Thorpedo Anna (inside) battles Dorth Vader to the wire in the Personal Ensign (Chelsea Durand)
Mary Eddy/NYRA Press Office
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Trainer Ken McPeek exuded confidence heading into Saturday’s Grade 1, $500,000 Personal Ensign that his reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna would claim victory in the nine-furlong test for older fillies and mares. While the margin was a desperate nose, the filly nicknamed the “Grizzly Bear” came out on the winning end of a dramatic stretch duel with Grade 1-winner Dorth Vader in front of a raucous Saratoga Race Course grandstand.
In victory, the 4-year-old daughter of Fast Anna was awarded a “Win and You’re In” berth into the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff, a race she won last November to cap her tremendous sophomore season that featured a Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks coup and two Grade 1 scores at the Spa in the DK Horse Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks ahead of a head second to Fierceness in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers and another top-level victory in Parx Racing’s Cotillion.
McPeek was quick to give credit to the George Weaver-trained Dorth Vader for her admirable effort.
“George did a great job, that filly ran super and seems to be improving,” McPeek said. “She’s a tough customer.”
The Personal Ensign was Thorpedo Anna’s fourth win from five starts this year, and came with a stalking trip engineered by regular pilot Brian Hernandez, Jr., who held the dark bay in third through the early stages after breaking from the outermost post 7 as dual Grade 1-winner Randomized zipped up the rail to mark an opening quarter-mile in 23.24 seconds under pressure from 50-1 longshot Bernietakescharge.
A tightly-bunched group followed the top pair with Thorpedo Anna racing to the outside of last-out Grade 2 Shuvee-winner Leslie’s Rose just ahead of Dorth Vader and a sizable gap back to Dazzling Move and the late-running Raging Sea heading onto the backstretch. Hernandez, Jr. kept the pacesetters within his grasp as the half-mile elapsed in 47.11 and coaxed Thorpedo Anna into contention to make it three across the track approaching the turn.
McPeek said he was comfortable with Thorpedo Anna being wide down the backstretch.
“I think he needed to stay out of trouble,” McPeek explained. “I gave him [Hernandez, Jr.] instructions, ‘don’t worry about the loss of ground, you are going to lose a little ground, but I’d rather you do that than get her in behind horses and give her a chance to get stopped and blocked.'”
Bernietakescharge threw in the towel and Randomized came under a ride as Thorpedo Anna swept to the lead with ease in the turn, leaving the closers to give chase through three-quarters in 1:11.27 with Dorth Vader the main danger on the outside and Leslie’s Rose creeping closer.
Thorpedo Anna held a half-length lead over Grade 1 Odgen Phipps presented by Ford-winner Dorth Vader at the stretch call, but her margin was threatened with every stride as the Weaver trainee did everything in her power to pass the Champion through one mile in 1:36.42. In a spectacular stretch drive, Thorpedo Anna dug in with great fortitude to will herself to the wire a nose better than her game challenger, and completed the course in 1:49.18 over the fast footing.
Hernandez, Jr., aboard for each of Thorpedo Anna’s 15 starts, said Saturday’s result proves Thorpedo Anna is still among the best horses in North America.
“I don’t know if she was all out, but it’s just the fact of in these Grade 1 races these horses they keep taking shots at you and you gotta respect them all and today’s another version of that,” Hernandez, Jr. said. “You know, our filly is Horse of the Year, and she showed why she deservingly should be.
“She put herself in a great spot. She showed what a true Champion she was,” Hernandez, Jr. continued. “You know, all I had to do was kind of stay out of her way. She decided to make her run. I just let her do her thing. She showed the heart of a Champion down the lane to hold Dorth Vader off and be able to get her nose down at the wire. A really special win.”
It was a further 9 3/4 lengths back to Leslie’s Rose in third with last year’s Ensign-winner Raging Sea completing the superfecta. Dazzling Move, Randomized and Bernietakescharge completed the order of finish.
McPeek praised his prized filly for her grit, while also tipping his cap to Dorth Vader, who entered from a pace-pressing fourth in the Grade 3 Molly Pitcher on July 19 at Monmouth Park.
“She just shows how brave she is,” McPeek said. “I thought George Weaver’s filly ran fantastic, she ran really the race of her life, but my filly, maybe, Brian seemed to think she got quite tired out of the race, too. I think that will actually lead her into the next one in even better shape. That wasn’t as easy as we’d want it to be, but she is a Champion. That is why she wins.”
Weaver was equally complimentary of the dual Champion, and said he welcomes a rematch in this year’s Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Distaff on November 1 at Del Mar.
“I actually thought she got her nose down and won,” Weaver said of Dorth Vader. “When they threw the photo up and I watched the replay, I though, ‘oh no, we got nosed.’ It was a great race. Unfortunately, I’m on the losing end of the photo but all in all, I think Dorth Vader validated her status in this division and we’re looking forward to going to the Breeders’ Cup.”
Thorpedo Anna has raced and won at six different racetracks, and could visit a new one next as McPeek said the Grade 3 Delaware Handicap on September 28 is a potential target moving forward. Another possible spot is the Grade 1 Spinster on October 5 at Keeneland, the track she broke her maiden over on debut in October 2023.
“I’m going to cross-nominate to the Spinster and the Delaware Handicap,” McPeek said. “There’s a chance we could go to Delaware with her, we are going to talk about it, and there’s a chance we could go to Keeneland.”
Campaigned by Hill ‘n’ Dale Equine Holdings, Magdalena Racing, Mark Edwards and breeder Judy Hicks, Thorpedo Anna adds to wins earlier this year in the Grade 2 Azeri and Grade 1 Apple Blossom Handicap at Oaklawn Park, and entered from a win in the Grade 2 Fleur de Lis on June 28 at Churchill Downs. She banked $275,000 in victory while improving her lifetime record to 15-12-2-0 and returning $3.50 on a $2 win ticket.
Out of the unraced Uncle Mo mare Sataves, Thorpedo Anna is a half-sister to multiple graded stakes-placed McAfee, a son of Cloud Computing who runs in the Grade 1 DraftKings Travers for trainer Rick Dutrow, Jr. later on Saturday’s card.
Live racing resumes Sunday at Saratoga with a 10-race card featuring the $150,000 West Point presented by Rood and Riddle Equine Hospital in Race 8. First post is 1:10 p.m. Eastern.
