East Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) the horse of the year 2024? This will undoubtedly be the most asked question in motor racing between now and the Eclipse Awards at the end of January.

In a year where Thorpedo Anna’s name has seemingly never been far from racing conversations, the brilliant 3-year-old filly showed why she should absolutely be strongly considered for Horse of the Year honors with a sublime victory in Saturday’s $2 million GI. Breeders’ Cup Distaff at Del Mar. The race was his and the task was considerably less complex with the withdrawal the previous week of Distaff’s reigning winner, Idiomatic (Curlin) and the veterinarian scratches the undefeated Japanese invader on Saturday morning. Great result (Justify), but it wasn’t Thorpedo Anna’s fault and she simply continued doing what she had been doing all year, proving herself the best of all her rivals.

“She’s the best filly in the country this year,” said regular rider Brian Hernandez, Jr. “We wanted to ride her accordingly. The biggest question is just making sure she stands up in the gates and let her be left there in good order When she did that, it made my job a lot easier. What I have to do after that is stay away from her, stay on her back. more than anything.

This is precisely what Hernández did. With the ease that comes from knowing you’re on the better horse, Hernandez immediately guided Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Judy B. Hicks and Magdalena Racing rider forward. While he is usually in the first group of runners, the dark bay has not been in the lead since the GI Kentucky Oaks. Thorpedo Anna did it effortlessly on Saturday, ears flapping back and forth, as winner of the GI Personal Ensign Stakes Raging sea (Curlin) stuck like glue to its exterior side. Traveling comfortably, the 2-5 pick set :23.81 and :47.99 splits, then simply broke free down the stretch to put both daylight on the field and an exclamation point on his inevitable crowning as champion of 3-year-old fillies. Hernandez raised her crop in a quick salute to the wire, then brought the star filly to the winner’s circle, accompanied by voluble cheers from the crowd.

Thorpedo Anna won the nine Distaff furlongs in 1:49.10. Raging Sea takes second place, while GISW Candied (Candy walk {Arg}), who has now finished on the board in four consecutive Grade I races, was third.

“(Thorpedo Anna) just keeps rolling, right? It was impeccable,” said coach Kenny McPeek. “She just went out there and did her thing. There wasn’t much complicated about it. I didn’t have too many doubts. I just didn’t want anything stupid to happen. Let her do her thing and Brian (Hernandez) did very well. She does everything so easily.

It was the first Breeders’ Cup victory for McPeek, who entered the 2024 Breeders’ Cup weekend 0-37. Of course, six months ago, McPeek hadn’t won a GI Kentucky Derby or Oaks either and those went pretty well. In addition to Thorpedo Anna winning the Oaks for McPeek, Mystic Dan (Goldencents) won the Derby. Hernandez, who won his first Breeders’ Cup in 2012 with Fort Larned in the Classic, was on board for each of the big victories.

“It’s a humbling affair; it’s not something you can expect,” McPeek said of his first Breeders’ Cup victory. “I was actually proud of a lot of the seconds and thirds I got in the Breeders’ Cup because we did it in many ways with modest money. We are way overtaken by a lot of players, but we are running well. That’s all you can do.

Named one “Rising star of TDN” following a second consecutive daylight victory at two years old last year, Thorpedo Anna closed out his 2023 juvenile campaign with a second-place finish in the GII Golden Rod Stakes. She kicked off her sophomore season with another daylight victory in the March 30 GII Fantasy Stakes, then fought with authority in the Oaks, GI Acorn Stakes and GI CCA Oaks. For all the victories at the elite level, perhaps her best race was her only defeat of 2024, when she faced the boys in the GI Travers Stakes, with last year’s champion, the 2-year-old colt Fierceness (City of Light) to a head and winning a sensational 111 Beyer Speed ​​Figure, co-top for the year through Saturday. Fierceness would finish second in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic later in Saturday’s card with Sierra Leone (Arms Runner), third in the Travers behind Thorpedo Anna, winning the Classic. All three were “Rising Stars of TDN”.

