Saratoga Notebook, Presented by NYRA Bets: McPeek Expecting Big Performance From Thorpedo Anna in Personal Ensign

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y. – A year ago, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) buzzed through her season, winning six of seven starts–five of them Grade Is–on her way to Horse of the Year honors.

Kenny McPeek, Thorpedo Anna's trainer, says his stable star is just as good, if not better, than she was a year ago.

The 4-year-old filly, still as popular as ever, will get the chance to prove it on Saturday when she runs in the GI, $500,000 Personal Ensign Stakes at Saratoga Race Course.

“Every bit,” McPeek said early Thursday morning while Thorpedo Anna toured the Saratoga paddock. “She is as big and strong as she has ever been.”

Exercise rider Bobby Eversole, who was aboard Thorpedo Anna on Thursday, found that out.

After her schooling session, the filly went out for a gallop and became difficult for Eversole to handle. Coming down the stretch on the main track, a headstrong Thorpedo Anna wanted to do more than the routine gallop and ran off with her partner for about an eighth of a mile.

“She has all that energy,” McPeek said back at his barn. “He was worried to death she was going to run off on him. He just held her together the whole way. When he let her stretch out a bit, then she settled. She is locked and loaded.”

Thorpedo Anna, the 6-5 morning-line favorite in the Personal Ensign won the GII Azeri Stakes and Grade I Apple Blossom – both at Oaklawn Park – before finishing off the board for the first time in her life in GI La Troienne at Churchill Downs on Friday, May 2.

She finished seventh after getting bumped going into the first turn and became a non-factor after that. Thorpedo Anna lost interest after that incident.

“They crushed her in the first turn,” McPeek said.

She and regular jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. rebounded and won the GII Fleur de Lis by three lengths in late June at Churchill. By design, the next race was the Personal Ensign after time off.

“She is really good right now,” McPeek said. “I fully expect her to do what she does. I like the draw (seven post). I'm happy she is not tucked down inside and has to wiggle out. This is an exciting race. Every time I run her, all eyes are on her.”

Thorpedo Anna is owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings, Inc., Magdalena Racing, Mark Edwards and Judy Hicks.

 

Book 'em Danno, Mullikin Renew Rivalry in Forego

Ok, so it's not Red Sox-Yankees, but Book 'em Danno (Bucchero) and Mullikin (Violence) have carved out a nice little equine rivalry this year. And it will continue Saturday when they meet for the third straight race in the GI, $500,000 Forego Stakes at Saratoga.

Book 'em Danno, owned by Atlantic Six Racing LLC, has won the first two, the GIII True North Stakes and the GII Alfred G. Vanderbilt Stakes, both at Saratoga.

He won the 6 ½-furlong True North by 1 ¼ lengths and the 6-furlong Vanderbilt by 2 ¼ lengths.

“Not really,” Book 'em Danno's trainer Derek Ryan said Thursday morning when asked if he thought this was a rivalry. “We have beat him twice. If he was going to beat me, I thought it would have been in the six (Vanderbilt).”

Book 'em Danno is the 8-5 morning line Forego favorite in the field of 11. He will be ridden by Paco Lopez.

Rodolphe Briset, who trains Mullikin, smiled when he was asked about the two horses.

“It is fun,” he said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday. “Maybe he is just a better horse. I am not a guy who is going to find an excuse. It's horse racing. You are going to lose more than you win.”

The Forego will be run at seven furlongs. Looking for an edge there? Good luck. Both horses have run it six times; both horses have three wins.

Ryan, who shipped Book 'em Danno to Saratoga from Monmouth Park on Monday, was nonchalant when discussing his 4-year-old. All he does is win. Fifteen times he has been to the races; nine times he has come a winner. In four starts at Saratoga, he has three wins.

But you wouldn't know he is a star racehorse by looking at him. Just ask Ryan.

“He does not have a ton of pedigree,” he said. “Look at him; he walks around there like an old donkey. If you would line up 10 horses, he would be the last one anyone would pick. He is not a pretty mover. He swings his left and he swings his right. That is his way.”

By now means is he degrading his horse. Ryan knows he can run. If he can claim the Forego, he will also lay claim as the best sprinter in the country.

Brisset and Mullikin, the 7-2 second choice, owned by WinStar Farm LLC, have other ideas. Mullikin has five wins and six seconds in 14 starts and will be ridden by Flavien Prat.

“He is the defending champion, he won a Grade I here, he loves the track,” Brisset said. “He just ran his lifetime best Beyer (106 in the Vanderbilt). I know he finished second, but he ran a winning race. We will bring him over there and try to beat him.”

 

Sovereignty Not the Only Horse Mott is Running Saturday

The attention is all on Sovereignty (Into Mischief) on Travers Day.

The 2-5 morning-line favorite in the Midsummer Derby is not the only horse Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott will be saddling on Saturday.

He has Scotland (Good Magic) in the GI, $500,000 Forego and Scylla (Tapit), the 5-2 morning-line favorite in the GI, $500,000 Ballerina.

Scylla, owned by Juddmonte, is a hard knocking 5-year-old mare that has been consistent as they come for Mott. She has earned over $1 million in her 13-race career and has five wins, four seconds and a third.

In her most recent effort, she was third, beaten two lengths by Halina's Forte (Mitole) in the GII Honorable Miss.

“Out of her last three starts, we hit mud twice, which I don't think was in her favor,” Mott said outside his barn on the Oklahoma Training Track Thursday. “The other time it wasn't muddy, we hit Ways and Means (Practical Joke). She is a good, solid filly. Our challenge is to win a Grade I with her, that's what we would like to do.”

Scylla, who will be ridden by Flavien Prat, has been in four Grade Is; she was second in two of them, including last year's Ballerina.

Included in the eight she will face on Saturday is Hope Road (Quality Road), the 3-1 second choice.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bob Baffert, Hope Road has won four of 11 career starts and is also looking for her first Grade I score.

“She is doing well,” Baffert said by phone Thursday from his summer base at Del Mar. “If she runs like she did on Kentucky Derby Day (second in the GIII Derby City Distaff Stakes), she has a good chance.”

Owned by Cicero Farms LLC, Hope Road will be ridden by Jose Ortiz for the first time.

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