BOZICH | Thorpedo Anna finally gives McPeek, Hernandez their Oaks/Derby moment

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Kentucky Derby weekend has kicked around trainer Kenny McPeek and jockey Brian Hernandez a few times.

More than a few. Make it 33 times, if you’re keeping score.

The Oaks and Derby can do that to the best trainers and jockeys. And at Churchill Downs, McPeek and Hernandez have long ranked among the best at their crafts.

McPeek has won the Churchill training title four times. Hernandez was the top rider during the spring meet here six years ago.

But in the Oaks and the Derby, neither guy had reason to jump up and down and sprint to the winners’ circle. They are a combined 0-for-13 in the Derby (9 for McPeek; 4 for Hernandez).

And in the Oaks, the premier 1 1/8th-mile race for 3-year-old fillies. Don’t ask.

McPeek was 0-for-14 with three seconds. Hernandez was 0-for-6, never better than seventh.

According to my calculator that was a combined 0-for-33.

That all changed on a charcoal, wet, muddy Friday afternoon at Churchill Downs. Hernandez rode Thorpedo Ann as sharply as a horse can be ridden, winning the Oaks over 13 contenders by 4 3/4 powerful lengths.

“We work our tails off and the seconds are a little frustrating,” McPeek said. “You work at it and you work at it and try to figure out what kind of formula is going to work in a race like this.

“(The past setbacks) does add to it. But setbacks are part of the game. There’s an old saying, “Win like you’re used to it and lose like you like it.’ So you have to deal with the losses and learn from the losses.”

“I have to thank Kenny for sticking with me all these years,” Hernandez said.

Breaking briskly to ensure no slop was kicked back into his face or the face of his filly, Hernandez went to the lead and stayed in the lead. He tucked Thorpedo Anna near the rail, ensuring she had the most direct route around the track possible.

The magnificent filly did the rest. McPeek had her primed for the finest performance of her career, which now features four wins in five starts as well as a second. Fiona’s Magic, Into Champagne and Ways and Means tried to pressure her in the final turn. They failed.

So did the race favorite, Just F Y I, who loomed in the stretch, closing to within 2 1/2 lengths. She got no closer, lacking a meaningful response as Thorpedo Anna surged to the wire. Regulatory Risk finished third.

She finished in 1:50.83, paying $10.98, $6.06 and $4.36 on a $2 wager. The filly won $846,300 of the $1.5 million Oaks purse.

“When she clicked out on her own and he was in hand, I was pretty confident,” McPeek said. “She’s got gear after gear.”

“It worked out kind of the way we thought it would,” Hernandez said. “She was just cool, calm and collected. I was able to listen to the roar of the crowd.”

What’s next?

That depends. Are you talking about this filly or the Kentucky Derby?

McPeek and Hernandez will team again Saturday afternoon for the Derby with Mystik Dan. After finishing third in the Arkansas Derby, that colt is listed at 20-to-1 in the program odds and will start in the No. 3 hole.

But if you asking about Thorpedo Anna, McPeek said he will consider racing the filly against the colts on May 18 in Baltimore in the Preakness, the second leg of the Triple Crown.

It was only four years ago when McPeek won the Preakness with a talented filly, Swiss Skydiver.

“I have thought about it already,” McPeek said.

He laughed.

“And you know it would be like me to do something like that,” he said.

One problem. He did not nominate the filly for the Triple Crown so the owners would be required to pay a supplemental $200,000 entry fee.

“We would have to look at the numbers,” he said.

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