Anna
            1st Dam: Sataves, by Uncle Mo
            2nd Dam: Pacific Sky, by Stormy Atlantic
            3rd Dam: Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew
'TDN Rising Star'. ($40,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT). O-Brookdale
Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy B. Hicks and Magdalena
Racing (Sherri McPeek); B-Judy Hicks (KY); T-Kenneth G.
McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $731,250. Lifetime
Record: Horse of the Year, Ch. 3yo Filly, 12-10-2-0, $4,814,913.
Werk Nick Rating: A+++. *Triple Plus*
Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree.
Click for the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Free Like a Girl, 120, m, 6, by El Deal
            1st Dam: Flashy Prize, by Flashy Bull
            2nd Dam: Rich Peace, by Rizzi
            3rd Dam: Lockpeace, by Hold Your Peace
($5,500 Ylg '20 ESLYRL). O-Gerald Bruno, Jr., Chasey Deville
Pomier and Jerry Caroom; B-Kim Renee Stover & Lisa Osborne
(LA); T-Chasey Deville Pomier. $243,750.
3–Where's My Ring, 119, f, 4, by Twirling Candy
            1st Dam: Mapit, by Tapit
            2nd Dam: Mi Vida, by Distorted Humor
            3rd Dam: Crystal Current, by A.P. Indy
1ST G1 BLACK TYPE. ($100,000 Ylg '22 KEESEP). O-Michael
McMillan; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Val Brinkerhoff.
$121,875.
Margins: 4 1/4, 1HF, 10 3/4. Odds: 0.20, 13.30, 2.70.
Also Ran: Neom Beach, Wild Bout Hilary, Sweet Alyssa. Scratched: Noble Miss.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.