2025.03.07 Oaklawn Racing Updates; Grade 2 Azeri Preview

Racing Press Release
Compiled by Robert Yates

Friday, March 7, 2025

Barring any setbacks, Thorpedo Anna figures to have the heaviest workload for a reigning Horse of the Year in more than a decade in 2025. The work starts Saturday at Oaklawn when Thorpedo Anna makes her 4-year-old debut in the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles.

“I think it’s fantastic for racing and racing fans to have the reigning Horse of the Year, 3-year-old filly champion, coming back as a 4-year-old,” said retired jockey Richard Migliore, now covering Oaklawn as an on-site analyst for Fox Sports. “And a bunch of the 3-year-olds coming back at 4, it bodes well for a good racing season. I think it helps create fans when horses have more longevity. They get an opportunity to follow them, to see them.”

Trained by Kenny McPeek, Thorpedo Anna was a unanimous choice for an Eclipse Award as North America’s champion 3-year-old filly and a runaway winner for Horse of the Year after compiling a 6-1-0 record from seven starts and earning $3,653,050. All six victories were stakes, the last five in Grade 1 company.

Thorpedo Anna’s most memorable 2024 race was her lone loss.

Tackling males for the first time, Thorpedo Anna was beaten a head by champion Fierceness in the $1.25 million

Travers Stakes (G1) for 3-year-olds at 1 ¼ miles Aug. 24 at Saratoga.

Migliore said the Travers atmosphere “was very, very close” to the day Rachel Alexandra toppled males in the $750,000 Woodward Stakes (G1) in 2009 at Saratoga. The 1 1/8-mile Woodward capped Rachel Alexandra’s unbeaten 2009 Horse of the Year campaign.

“If she had gotten up, it maybe would have even surpassed that in some respects,” Migliore said of Thorpedo Anna. “But she ran her race again. She showed up. She gave everything she had. Ran out of ground, maybe. Johnny Velazquez (rider of Fierceness) contends that Fierceness was going to kick on again. I didn’t see it that way, but he was on the horse. If you think back through the history of fillies trying the boys in the Travers, there’s some really world-class fillies, Davona Dale, horses like that who weren’t nearly as competitive. I think that was a statement race for her.”

Thorpedo Anna hasn’t started since a front-running 2 ½-length victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Nov. 2 at Del Mar. It was her first start against older horses. The Azeri is Oaklawn’s final major prep for the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at 1 1/16 miles April 12.

McPeek said the Apple Blossom will be the next target for Thorpedo Anna, with another Breeders’ Cup appearance the year-end goal.

“I cover racing for a living; I was a jockey,” Migliore said. “I’m excited about Thorpedo Anna being here and making her 4-year-old debut. At the heart of it, horses like that make us remember why we’re fans to begin with.”

Thorpedo Anna began her Horse of the Year campaign with a four-length victory in the $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) at 1 1/16 miles last March at Oaklawn.

Thorpedo Anna became the first 3-year-old filly to be crowned Horse of the Year since Rachel Alexandra, who also won the Fantasy in 2009 enroute to year-end honors. The Eclipse Awards were established in 1971.

Thorpedo Anna is the 2-5 program favorite for the Azeri.

Free Like a Girl Returns in the Azeri

Free Like a Girl’s 12th attempt to break thorough in graded-stakes company comes in the $400,000 Azeri (G2) Saturday at Oaklawn, a 1 1/16-miles event that will mark the 4-year-old debut of reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna.

Free Like a Girl is the all-time Louisiana-bred career money winner ($2,173,438) and a 19-time stakes winner. She narrowly missed her first graded stakes victory in her last start, finishing second, beaten a head, in the $250,000 Bayakoa (G3) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 8 at Oaklawn.

“We do have one (Louisiana-bred stakes race) on our docket, on our radar, that we’re looking at,” said co-owner/trainer Chasey Deville Pomier. “It’s just that she’s kind of been hitting her prime the last year or so and we would like, obviously, to get her that graded win she’s worked so hard for. This is another opportunity at that.”

The Azeri is Oaklawn’s final major prep for the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at 1 1/16 miles April 12.

Free Like a Girl ran third in last year’s Apple Blossom, wheeled back 20 days after winning the $100,000 Shantel Lanerie Memorial Stakes for state-breds at Fair Grounds. Deville Pomier said Free Like a Girl, now in the twilight of her racing career, is a candidate for the Shantel Lanerie Memorial at 1 mile and 70 yards March 23.

