2025.01.16 Oaklawn Racing Update

Compiled by Robert Yates

Thorpedo Anna’s early 2025 racing schedule could include two races at Oaklawn, trainer Kenny McPeek said Wednesday afternoon.

McPeek said Thorpedo Anna, an Oaklawn stakes winner and leading candidate for 2024 Horse of the Year, is under consideration for the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (G2) March 8 and the $1.25 million Apple Blossom Handicap (G1) April 12. Both races are 1 1/16 miles.

The Azeri is Oaklawn’s final major prep for the Apple Blossom, one of the country’s biggest two-turn events for older fillies and mares. McPeek said Thorpedo Anna is also a candidate to challenge males again in the $10 million Dubai World Cup (G1) April 5 in the United Arab Emirates.

Thorpedo Anna resumed training earlier this month in Florida in advance of her 4-year-old debut.

“We’re not going to rule out her making the Azeri,” McPeek said. “She’s such a natural athlete and she’s bouncing out of her skin already. It’s not going to take long to get her ready. And if I thought she was ready, I would probably prep her somewhere in the South, between Gulfstream and Fair Grounds, and bring her in for the Azeri. And that would give her a race under her belt before what would be either the World Cup or the Apple Blossom, although I would tell you we’d probably lean strongly to the Apple Blossom.”

Thorpedo Anna hasn’t started since a front-running 2 ½-length victory in the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) Nov. 2 at Del Mar. The 1 1/8-mile Distaff marked Thorpedo Anna’s first race against older horses and her sixth victory (all stakes) in seven starts last year.

Thorpedo Anna returned to the track Jan. 6 at Gulfstream Park, where she was reunited with retired two-time Oaklawn riding champion Robby Albarado, who regularly galloped her last year in Hot Springs. McPeek, Oaklawn’s leading trainer so far this season, said Thorpedo Anna is approaching her first breeze of 2025.

“You could have walked her off the farm and worked her half a mile and she would have said, ‘Sure, no problem,’ ” McPeek said. “She’s just a natural athlete. We’re going to give her a couple, three weeks of nice gallops. Robby Albarado gets on her every day. We’ll let her run the lane this weekend a little bit at Gulfstream. We’re just, right now, taking it a step at a time.”

Thorpedo Anna dominated the 3-year-old filly division, winning Oaklawn’s $750,000 Fantasy Stakes (G2) – her 2024 debut – in late March. She then recorded three consecutive Grade 1 victories, including the $1.5 million Kentucky Oaksat Churchill Downs, before testing males for the first time in the $1.25 million Travers Stakes (G1) at 1 ¼ miles Aug. 24 at Saratoga. Thorpedo Anna finished second, beaten a head by champion Fierceness, in the “Midsummer Derby.”

Thorpedo Anna bounced back to win the $1 million Cotillion Stakes (G1) Sept. 21 at Parx in her final start before the Breeders’ Cup.

A Kentucky-bred daughter of Fast Anna, Thorpedo Anna has an 8-2-0 record from 10 lifetime starts and earnings of $3,843,663. Thorpedo Anna races for a partnership that includes her breeder, Judy Hicks, and McPeek’s wife, Sherri (Magdalena Racing).

Albarado, who was galloping horses for McPeek earlier this season at Oaklawn, is also getting on 2024 Kentucky Derby winner Mystik Dan at Gulfstream Park in advance of a possible start in its $3 million Pegasus World Cup Invitational (G1) at 1 1/8 miles Jan. 25.

Mystik Dan, another McPeek trainee, ran in three of Oaklawn’s Kentucky Derby qualifying races last year, scoring a runaway victory in the $800,000 Southwest Stakes (G3).

Finish Lines

Oaklawn is scheduled to race four days this week (Friday-Monday). The Monday card coincides with the Martin Luther King Jr. federal holiday. … Dimatic is the 5-2 program favorite for Friday’s ninth race at Oaklawn, a $132,000 allowance for older horses at 1 mile. Dimatic won the $300,000 Zia Park Derby Nov. 26 at Zia Park in his last start for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. … Oaklawn-based Curvino, who was scratched from the $250,000 Smarty Jones Stakes Jan. 4, is pointing for an allowance race, trainer Peter Miller said. The 1 1/16-miles Smarty Jones was Oaklawn’s first of four Kentucky Derby qualifying races. … Tiffany Twist can become the meet’s first three-time winner with a victory in Saturday’s eighth race, a $130,000 allowance sprint for older fillies and mares. Tiffany Twist became the first two-time winner this season at Oaklawn with a six-length victory against $20,000 claimers Dec. 22 for trainer Carlos Santamaria. Tiffany Twist also beat $16,000 claimers Dec. 14 for Hall of Fame trainer Steve Asmussen. Tiffany Twist was claimed out of her Dec. 22 victory by four-time Oaklawn leading owner Danny Caldwell and trainer Ingrid Mason. A Jan. 3 victory by Mason pulled her within 137-135 of Lynn Chleborad for winningest female trainer in Oaklawn history. … Jenkin and Mischievous Gal have also won two races at the meeting for trainers Lindsay Schultz and Matt Williams, respectively. … Mischievous Gal was an allowance winner Dec. 7 and Jan. 3. On both days, Williams’ brother, trainer Sean Williams, also saddled winners at Oaklawn. … Schultz has won her last four starts, a streak that began Jan. 5 at Oaklawn with Poetic Fury ($18.80). Schultz’s last three victories have been at Fair Grounds, pushing her career North American total to 88, according to Equibase, racing’s official data gathering organization. Schultz has more victories at Oaklawn (28) than any other track. Schultz has two horses entered Saturday at Oaklawn and one at Fair Grounds.