By Dick Jerardi
Two days before Keystone/Philadelphia Park/Parx Racing celebrated its 50th anniversary on Nov. 4, the amazing filly Thorpedo Anna won the Breeders’ Cup Distaff against an overmatched field, making her a near certainty to be the first horse to win one of the track’s signature races and go on to be voted Horse of the Year.
Three horses that raced at Parx became Horse of the Year. Spectacular Bid won the 1978 Heritage Stakes just four years after the track opened and two years before his unbeaten 1980 season which remains one of the most dominant in history. California Chrome finished far back in the 2014 Pennsylvania Derby, but his Kentucky Derby and Preakness wins, along with the rest of his great season, made him Horse of the Year. The great Chrome won H/Y again in 2016. Gun Runner was second in the 2016 Pennsylvania Derby before having an amazing 2017 campaign which resulted in his being named Horse of the Year.
Thoropedo Anna, of course, won this year’s Cotillion. Once she won her race Saturday at Del Mar, the only way she was not going to be Horse of the Year was if Fierceness won the Classic. And he damn near did, running a courageous second to Sierra Leone after attending wild fractions (22.43, 44.96, 109.44).
Fierceness is the only horse to finish in front of Thorpedo Anna and just barely in the Travers. Sierra Leone was third that day at Saratoga in what turned out to be the key race of the year. Trainer Chad Brown was lobbying for Sierra Leone as 3-year-old champion over Fierceness (it is an interesting debate), but even he conceded that Thorpedo Anna should be named Horse of the Year.
So that will give a horse that ran at Parx a fourth Horse of the Year title and third in the last decade, a big tribute to how big Pennsylvania Derby Day has become. And Thorpedo Anna will race in 2025 according to trainer Ken McPeek who finished off the year of his life with the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Oaks, his first Breeders’ Cup triumph, his 2,000th career win and now Horse of the Year. (Get this man on the Hall of Fame ballot next year).
Thorpedo Anna has now raced 10 times over 12 months, with eight wins (only the Cotillion was close) and two seconds. She won five Grade I stakes in 2024 in an era where horses hardly have campaigns anymore. She was purchased for $40,000 and has now won nearly $4 million.
Making 2025 even more promising is that Mike Repole said his Fierceness will run on and Brown has hopes that Sierra Leone will run as well next year. Who would not want to see a top three 2024 Travers rematch in the 2025 Classic at Del Mar? (McPeek said he may consider it depending on how the season goes for Thorpedo Anna).
Thorpedo Anna already has a Hall of Fame resume and she can only add it to it in 2025. Assuming she gets the HOF votes when eligible, she would become the ninth horse to race at Parx to get into the HOF. Three were, like Thorpedo Anna, Cotillion winners – My Juliet, Ahsado and Songbird. Two, California Chrome and Gun Runner, ran in the Pennsylvania Derby. Spectacular Bid, or course, has been in there from the moment he was eligible. The other two are a bit more obscure – the great sprinting filly Xtra Hear won the Critical Miss Stakes during the Philadelphia Park era and the legendary Steeplechase horse Flatterer ran five times at Keystone (winning three) before his real career began.
This year’s Pa. Derby Day, of course, was not just represented by Thorpedo Anna at the Breeders’ Cup. Gallant Bob winner Bentornato took on the fastest horses in the world, ran hard every step and nearly won the BC Sprint. The 3-year-old, sent off at 28-1, battled through wild fractions (21.74, 44.12, 56.04, 108.62) before getting passed late by Straight No Chaser and settling for an heroic second.
Two-time Greenwood Cup winner Next turned out to be miscast in the Classic, especially when the fractions were so fast. There was no way he could keep and jockey Luan Machado wisely protected his horse and eased him to the wire far behind the field. Hopefully, we will see him again next year going for a Greenwood threepeat.
As to the last two Pa. Derby winners in the Dirt Mile, it did not go well. Saudi Crown had missed a key prep in late September because of a minor issue and it showed. The horse did not have his customary speed and it was clear by the time the field hit the backstretch, he was going nowhere. He dropped back through the field and eventually finished last. Seize the Grey needs the lead to be effective and he wasn’t nearly fast enough to get it against that bunch and checked in eighth. No matter, the horse will always have that Preakness and Pa. Derby.
So not a perfect BC Day for Parx alums, but unattainable perfection should never be a consideration when any success is cause for celebration. And when the likely 2024 Horse of the Year wins at your track in one of your two $1 million Grade I races, you can only be grateful you were to see and appreciate it.
