Thorpedo Anna won the 2024 Kentucky Oaks on a Friday, and the following evening Mystik Dan won the Kentucky Derby. The two classic winners trained by Kenny McPeek are on target to race on the same card once again at Churchill Downs.
They’re coming to these June 28 starts from very different places – and ironically.
Thorpedo Anna after winning the Oaks went on to have a great summer and fall that ended in a Breeders’ Cup Distaff win, a 3-year-old filly championship, and a Horse of the Year title. She won the Azeri and the Apple Blossom to start her 4-year-old season but checked in last of seven – with a troubled run into the first turn – as the odds-on favorite in the May 2 La Troienne. She’s set to make her first start since the worst race of her life in the $500,000 Fleur de Lis on June 28.
Mystik Dan lost respectably in the Preakness, finished eighth in the Belmont, and came back from a long break with a pair of duds this winter, in the Malibu at Santa Anita and the Pegasus World Cup at Gulfstream. But Mystik Dan, who was going the wrong way while Thorpedo Anna could do no wrong, rebounded with a near miss May 3 in the Lake Ouachita at Oaklawn Park and on May 31 captured the Grade 3 Blame Stakes at Churchill, his first win since the Derby. Mystik Dan, as of June 12, had yet to posted a timed workout since the Blame, but McPeek said he’ll run next on June 28 in the $1 million Stephen Foster Stakes.
McPeek also plans to enter Gould’s Gold in the Stephen Foster, but if all is well with Mystik Dan, Gould’s Gold could be scratched in favor of a race like the Prairie Meadows Cornhusker. Gould’s Gold set a Churchill track record for 1 1/8 miles on dirt when he ran 1:47.26 winning a May 17 allowance race. The track was playing so fast that day, however, that Gould’s Gold earned only a 92 Beyer Speed Figure.
Sierra Leone, champion 3-year-old of 2024, remains an intended runner in the Stephen Foster, trainer Chad Brown said Thursday. Sierra Leone has raced only once this year, finishing a modest third on March 22 in the New Orleans Classic. Sierra Leone has since stayed on a regular workout pattern and has been based at Belmont Park since mid-April.
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