KY Oaks Winner Thorpedo Anna Set to Strike in Acorn

Five weeks ago at Churchill Downs, Thorpedo Anna  turned what appeared to be a competitive Kentucky Oaks (G1) into a rout. Sent to the lead from post 4 over a sloppy track by Brian Hernandez Jr., she set a pressured pace before drawing away to score by 4 3/4 lengths.

As authoritative as her victory was, the connections of eight other 3-year-old fillies will challenge the Oaks winner in the $500,000 Acorn Stakes (G1) June 7 at Saratoga Race Course over the same 1 1/8-mile distance on dirt as the Kentucky Oaks.

Those who were outrun in the Oaks can only hope that a change in venue or racetrack condition will change the outcome.

Five behind Thorpedo Anna in the Oaks are back for another try: runner-up Just F Y I , third-place Regulatory Risk , sixth-place Power Squeeze , 10th-place Where's My Ring , and 13th-place Leslie's Rose .

Video: Longines Kentucky Oaks (G1)

The other three entrants are graded stakes winners: Becky's Joker , who is cross-entered in the six-furlong Jersey Girl Stakes June 6 at Saratoga, plus My Mane Squeeze  and Gun Song , last-out winners of the Eight Belle Stakes (G2) and Black-Eyed Susan Stakes (G2), respectively.

Thorpedo's Anna's trainer, Kenny McPeek, thinks so highly of his filly he suggested he would have run her in the June 8 Belmont Stakes (G1) against males if his Kentucky Derby (G1) winner and Preakness Stakes (G1) second-place finisher, Mystik Dan  had not been ready to start there in the final leg of the Triple Crown.

A daughter of Fast Anna  owned by Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks, and Magdalena Racing, Thorpedo Anna seeks to become the 14th Kentucky Oaks winner to also capture the Acorn, most recently accomplished by Pretty Mischievous  in 2023.

"She's done everything right," McPeek said. "She's one that might be on the improve as well because she's only had two starts all year. She had the Fantasy and the Oaks and I'm not sure she was even 100% yet. She might be improving."

A ground-saving winner of the Oaks, which pushed her record to 4-1-0 in five starts, she may have more of an outside trip in the Acorn, having drawn the outside post in the field of nine. There is a relatively short run to the first of two turns.

Leading the opposition in the Acorn is George Krikorian's homebred Just F Y I, last year's champion 2-year-old filly who started as the Oaks favorite. The Justify   filly ranged up to threaten at the head of the lane from a stalking position in the Oaks before flattening out late. It was her second runner-up finish in as many starts this year after finishing behind Leslie's Rose  in the Ashland Stakes (G1) at Keeneland in her 3-year-old debut.

Whisper Hill Farm Leslie's Rose, who scored by three lengths in the Ashland, will attempt to bounce back from a dismal showing in the Oaks when she checked in 44 1/2 lengths behind the winner.

"I think she absolutely hated the slop," said Hall of Fame trainer and three-time Acorn winner Todd Pletcher.

The Acorn is the final race on Friday's 12-race card, preceded by the New York Stakes (G1T), the Just a Game Stakes (G1T), and the Intercontinental Stakes (G2T).

Unsettled weather with the potential for sunshine and showers is forecast for Upstate New York from mid-week through the weekend.