While neither Fierceness nor Sierra Leone ran between the Travers and Breeders’ Cup, Thorpedo Anna added a victory in the GI Cotillion Stakes on September 21. It wasn’t his best performance and his winning margin at the neck raised many questions, but it was still a victory. and its distaff crowning probably silenced all the scattered skeptics. Thorpedo Anna’s record now stands at eight wins and two seconds in 10 lifetime starts.

McPeek confirmed his plan was to race Thorpedo Anna next year at four.

“We fully intend to run it next year. She’s a filly that loves doing that and hopefully we’ll entertain a lot of people with her in 2025. Anytime you race a horse like her, it’s emotional.

Genealogical notes:

Co-owner Hicks bred Thorpedo Anna in Kentucky from Sataves, an unraced mare by Sanford Robertson, a daughter of Coolmore’s. Uncle Mowho has 23 stakes winners as a broodmare sire. Sataves traces directly to 1974 Broodmare of the Year Cosmah and has a 2-year-old colt named McAfee (Cloud Computing), who debuted Friday at Churchill Downs with a 3 1/4-length maiden win at special weight for Coach Dick Dutrow. Hicks stuck around for a piece of McAfee after selling it at the September 2023 Keeneland sale for $40,000, the same price Thorpedo Anna brought a year earlier at Fasig-Tipton in October. Hicks still has Sataves’ March 15-born filly Known Agenda and named her After the Storm. The mare was mated to Arms Runner.

Thorpedo Anna is the only graded winner among 14 black-type winners for the late Fast Anna, who finished second in the 2014 GI King’s Bishop Stakes. Gold Medal The stallion died of laminitis at Three Chimneys in 2021, just days after the birth of Thorpedo Anna.

Thorpedo Anna wins $2 million @LonginesEq #Breeders Cup Distaff! Congratulations to his connections! #BC24 pic.twitter.com/RRE4eNhLT5

– Breeders Cup (@BreedersCup) November 2, 2024

Saturday, Del Mar
LONGINES BREEDERS’ CUP DISTAFF-GI$1,780,000, Del Mar, 11-2 years, 3 years/up, f/m, 1 1/8 m, 1:49.10, ft.
1–THORPEDO ANNA, 121, f, 3, by Fast Anna
1st mother: Sataves, by Uncle Mo
2nd jump-off: Pacific Sky, by Stormy Atlantic
3rd jump-off: Aldebaran Light, by Seattle Slew
($40,000 Ylg ’22 FTKOCT). ‘Rising star of TDN‘. O-Brookdale Racing, Inc., Mark Edwards, Judy B. Hicks and Magdalena Racing (Sherri McPeek); B – Judy Hicks (KY); T-Kenneth G. McPeek; J-Brian Joseph Hernandez, Jr. $1,040,000. Lifetime record: 10-8-2-0, $3,843,663. Werk Nick’s rating: A+++. *Triple More*. Click for it eNicks report and 5-cross pedigree Or Free catalog-style pedigree Equineline.com.
2–Ragged Sea, 124, f, 4, by Curlin
1st barrage: Stormy Welcome, by Storm Cat
2nd mother: Welcome Surprise, looking for gold
3rd jump-off: Weekend surprise, by Secretariat
($300,000 ARN Ylg ’21 KEESEP). O/B-Alpha Delta Stables, LLC (KY); T-Chad C. Brown. $340,000.
3–Confit, 121, f, 3, by Candy walk (Arg)
1st dam: Toni Tools (SW, $193,339), by Roaring Fever
2nd mother: Patina, by Smart Strike
3rd dam: Burnish, by Menifee
($165,000 Ylg ’22 FTKJUL). Thoroughbred partners O-Eclipse and Bobby Flay; B-Buck Pond Farm, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher. $180,000.
Margins: 2HF, 3 3/4, HF. Odds: 0.40, 4.10, 7.80.
Also ran: Alice Verite (Jpn), Sugar Fish, Che Evasora (Arg), Honor D Lady. Striped: impressive result, Batucada, Miss New York.
Click for it Equibase.com Chart or the PP TJCIS.com. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.