Mystik Dan

Tuning up for next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Distaff at Del Mar, four-time Grade I winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) breezed five furlongs beneath regular exercise rider Danny Ramsey in 1:01.24 (1/3) over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Saturday morning. The move was recorded in company with her multiple stakes-placed Ken McPeek-trained stablemate and 4-year-old gelding Denington (Gun Runner). After purchasing a total of 21 yearlings earlier this month--five at the Tattersalls October Yearling sale and 16 at the Fasig-Tipton October Yearling sale--McPeek was back in town...

When it came time for Ma'am (Colonel John) to retire from the racetrack back in 2018, one of her owners Lance Gasaway began plotting how his star racehorse would live out her days at his home in Arkansas. Then the mare's trainer Kenny McPeek stepped in. Prior to Ma'am, Gasaway had only owned a handful of Arkansas-breds and he knew next to nothing about the breeding business. McPeek explained that with her pedigree, soundness and easygoing nature, Ma'am had all the credentials to become a good broodmare. Six years later,...

Mystik Dan (Goldencents) has resumed under-tack training at Ken McPeek's Magdalena Farm in Lexington as the GI Kentucky Derby winner attempts to get back in form after he was last seen running eighth in the GI Belmont Stakes, according to a press release on Friday from Churchill Downs. Mystik Dan was training over the summer at Saratoga, but his conditioner opted to give the colt time following his Triple Crown campaign. "He looks fantastic. There's a whole lot of hind quarter back on him," McPeek said. "This is going to...

by Tim Wilkin, courtesy Wednesday's Pennsylvania Derby & Cotillion News The echoes that bounced off the rafters at Saratoga Race Course last month are still fresh in the mind of Brian Hernandez, Jr. The 38-year-old jockey can still hear the noise as he rode Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) to a heart-pounding second--beaten by a head--behind Fierceness (City of Light) in the GI Travers Stakes. Thorpedo Anna's bid to become the first filly to win the Travers in 109 years came up just short. Now, the page has turned to Parx...

Trainer Kenny McPeek has the horse that all eyes will be on this summer because his 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) is taking on the boys in the GI Travers Stakes Aug 24. He talks about the experience of having a horse like this and what it's like dealing with all the people that want to see her. He also tells us about his four-legged friend Sonny and what his life is like away from the racetrack. Read all about it in this week's Saratoga Conversation. TDN: You have...

It's been a magical year for jockey Brian Hernandez, Jr., who rides the best 3-year-old filly in the country in Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and one of the best 3-year-old males in Mystik Dan (Goldencents). For the veteran rider that has meant wins in the GI Kentucky Oaks, the GI Kentucky Derby, the GI Acorn S. and the GI Coaching Club American Oaks. Thorpedo Anna will take on the boys in her next scheduled start, the GI DraftKings Travers S. Appearing on the TDN Writers' Room Podcast, presented by Keeneland,...

Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. talks superstar filly Thorpedo Anna, who is bound for the GI Travers Stakes, on this week's TDN Writers' Room.

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Two and a half months after winning the GI Kentucky Derby as co-breeders and co-owners of long shot Mystik Dan (Goldencents), Four G Racing picked up its first victory at Saratoga Race Course Sunday with another runner overlooked by handicappers. With a powerful run through the stretch under John Velazquez, Reining Flowers (Midnight Storm) completed a rally from well off the pace to win the sixth race, a $100,000 maiden special weight contest for 2-year-old fillies, by a length over Good Long Cry (Long on Value). Four G's...

Kenny McPeek announced Saturday that his superstar 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will make her next start in the Aug. 24 GI DraftKings Travers S. McPeek had kept the decision to himself for a few days, but no one should have been surprised when he picked the Travers. That's McPeek's style, to be bold, to embrace a challenge to think outside of the box. There's no trainer like him. He has pulled this trick off before, winning 2020 GI Preakness S. with the filly Swiss Skydiver (Daredevil). "I just...

The GIII Southwest Stakes, won by subsequent GI Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan (Goldencents) this year, will be worth $1 million in 2025, Oaklawn Park announced Tuesday. The race was worth $800,000 this year. The second of four Kentucky Derby points races to be contested at Oaklawn, the Southwest will be run Jan. 25 and joins the $1.25-million GII Rebel Stakes and the $1.5-million GI Arkansas Derby as Oaklawn's seven-figure preps for the first race of the Triple Crown. Oaklawn's Derby prep series begins with the Jan. 4 $250,000 Smarty...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Jockey Manny Franco was on Honor Marie's (Honor Code) back when the colt hit the Oklahoma Training Track at 7:30 Saturday morning. That doesn't mean Franco will be there when Honor Marie runs in the GI Travers Stakes on Aug. 24. Honor Marie worked four furlongs in :48.75 with 2-year-old stablemate Fiddling Felix (Mendelssohn) as he continues to train up to the Midsummer Derby. Franco answered the call to work the horse because trainer Whit Beckman doesn't have an abundance of exercise riders at his disposal...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- It's a tossup as to what is the biggest sporting event this weekend for trainer Jeremiah Englehart. The choices are these: the $175,000 GIII Sanford Stakes at Saratoga Race Course on Saturday or the Vermont Lacrosse Classic two and a half hours away in the town of Essex. Come again? Englehart will do double duty because three of his five kids are in the lacrosse travel tournament. He wont miss that. And he can't be absent from the Spa because he has to to saddle Mo...