Thorpedo Anna Will Begin Year in Azeri, Will Likely Pass Dubai World Cup

After considering several options, trainer Kenny McPeek said Monday that newly minted Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will make her four-year-old debut in the GII Azeri S. on March 8 at Oaklawn Park. That would give her time to make the April 5 G1 Dubai World Cup, but McPeek said he has all but ruled out a trip to the Middle East in order to run in the April 12 GI Apple Blossom S., also at Oaklawn.

“The Azeri will be a good first step back for her and I don't see any trouble having her ready for the race,” McPeek said.  “We will probably keep her here in South Florida for a bit, another month or so. Then we'll have to figure how to migrate her up to Oaklawn. But then when once she gets to Oaklawn I would think she would stay there and run next in the Apple Blossom.

“She's nominated to Dubai. We've done the vaccinations and she's still nominated for the Dubai World Cup. But I still don't think that is going to happen. She'd have to do something really spectacular in the Azeri and just be screaming to go to Dubai. But I still think that the Apple Blossom makes a lot of sense. Schedule-wise, it's a nice conservative spot and you get to run for $1.2 million.”

McPeek said that after the Apple Blossom races that will be under consideration include the May 3 GI La Troienne S. at Churchill Downs and the GI Ogden Phipps at NYRA.

While nothing seems to go wrong for Thorpedo Anna, the same can't be said for her stablemate Mystik Dan (Goldencents).  In his third straight dull effort, the 2024 GI Kentucky Derby winner was beaten 20 3/4 lengths in Saturday's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational at Gulfstream. McPeek is still scratching his head, not at all sure why the four-year-old has tailed off so badly.

“Physically, he seems to be ok,” McPeek said. “Maybe we've been too ambitious with him. The Belmont was a race in which we thought he'd be competitive but he just didn't pick up his feet. I'll take the bullet on the decision to run in the Malibu. On this one here, the Pegasus, it was his first against older horse. Maybe he was too close to the pace. We told (jockey) Brian (Hernandez, Jr.) to not let them sneak away and he was following instructions. We're going to back off and try to regroup and figure out a Plan B. We might need to back down toward the bottom in some easier races and let him work his way up. That's probably what we should have done, in hindsight.”