HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – There’s a grizzly bear coming out of hibernation on Saturday in the Grade 2, $400,000 Azeri at Oaklawn Park. Her name is Thorpedo Anna.
The reigning Horse of the Year will launch her 4-year-old season in the 1 1/16-mile race.
Thorpedo Anna picked up the nickname The Grizzly after a comment trainer Kenny McPeek made a few weeks after she launched her 3-year-old season with a win in last year’s Grade 2 Fantasy at Oaklawn.
“This was before the Kentucky Oaks,” McPeek recalled. “Somebody said, ‘What do you think of your chances?’ I didn’t think anybody was paying attention and I said, ‘All I know is they better bring a bear because I’m bringing a grizzly.’ ”
That ended up being the case throughout Thorpedo Anna’s seven-race championship campaign last year. She won six of those starts – five of them Grade 1 races led by the Kentucky Oaks and the Breeders’ Cup Distaff. Thorpedo Anna’s lone loss came by a head to Fierceness when she faced males in the Travers. It was 1 3/4 lengths farther back to eventual Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Sierra Leone in third. The Travers ended up being a defining race for the filly.
“The Travers impressed me the most,” McPeek said. “You could have made a case, with a little cleaner trip she wins that day. But the fact that she rose to the occasion was pretty neat stuff and she probably enhanced her reputation, even in defeat.”
For the Azeri, which is being showcased on an 11-race card, Thorpedo Anna is part of a field of seven fillies and mares. The lineup includes Grade 3 winners Recharge and Wild Bout Hilary, stakes winners Alpine Princess and Jody’s Pride, the richest Louisiana-bred of all time in Free Like a Girl, and supplemental nominee Bow Draw.
Thorpedo Anna will be making her first start since a 2 1/2-length win in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff on Nov. 2 at Del Mar.
“It was another impressive, workmanlike performance,” McPeek said. “She did what she had to do.”
McPeek said following the start, Thorpedo Anna was freshened.
“We had Dr. Larry Bramlage go over her, double-check her, and he said give her 60 days and bring her back. There were no issues. She had just been going all season. We all thought it would be a good idea.”
For her return, Thorpedo Anna has logged some strong works at Fair Grounds.
“She keeps herself fit,” McPeek said. “She’s a natural high-energy filly and she likes to work. She’s not going to go over there with any excuses.”
Brian Hernandez Jr. has the mount from the rail for Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing.
The Azeri will be the second time Free Like a Girl has taken on a champion who is coming off a layoff. She did so in last year’s La Troienne, finishing a bold second to Idiomatic.
“Coming off a layoff, it’s a little different,” said trainer Chasey Deville Pomier. “I said if we’re going to face [Thorpedo Anna], we’re going to face her right now. I’d rather not – she’s something to go against. But if I have to face her in any race, it would be this one.”
Recharge comes off a win in the Grade 3 Houston Ladies Classic on Jan. 25 at Sam Houston. Trainer Steve Asmussen said the timing of the Azeri works well for the filly. He won the 2019 Azeri with Midnight Bisou, who entered off a win in the Houston Ladies Classic.
“We realize exactly who we’re in against,” Asmussen said with respect to Thorpedo Anna, “but it will sort out exactly who [Recharge] is and what we need to do going forward. The filly’s put together a 6-for-8 run.”
Recharge’s record includes three straight wire-to-wire wins, culminating in the Ladies Classic
“It was a situation just like this one, where you see considerably more pace on paper than actually transpired in the running of the race,” Asmussen said. “I can’t imagine them going that easy again this time, but you never know.”
A contested pace between Jody’s Pride, Thorpedo Anna, Recharge, and Wild Bout Hilary would suit Alpine Princess. She was a closing second in the Houston Ladies Classic, beaten a neck. Prior to that race, she was second by a head in the Grade 3 Comely at Aqueduct and romped by nine lengths in the Remington Park Oaks, all races that suggest she is sitting on a strong 4-year-old season. For each, Alpine Princess earned Beyer Speed Figures in the 90s.
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“Her last three runs have been huge,” said trainer Brad Cox. “I’m hoping she can break through with a win in a graded stakes.”
Jody’s Pride ships in off a third-place finish in the Grade 2 Inside Information at seven furlongs at Gulfstream Park.
Wild Bout Hilary wired the field in the Grade 3 Bayakoa last out at Oaklawn, winning by a head over Free Like a Girl.
Success on Saturday will require getting by a grizzly.
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