McPeek Says Thorpedo Anna May Be Retired

[Wandering Eyes]

Trainer Kenny McPeek doesn't know what happened to Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) in Sunday's GI Juddmonte Spinster Stakes at Keeneland, where she was a non-threatening fourth in one of the worst races of her career. He's checked her from head to toe and has not found anything wrong with her. Other than ruling out a start in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff, McPeek isn't sure what is next for the 2024 Horse of the Year, but admitted that retirement is a possibility.

“You have to consider retiring her,” he said. “She has done more than anyone ever could have expected from a $40,000 yearling. She's been amazing for two full years. I've used the analogy many times. Training horses is like trying to catch a big wave and you want to stay on top of it and surf as long as you can, but they all eventually come to shore. If there is a silver lining to the cloud, it's that if she's going to be retired and be a broodmare, this will give her plenty of time to rest and be bred in the spring.”

In the Spinster, Thorpedo Anna was in a stalking position for most of the race and looked like a possible winner. But she ran out of gas in the stretch and lost by 8 1/2 lengths.

“We don't have any obvious excuses,” McPeek said. “She scoped clean and she was sound coming out of the race. We are probably going to send her over to Dr. [Larry] Bramlage and let him do a full exam of her. There was a notion that she had a brief case of the thumps after the race, which would have had to do with dehydration or an electrolyte imbalance. Any really good horses that you handle, and I've had several, they don't go forever. She's been amazing up to this point. Sunday just wasn't her day. Is she tailing off? That's something that we have to consider. Someone asked if she was in heat. She wasn't. We did bloodwork this morning  to figure out if there was some sort of dehydration factor.”

Thorpedo Anna was the latest example of McPeek spending only a modest amount of money on a yearling only to have them turn into a star.

“I think we set the bar so high with her,” he said. “I thought Take Charge Lady's bar was high. Then I thought Swiss Skydiver's bar was high. What I'm most proud of is that we bought them all as yearlings.”

McPeek said that if Thorpedo Anna is retired, he would like to parade her at Keeneland before that meet is over.

“There are a lot of people who really care about her. She has a huge fan base,” he said.

He also said fans would be welcome to come to his Magdalena Farm to visit the star filly after she arrives there.

Thorpedo Anna has won 12 of 16 starts, including 10 stakes races, and has earned $5,440,913. She has won seven Grade Is, including last year's GI Kentucky Oaks and GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Her best ever performance may have come in the GI Travers Stakes, where she faced males and finished second, just a head behind Fierceness (City of Light).

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