Thorpedo Anna

'Rising Star' Mindframe The One To Beat In the Haskell

'TDN Rising Star' Mindframe (Constitution), who led into the final furlong of last month's GI Belmont Stakes before his inexperience cost him the final leg of the Triple Crown, rates the marquee in Saturday's GI NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park, a 'Win and You're In' qualifier for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar in early November. A $600,000 Keeneland September purchase campaigned by the formidable team of Mike Repole's Repole Stable and Vinnie Viola's St Elias Stable, the Maryland-bred won his seven-furlong Gulfstream debut by a...

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Savvy Shopper McPeek Keeps Finding Top-Level Winners

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Minutes after trainer Kenny McPeek signed the $40,000 purchase ticket for a yearling filly sired by Fast Anna (Medaglia d'Oro) he told its breeder, Judy Hicks, that he would earn $1 million with her. Turns out that McPeek was right with his bold prediction about his now 3-year-old star, who was eventually named Thorpedo Anna. With five wins and a second in six career starts, the daughter of the Uncle Mo mare Sataves, has already earned $1,705,663. Most of that purse money came from victories in...

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Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: The Beat Goes On For Thorpedo Anna

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - With apologizes to the rest of the horse population spending the summer at Saratoga Race Course, the most popular Thoroughbred on the grounds is the dominating 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). Winner of all three of her starts this season--by a combined 13 1/4 lengths--Thorpedo Anna took her next step towards the July 20 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga early Saturday morning. With regular rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. on board, Thorpedo Anna worked five furlongs in 1:01.55 (5/20) on the Oklahoma Training Track....

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Saratoga Notebook Presented By NYRA Bets: It's Going To Be A Long Weekend For Mo Plex Trainer Englehart

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...

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Sierra Leone, Thorpedo Anna Back On Work Tab as Mystik Dan Gets Short Break

A pair of noteworthy names were spotted on the work tab over the weekend at Saratoga, GISW Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) on Sunday and MGISW Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) on Saturday, both cruising over the Oklahoma dirt training track for the first time since their respective efforts during the Belmont at Saratoga festival. From the Chad Brown barn, the 'TDN Rising Star' put in a solo half-mile move with blinkers on in :49.66 (6/30) and galloped out into the backstretch while being encouraged by the exercise rider. When asked, Brown...

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Belmont Stakes Racing Festival Packs Them Into Saratoga

Highlighted by a 17-1 upset victory by Dornoch (Good Magic) in the $2-million GI Belmont S., the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival drew better than 120,000 racing fans to Saratoga for the unprecedented event, approximately double the attendance for the two most recent runnings at Belmont Park. Thursday's opening day of the Festival featured a pair of $150,000 stakes for the 2-year-old males and females and the first of the weekend's 14 graded stakes, the GII Belmont Gold Cup. In front of an announced crowd of 22,027, renowned Australian commentator...

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The Week in Review: Firsts, Lasts, and About-Turns

It didn't look like the GI Belmont S. It didn't feel like the Belmont S. But the Belmont S. it was, and Dornoch (Good Magic) will from here on in be called a Belmont S. winner. What better way to break your Grade I duck as a trainer, as Danny Gargan did here. At a time of concentrated riches among fewer and fewer trainers, Gargan provided a welcome reminder that many plying their trade at less vaulted levels are just as capable of priming their stock for these big days...

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Thorpedo Anna Strikes Again in Acorn

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--It didn't seem possible for trainer Kenny McPeek to be any more confident in his filly, 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), as he was prior to her win in the GI Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs five weeks ago. But a short chat with the Kentucky-based trainer earlier in the week spoke volumes as to her ability to repeat in Friday's GI DK Horse Acorn S. Giving the afternoon's 27,529-strong crowd no real cause for concern at any point during the race, she unleashed a tour-de-force...

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Walsh Will Keep An Eye To The Sky Before Pretty Mischievous Runs In Ogden Phipps

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- Given his choice, trainer Brendan Walsh would rather not see it wet on Saturday at Saratoga Race Course. That's because the big horse in his barn, Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) is scheduled to run in the GI Ogden Phipps S. on the GI Belmont S. undercard at Saratoga Race Course. "The less rain we get, the better," Walsh said while sitting in his office at his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. Owned by Godolphin LLC. Pretty Mischievous has seen off-tracks before and has run okay....

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The Acorn and The Beast

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY -- It sounds a little like a fairy tale. A fire-breathing creature descending on several unsuspecting ladies in search of a prized acorn. In this story, however, the role of the fearsome creature is played by GI Kentucky Oaks heroine Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna), who while not grotesque, gives eight other GI Acorn S. rivals cause for concern nonetheless. "The boys are lucky she is not running," said trainer Kenny McPeek with a chuckle. "I mean she's good." After an emphatic win at Keeneland last October, she...

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Hernandez Continues To Enjoy The Ride Of His Life

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Brian Hernandez had a huge weekend on the first weekend in May. The 38-year-old jockey is hoping for another big one on the second weekend in June. Hernandez is the pilot of the best 3-year-old filly in the country in Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). He also is the teammate of one of the best 3-year-old colts in the land in Mystik Dan (Goldencents). Both horses are trained by Kenny McPeek and they gave Hernandez the biggest thrill of his 21-year career last month. Thorpedo Anna won...

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Museum Completes Derby 150 Updates

The Kentucky Derby Museum has completed updates to its Winner's Circle Exhibit to include Mystik Dan (Goldencents)'s victory in this year's 150th running of the race. Mike Prather, a local artist who was first commissioned by the Museum to airbrush a replica Derby horse in 1999, captured all of Mystik Dan's unique markings and details to match how he looked crossing the finish line at Churchill Downs May 4. The replica jockey was also given a makeover with the team's silks. The new addition to the exhibit includes items on...

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