Thorpedo Anna much the best in $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2)

Compiled by Robert Yates | Photo Credit: Coady Media —-

HOT SPRINGS, AR – Avoiding all the bear traps, reigning Horse of the Year Thorpedo Anna opened her 2025 campaign with a workmanlike 3 ½-length victory in the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) for older fillies and mares Saturday afternoon at Oaklawn.

Nicknamed “Grizzly,” Thorpedo Anna ($2.20) broke on top, fought off a challenge from Free Like a Girl turning for home before pulling away for a comfortable victory as the overwhelming 1-9 favorite.

Free Like a Girl, the leading Louisiana-bred money winner in history, finished second, 5 ½ lengths ahead of Recharge in the 1 1/16-mile race. Alpine Princess and Jody’s Pride completed the order of finish.

The field was reduced to five following the scratches of Bow Draw and Wild Bout Hilary, the latter coming at the gate when she reared and unseated jockey Rafael Bejarano. Wild Bout Hilary, an expected pace factor, was coming off a head victory over Free Like a Girl in the $250,000 Bayakoa Stakes (G3) at 1 1/16 miles Feb. 8 at Oaklawn.

The absence of Wild About Hilary left Thorpedo Anna, who broke from the rail, on the lead through modest fractions of :24.27 for the opening quarter, :48.59 for a half-mile and 1:12.99 for six furlongs.

Free Like a Girl, on the outside, tracked Thorpedo Anna from the start and began inching closer to the champion near the three-eighths pole. Free Like a Girl was at Thorpedo Anna’s neck approaching the quarter pole but was unable to match strides through the stretch.

Thorpedo Anna ran the distance over a sealed, wet-fast surface in 1:44.02. Thorpedo Anna carried 119 pounds, 2 less than Free Like a Girl, who failed in her 12th attempt to win a graded stakes race.

Thorpedo Anna ($4,083,663) eclipsed $4 million in career earnings following her ninth victory from 11 starts. She is a seven-time stakes winner.

Kenny McPeek trains Thorpedo Anna, a daughter of the late Fast Anna, 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.

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.

.McPeek said Thorpedo Anna will be pointed to the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) for older fillies and mares at 1 1/16 miles April 12 at Oaklawn.

Thorpedo Anna became the third reigning Horse of the Year to race at Oaklawn, following Favorite Trick and Azeri, who won the Apple Blossom three consecutive years (2002, 2003 and 2004). Favorite Trick was Horse of the Year in 1997. Azeri was crowned Horse of the Year in 2002.

Favorite Trick suffered his first career loss in the $500,000 Arkansas Derby (G2) in 1998 at Oaklawn.

AZERI QUOTES

WINNING JOCKEY BRIAN HERNANDEZ JR. (THORPEDO ANNA): “We came up with a game plan. We were going to be going forward under the wire the first time, and if somebody really, really wanted to go crazy, they were going to have to work for it. I figured with this short field, it would separate. But it actually worked out well. She stood in there great and left there really, really quick. And from that point, it was just kind of cruise control. When I saw it was Free Like a Girl next to me going down the back side, when I got to the middle of the second turn, I’m like: ‘I need to get some separation from her because she’s made $2 million. She’s going to be a tough filly to run from. She’ll be able to run us down, if anybody can.’ When I didn’t get the separation right away like I thought I was going to, I went like: ‘Uh-oh. We may be in for a fight.’ But then Thorpedo Anna switched leads and she was off and running. (I got the separation) about the three-sixteenths pole. Once we hit the quarter pole, she switched leads and then we got the separation. She (Free Like a Girl) got to our neck, right to our throat latch, right around the quarter pole. She kind of switched leads and kind of got the separation on her from there.”

WINNING TRAINER KENNY McPEEK (THORPEDO ANNA): “It looked to me like she was getting a little leg weary there and then she re-broke. Of course, good horses do that. I think we’re going to keep an eye on how much water she drinks out of this race. Her fitness level needs to go to another level the next race. Fingers crossed it does. She’s going to go back to New Orleans tomorrow or Monday and then she’ll train down there through the month of March and maybe into April. And then we will cycle her back up here to Oaklawn from Fair Grounds. As long as everything’s good with her, health-wise, she is going to run in the Apple Blossom. (Fitness level was) probably 85, 90 percent. The problem with training a filly like this is finding a horse that can keep up with her in the morning. I had Mystik Dan last year. This year, I really didn’t have a horse that really … so finding her workmates is the hard part.”

SECOND-PLACE JOCKEY JULIEN LEPAROUX (FREE LIKE A GIRL): “I sat right next to her (Thorpedo Anna), but at the three-eighths pole I tried to get going. I got head-to-head with her. Got excited for a second. My filly fought all the way to the wire. She ran a big, big race today. Everything changed when the No. 4 (Wild Bout Hilary) scratched. Before the race, the 4 would have gone to the lead. When she scratched, I thought I should be right next to her (Thorpedo Anna).”