“That and the Apple Blossom are kind of the only two (races) we’re kind of kicking around to see what happens,” Deville Pomier said. “We take it race-by-race and how she performs in her race. Then, we’ll decide where were go from there.”

Free Like a Girl became the all-time Louisiana-bred career money winner with a victory in the $500,000 Misty Bennett Pink Ribbon Stakes Aug. 23 at Charles Town in West Virginia. The Misty Bennett pushed Free Like a Girl’s earnings to $1,916,978, eclipsing Star Guitar’s previous record ($1,749,862). Free Like a Girl also ran second to champion Idiomatic in the $1 million La Troienne Stakes (G1) last May at Churchill Downs.

Free Like a Girl, a 6-year-old daughter of El Deal, was purchased for just $5,500 as a yearling at the 2020 Equine Sales of Louisiana Yearling Sale. Deville Pomier owns Free Like a Girl in a partnership that includes her father, Carl Deville, an Oaklawn stakes-winning trainer, and Jerry Caroom of Hot Springs, Oaklawn’s second-leading owner in 2022-2023.

Free Like a Girl is 15-1 on the morning line for the Azeri.

Finish Lines

Arkansas Derby candidate and multiple Oaklawn stakes winner Coal Battle returned to the work tab Thursday morning at Oaklawn, covering a half-mile in :49.40 for trainer Lonnie Briley. The track was fast … Yes Ma’am, the half-sister to 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan, is entered in Sunday’s eighth race at Oaklawn, a $110,000 maiden special weight for 3-year-old fillies at onr mile.

Stakes Advance – Nodouble
Compiled by Robert Yates

Friday, March 7, 2025

For just the third time, a reigning Horse of the Year will run at Oaklawn when Thorpedo Anna makes her 4-year-old debut in Saturday’s $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares.

An ancient set of past performances points to a close finish. The modern version screams blowout.

Favorite Trick and Azeri (Saturday’s race honors her Hall of Fame career) are the only reigning Horse of the Year winners to compete at Oaklawn since the Eclipse Awards debuted in 1971.

Favorite Trick, the 1997 Horse of the Year, was unbeaten in nine career starts when he ran in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby (G2) for 3-year-olds in 1998. Favorite Trick, at odds of 2-5, finished third, beaten two heads by Victory Gallop.

Azeri won 8 of 9 starts, including the $500,000 Apple Blossom Handicap (G1), en route to 2002 Horse of the Year honors. Azeri, also 2-5, opened 2003 in the Apple Blossom and ran down the Kenny McPeek-trained Take Charge Lady in the final 100 yards to win by a head.

Now, 22 years later, McPeek has the 2-5 (program) Azeri favorite in Thorpedo Anna.

“I just hope I’m not on the same side of the photo this year,” McPeek said Friday morning.

The 1 1/16-mile Azeri headlines an 11-race card that begins at 12:30 p.m. (Central). Probable post time for the Azeri, the 10th race, is 5:25 p.m. Weather permitting, the infield will be open.

The Azeri is Oaklawn’s final major prep for the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) at 1 1/16 miles April 12.

The seven-horse Azeri field from the rail out: Thorpedo Anna, Brian Hernandez Jr. to ride, 119 pounds, 2-5 on the morning line; Alpine Princess, Cristian Torres, 119, 6-1; Jody’s Pride, Ricardo Santana Jr., 119, 8-1; Wild Bout Hilary, C.J. McMahon, 124, 15-1; Recharge, Keith Asmussen, 121, 12-1; Free Like a Girl, Julien Leparoux, 121, 15-1; and Bow Draw, Rocco Bowen, 119, 30-1.

Thorpedo Anna’s accomplishments tower over her six rivals.

Thorpedo Anna was a unanimous choice for North America’s champion 3-year-old filly and a runaway winner for Horse of the Year after compiling a 6-1-0 record from seven starts and earning $3,653,050. All six victories were stakes, including Oaklawn’s $750,000 Fantasy (G2) in her 3-year-old debut last March.

