BENSALEM, Pa. - It wasn’t the dominant Thorpedo Anna the public has become accustomed to seeing when she faces 3-year-old fillies, but it was a winning performance nonetheless.
After being boxed in for a good part of the race, Thorpedo Anna, under jockey Brian Hernandez Jr., found running room turning for home and the heavily favored filly was able to outfinish a game Gun Song, a 44-1 shot, to win the Grade 1, $1 million Cotillion Stakes by a neck at Parx Racing on Saturday.
It was 3 1/2 lengths back to Tarifa, who was followed in the order of finish by Mystic Lake, Everland, Scalable, Power Squeeze and Sidamara.
“A win’s a win,” trainer Ken McPeek said. “I’m going to take it. I’m not complaining.”
It was the fourth Grade 1 victory and fifth graded stakes win this year for Thorpedo Anna. In her previous start, she faced the boys and ran a gusty second, beaten a head by Fierceness, in the Grade 1 Travers Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 24.
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That big of a performance and coming back in four weeks over a track Thorpedo Anna had never previously been on, had McPeek a little nervous coming into the Cotillion.
“We didn’t train all that hard for this race,” McPeek said. “I felt let’s not squeeze the lemon all that hard, I thought we could win it regardless and we did. She’s an exceptional individual.
“What I was more worried about was the shipping and the running over a racetrack that she hadn’t run over, worked over, or trained over,” McPeek added. “This racetrack’s a little heavy today, seems to me that it’s probably a little slower than normal.”
Hernandez thought that Mystic Lake, under Mike Smith, would clear the field and that he would be able to pop Thorpedo Anna outside and get a stalking trip from the two-path. But John Velazquez put Cathryn Sophia Stakes winner Gun Song in second with Thorpedo Anna boxed down the backside.
When Gun Song drew even with Mystic Lake, Tarifa, under Flavien Prat, then had Thorpedo Anna boxed in. The pace was relatively soft, Mystic Lake running a half-mile in 48.01 seconds and six furlongs in 1:12.55.
At the head of the lane, Hernandez was able to get Thorpedo Anna into the clear and she ran to and eventually by Gun Song, who did fight back along the inside only to fall a neck short.
“He put us in a box and we were stuck in behind them for a long, long time,” Hernandez said. “We finally got a little seam there turning for home, she lengthened her stride and she was able to put her neck in front and she just showed how game she was from the eighth pole home.”
Hernandez did comment how deep he thought the track was, adding that Gun Song, coming off a stakes win last month here, may have benefitted.
“The other horse had a race over this racetrack and this track seemed a little deep today and that kind of helped the other filly more than anything,” Hernandez said. “Thorpedo Anna idled a little bit but even on the gallop out she never let that filly get back by her.”
Thorpedo Anna, a daughter of Fast Anna owned by Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Sherri McPeek’s Magdalena Racing, covered the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45.45 (93 Beyer Speed Figure) and returned $2.20 as the 1-9 favorite.
Mark Hennig, the trainer of Gun Song, said he was proud of his filly’s effort.
“Especially the last 50 yards, when she tried to fight back, she was showing a lot of courage there,” Hennig said. “I said all along I just look forward to next year because she’s going to have a big 4-year-old year.”
McPeek will now look forward to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 2 at Del Mar for Thorpedo Anna’s next race. She was scheduled to ship on Sunday to Saratoga, where she is expected to do the bulk of her training before shipping to Southern California.
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