Thorpedo Anna made the first start of her career in October 2023 at Keeneland, cruising to an easy restricted maiden win at odds of 4-1. Thorpedo Anna makes her second Keeneland appearance Sunday, when, as the reigning Horse of the Year, she’ll go off heavily favored in the Spinster Stakes.
Since she first showed up at Keeneland, Thorpedo Anna has won seven Grade 1s. Might as well list them: the Kentucky Oaks, the Acorn, the Coaching Club American Oaks, the Cotillion, the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, the Apple Blossom, and, most recently, on Aug. 23, the Personal Ensign. And that doesn’t include Thorpedo Anna’s best race, a desperately close loss to top-class colt Fierceness in the Travers Stakes.
Second in her November 2023 stakes debut, the Golden Rod, Thorpedo Anna has but one true blemish on her record, checking in last of seven May 2 in the La Troienne. Serious trouble into the first turn took the filly out of her game.
“They mugged her,” is how Kenny McPeek described the experience.
Thorpedo Anna never has approached the 111 Beyer Speed Figure from the Travers but did return to triple-digit Beyer land for the first time this year winning the Personal Ensign by a desperate nose over Dorth Vader.
“Dorth Vader ran huge that day,” McPeek said. “Where were the rest of them? They were nowhere.”
Truth. Nearly 10 lengths separated Dorth Vader and third-place Leslie’s Rose.
Thorpedo Anna had one post-Personal Ensign work at Saratoga before returning to Churchill Downs, where she’s breezed three times for the Spinster. Standard-issue stuff.
“She’s as professional as ever. You take her over there, she gives you everything she’s got,” McPeek said. “She’s just the total pro. She’s workmanlike. She marches to the track excited every day.”
One major change Sunday: Brian Hernandez Jr., Thorpedo Anna’s jockey every start of her career, is sidelined with an array of injuries sustained in a fall. Flavien Prat gets a leg up on the champion. They’ll break from the outside gate in a five-horse field, plenty of time to get comfortable in this Grade 1, $650,000 contest over 1 1/8 miles.
“I think the outside draw is ideal. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy. Just get her out of there,” McPeek said.
Thorpedo Anna is listed as the 8-5 favorite but has been odds-on her last nine starts in gender-restricted competition. The Spinster probably makes it 10.
Her four rivals from the rail out are Chilled, Scylla, Nitrogen, and Gin Gin.
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Pegged the 5-2 second choice, Nitrogen, in the running for champion 3-year-old filly, faces older rivals for the first time. The winner of four straight turf stakes from January through May, Nitrogen stayed in the June 7 Wonder Again at Saratoga after heavy rain necessitated the race move from turf to dirt. She won by 17 lengths and, after one more grass start, returned to dirt to capture the Grade 1 Alabama, soundly defeating Kentucky Oaks winner Good Cheer under regular rider Jose Ortiz.
Her trainer, Mark Casse, sounded sanguine about tackling Thorpedo Anna. So far, Nitrogen, despite a 7-6-1-0 record this year, hasn’t run fast enough.
“She’s a 3-year-old who’s getting better, and I kind of felt in the Alabama she was idling most of the way. Jose was doing everything to keep her from taking off too early. She didn’t really have a target, and she loves a target. This time, I think she’s going to have a target,” Casse said.
Nitrogen could go on to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff if her Spinster merits it. If not, she’ll get a break to freshen up for a 4-year-old campaign.
Scylla got sick a few days before her scheduled 2025 debut in the Madison in April at Keeneland, and her campaign has never truly found a rhythm. After six sprint starts dating to August 2024, Scylla returns to routing. But while she won the 1 1/8-mile Fleur de Lis two Junes ago, trainer Bill Mott brought Scylla to a new level when he cut her back to seven-furlong sprints.
Gin Gin rates an upset chance returning to Keeneland, site of her best race. Twelfth in the 2024 Kentucky Oaks, Gin Gin made her first start for trainer Brendan Walsh and crushed her previous peak landing the Grade 3 Doubledogdare on April 18 with a 96 Beyer that slots her into Spinster contention. Gin Gin turned in a slightly lesser run in her next start, the Shawnee at Churchill, and lost her edge when beaten nine lengths by Thorpedo Anna in the June 28 Fleur de Lis.
“I think she kind of went off on us a little bit. We gave her a break to try and replicate what we did in the spring,” Walsh said. “We sent her up to Saratoga to get her looking right. She seems to do well off the layoff. She worked nice and looks fantastic.”
She’ll need to race fantastic to threaten the Horse of the Year, who’s back at Keeneland for the first time in two years on the way to another Breeders’ Cup at Del Mar.
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