Following the 1 1/16-mile Fantasy, Thorpedo Anna raced exclusively in Grade 1 events the remainder of 2024 and secured year-end honors with victories in the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs, $500,000 Acorn at Saratoga, $500,000 Coaching Club American Oaks at Saratoga, $1 million Cotillion at Parx and the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff Nov. 2 at Del Mar in her last start. The 1 1/8-mile Distaff marked Thorpedo Anna’s first race against older horses.

The only other graded stakes winners entered in the Azeri are Recharge and Wild Bout Hilary, who exit victories in the $300,000 Houston Ladies Classic (G3) Jan. 25 at Sam Houston Race Park and the $250,000 Bayakoa (G3) Feb. 8 at Oaklawn, respectively.

Thorpedo Anna has recorded triple-digit Beyer Speed Figures in two of her last three starts, including a career-best 111 in her only loss last year, a runner-up finish against males in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Thorpedo Anna was beaten a head by champion Fierceness in the 1 ¼-mile “Midsummer Derby.”

Jody’s Pride (95) owns the second-highest last-out Beyer, that coming in a third-place finish in the $215,000 Inside Information Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares at 7 furlongs Jan. 25 at Gulfstream Park.

“That’s really the idea to run her (Thorpedo Anna) in this race, to bring her into the Apple Blossom,” McPeek said. “This is just prepping her for that. All of her races, there’s a lot of energy around them. She’s had that since she won the Oaks. It definitely puts you on the edge of your chair, but that’s fine. That’s where you want to be.”

Thorpedo Anna returned to the track in early January at Gulfstream Park to begin preparations for her 4-year-old debut. She tuned up for the Azeri at Fair Grounds, where she has four published workouts since Feb. 8, including a 5-furlong drill in 1:00.80 March 1.

Thorpedo Anna romped to a four-length victory in the Fantasy off a similar layoff.

“She is doing very well,” said Hernandez, who has ridden Thorpedo Anna in all 10 career starts. “(Retired jockey) Robby Albarado gets on her every morning and he just keeps saying how well she is doing. She (was) down here in New Orleans for about a month. I have worked her three times down here in New Orleans. Her final work was last Saturday, by herself. She was her normal professional self. Worked a really good (five-eighths) and had a big gallop out all the way around the turn.”

The only time Thorpedo Anna broke from the rail was in the Travers, when she brushed the “near side stall at the start,” according to footnotes from the official race chart. Hernandez said he’s not concerned about Saturday’s rail draw.

“We just need to make sure she is ready to leave the gates in good order and go from there,” Hernandez said.

McPeek said his instructions to Hernandez will be straightforward.

“I’ll tell Brian to just let her run,” McPeek said. “Don’t get fancy. That’s the way it was in the Oaks. Looks like we might get a sloppy track. She likes a sloppy track. We’ll leave it with her.”

Free Like a Girl was second, beaten a head, in the Bayakoa, her 11th attempt to win a graded stakes race. The leading Louisiana-bred money winner in history ($2,173,438), Free Like a Girl finished second to reigning champion older dirt female Idiomatic in the $1 million La Troienne Stakes (G1) at 1 1/16 miles last May at Churchill Downs. Idiomatic was making her 2024 debut in the La Troienne.

“That’s what everybody’s been asking,” said Chasey Deville Pomier, who co-owns and trains Free Like a Girl. “I said if I ever want to face a champion filly like this (Thorpedo Anna), it’s definitely the first race off of a layoff. But I would not want to face her again, for sure. She’s a monster. If anything, we’re going to be running for second, but our goal is to get there and be as tough as we can be.”

Thorpedo Anna arrived late Thursday afternoon at Oaklawn. She visited the indoor paddock and galloped 1 ½ miles after the surface renovation break Friday morning under Albarado, her regular exercise rider and Oaklawn’s leading jockey in 1996 and 1997.

Albarado said Thorpedo Anna has been “professional” since returning to Oaklawn.

“She basically trains herself,” Albarado said. “You don’t have to make her do anything. She’ll train herself.”

Thorpedo Anna, a Kentucky-bred daughter of the late Fast Anna, has an 8-2-0 overall record and earnings of $3,843,663. Thorpedo Anna races for a partnership that includes her breeder, Judy Hicks, McPeek’s wife, Sherri (Magdalena Racing), and Kentucky attorney Mark Edwards. Kenny McPeek purchased Thorpedo Anna for just $40,000 at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall Yearling Sale.