Leading three-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna was expected to waltz in Saturday’s $1 million Cotillion (G1) at Parx, but the 1-10 favorite had to grind it out instead.
Shuffled a couple of lengths back on the inside and pocketed turning for home, the Ken McPeek pupil was at a tactical disadvantage. Yet Thorpedo Anna got clear and willed her way past a stubborn Gun Song by a neck.
“Good ones overcome everything,” McPeek summed up.
The narrow margin was the result of a combination of factors, even beyond the favorite’s tough passage. The 44-1 Gun Song deserves credit for iron-clad determination, as well as for making the most of her perfect trip attending a steady pace.
But Thorpedo Anna was also tenderly handled by regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr., who was careful not to ask for more than the bare minimum. Coming right back off a near-miss to champion colt Fierceness in the Aug. 24 Travers (G1), she was using the Cotillion as her bridge to the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1).
The sprinter Mystic Lake grabbed the early lead through an opening quarter in :23.94. Given her stamina questions over the 1 1/16-mile distance, she was nursed along in splits of :48.01 and 1:12.55.
Thorpedo Anna found herself stuck on the inside because Gun Song secured the outside pace-attending spot. The heavy favorite initially held her position on the rail, but eased back a bit in a tactical retreat. But she still couldn’t get out. Tarifa then seized the chance to advance and cover Thorpedo Anna up in another clever move.
Meanwhile, Gun Song was in the ideal place to pounce on the stamina-challenged Mystic Lake turning for home. At that point, Tarifa was desperately trying to keep Thorpedo Anna hemmed in, but she didn’t have enough momentum, and the door was finally open for the favorite.
Thorpedo Anna responded, albeit in more workmanlike fashion than with her usual verve, and gradually asserted. Gun Song never yielded and actually came again to cut it even closer approaching the wire.
With Hernandez gently cajoling her home, Thorpedo Anna clocked 1:45.45.
Tarifa checked in third, another 3 1/2 lengths behind Gun Song. Mystic Lake tired to fourth, followed by Everland, Scalable, Power Squeeze, and Sidamara.
Thorpedo Anna already boasted an Eclipse-worthy resume that includes the Kentucky Oaks (G1), Acorn (G1), Coaching Club American Oaks (G1), and Fantasy (G2) by daylight. The Cotillion illustrated that the daughter of Fast Anna has the heart of a champion too.
McPeek didn’t mince words when asked if this was how they’d drawn the race up.
“No. Not at all. How we didn’t want it to draw. It didn’t go well,” the horseman said.
“(Hernandez) got caught in that box in the far turn and nowhere to go. She got about run into the rail. They basically shut her off down the backside. That box that she got stuck in and they held her in there as long as they could, he actually had to make his own path. They could have held her in there for longer, and we’re a beat horse. She was quick enough to be able to make the move. But he never hit her and just kind of rode her home.
“It was a little nerve-racking,” McPeek added. “I think this racetrack is pretty deep, and it was a little taxing out there. She had never shipped and run before.
“We didn’t train her all that hard for this race. I felt like ‘let’s not squeeze the lemon really hard for this.’ I thought we could win it regardless and we did. She is just an exceptional individual.
“The hard thing about it and what I was worried about was the shipping and the running over a racetrack she had never run over, worked over, or trained over. This racetrack is a little heavy to me today. I think it’s a little slower than normal.”
Hernandez knew that the race was unfolding adversely from the beginning.
“We were having a tough trip the whole way around there, because looking at it on paper, it looked like (Mystic Lake) was going to be fast enough to clear us, and then we were going to be able to hop out and just get a nice cruising trip,” the winning rider noted.
“But Johnny (Velazquez) had other plans. He got his filly (Gun Song) to leave there good, and he put us in a box, and we were just stuck there behind him for a long, long time.”
Hernandez also admitted to concern about Thorpedo Anna’s possibly recoiling from her Travers effort.
“That’s always in the back of your mind, especially with three-year-old fillies. You have to expect them to regress a little bit. She ran so hard there against the boys in the Travers. And that was our biggest worry today …
“But what really impressed me today was when she finally got her seam at the head of the lane and she took off. She had the will to win, and she just showed all her heart from that point on.”
Campaigned by Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, breeder Judy B. Hicks, and Sherri McPeek’s Magdalena Racing, Thorpedo Anna extended her record to 9-7-2-0, $2,817,163. Her only loss against fillies came in last year’s Golden Rod (G2) at Churchill Downs.
Thorpedo Anna will be making her first start against older rivals in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar. If she passes that test, she’ll enhance her candidacy for Horse of the Year honors, pending what transpires in the other championship races.
