Belmont At Saratoga Picks | Acorn Stakes 2024

Aaron previews the 2024 Acorn Stakes (G1) from Saratoga Race Course, then gives his top win pick from Friday’s horse race during the Belmont Stakes (G1) Racing Festival.

After crushing her Kentucky Oaks (G1) rivals by almost 5 lengths, can Thorpedo Anna repeat that epic performance for trainer Kenny McPeek? Tell us YOUR thoughts in the Comments!

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The press release:

This year’s Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks-winner will look to become the latest to score the Oaks/Acorn double as Thorpedo Anna takes on the Grade 1, $500,000 DK Horse Acorn, a nine-furlong test for sophomore fillies, at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.

The Belmont Stakes Racing Festival, which spans Thursday through Sunday, is highlighted by the 156th edition of the Grade 1, $2 million Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets on Saturday, June 8. The four-day Festival will include 24 stakes races with purses totaling $10.25 million, the highest purse levels and number of stakes offered since the launch of the multi-day Festival in 2014.

The Acorn is slated as the final race on Friday’s 12-race Belmont Stakes Racing Festival card, which co-features the Grade 1, $750,000 New York presented by Rivers Casino in Race 11, the Grade 1, $500,000 Just a Game in Race 10, and the Grade 2, $200,000 Intercontinental presented by MTV Solutions in Race 9. First post is 12:20 p.m. Eastern. 

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Trained by Kenny McPeek for owners Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing, Thorpedo Anna seeks to become just the 14th Kentucky Oaks winner to also capture the Acorn, most recently accomplished last year by Pretty Mischievous.

The daughter of Fast Anna has already been part of major history this year with her Oaks victory, the first half of a tremendous weekend for McPeek at Churchill Downs where he went on to saddle the Grade 1 Kentucky Derby-winner Mystik Dan the next day. The feat made McPeek the first trainer to capture the Oaks/Derby double since 1952.

“I still get goosebumps over it,” said McPeek. “To do that at home – [these are] a couple of races I had sniffed around in but hadn’t gotten, but I told my wife Sherri before the race that we could win both races. I said, ‘The filly I expect to win, and him [Mystik Dan], he’s doing fantastic and if he gets the right trip he can win.’ It’s been an amazing ride and we are going to relish it for a long time and not take it for granted, but there’s a lot of work to do still.”

Thorpedo Anna appears more than ready to get back to work as she enters off three breezes for McPeek since the Oaks, including a blistering half-mile in 46.20 seconds on May 22 at Churchill Downs and a five-furlong move in 1:02.09 Saturday over Saratoga’s Oklahoma dirt training track in company with Midnight Concerto.

“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 percent yet. She might be improving.”

McPeek entertained the idea of entering Thorpedo Anna for a try against males in the Grade 1 Belmont Stakes presented by NYRA Bets, but decided against it due to Mystik Dan being declared for the 10-furlong test on June 8.

“She’s all that. Any other year, we’d run her in the Belmont,” McPeek said. “I wouldn’t be scared to line her up with them. She might line up with them before the end of the year.”

Thorpedo Anna has sparkled in her two outings this year, and earned her place in the Oaks starting gate with a facile four-length romp in the Grade 2 Fantasy in March at Oaklawn Park. Despite breaking from the outermost post 10 under regular pilot Brian Hernandez, Jr., Thorpedo Anna tucked in to stalk three-wide off the pace set by Recharge before moving into contention in the final turn and sweeping past her foes to earn her first graded conquest in style.

The nine-furlong Kentucky Oaks proved what McPeek always thought of the talented bay as she battled for the early lead with Fiona’s Magic before making quick work of that foe and facing a new challenge from Ways and Means at the three-quarters call. Thorpedo Anna again turned back her rival with ease and had a two-length advantage at the top of the stretch, powering home under Hernandez, Jr. by 4 3/4 lengths to give her conditioner and her jockey their first blanket of lilies. 

The only blemish on Thorpedo Anna’s impressive resume was a runner-up effort last year in the Grade 2 Golden Rod in November at Churchill ahead of a four-month respite.

“From the beginning, she’s been rocket fast. She wins two out of her first three, but she hit her hip somewhere in the stall and she had a deep bruise in her hip. She was lame for three weeks and we don’t know why,” McPeek said. “She had a bruise the size of a soft ball and it cost us six weeks during the winter and with that time off, she got a little bigger and stronger. We wouldn’t be here if that didn’t happen.”

Thorpedo Anna is the latest star filly to be trained by McPeek, and brings to mind the sublime campaign of 2020 Champion 3-Year-Old Filly Swiss Skydiver, who won the Grade 1 Preakness in a year that saw the race moved to October. The Daredevil filly posted a robust sophomore campaign that included additional victories in the Grade 1 Alabama at the Spa and three other graded conquests.

“Physically they’re a lot different,” said McPeek. “Swiss Skydiver was a bull of a filly and this filly is more leggy and mentally is a little trickier to deal with. Swiss was workmanlike. This filly is like a walking banjo string every day – morning and afternoon – something pops and she could go.”

Hernandez, Jr. retains the mount from post 9.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who is in search of his fourth win in this event, saddles Grade 1-winner Leslie’s Rose in her quest for redemption after a disappointing finish in the Kentucky Oaks. The Whisper Hill Farm color-bearer was among the favorites for the Oaks after an impressive score in the Grade 1 Ashland at Keeneland, but did little to threaten in the Oaks after stalking 1 1/4 lengths off the pace under Irad Ortiz, Jr. and fading to 13th-of-14 over sloppy and sealed footing.

Pletcher said the track conditions at Churchill were a large factor in the filly’s non-performance.

“I think she absolutely hated the slop, and I had concerns about it because she had been training absolutely great every day we were there, except the Tuesday before the Oaks when we had a sloppy track,” said Pletcher. “She was noticeably less aggressive and didn’t seem to care for it. She never really had any experience on a sloppy track, so I was hoping maybe in a race scenario she could overcome it, but Irad said she hated it the whole way.”

The Oaks was an uncharacteristic result for the daughter of Into Mischief, whose only previous loss from four starts was a third in the Grade 2 Davona Dale in March at Gulfstream Park where she raced on the inside of foes and three-wide off the rail to chase the pace set by Fiona’s Magic. She angled out in the final stages for one last lunge at the pacesetter, but finished 2 1/4 lengths back.

The Ashland saw the bay work out a more favorable trip as she again tracked inside early, but was asked much sooner by Ortiz, Jr. to angle out in the turn and split rivals to take charge at the top of the lane and come home a three-length winner.

“She’s a filly that has always trained well and she ran great in her first two starts,” Pletcher said of her first two efforts that were won by a combined 10 1/4 lengths. “She had a little bit of a tricky trip in the Davona Dale and then she got a great trip in the Ashland. I’m thinking if she can regain that form – and the way she’s training, she acts like she’s going to – she should be very competitive.”

The $1.15 million Keeneland September Yearling Sale purchase will emerge from post 3 with Ortiz, Jr. in the irons.

Last year’s Champion 2-Year-Old Filly Just F Y I [post 4, Junior Alvarado] seeks her first win this year after two admirable runner-up efforts in the Ashland and Kentucky Oaks.

Trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, George Krikorian’s Kentucky homebred earned Champion honors last year for an undefeated campaign that included wins in the Grade 1 Frizette at Belmont at the Big A and the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies in November at Santa Anita Park.

The daughter of Justify returned in the Ashland, where she rallied from fifth to land three lengths back of Leslie’s Rose, earning her a spot in the Oaks starting gate. There, she worked out a similar stalking trip under Alvarado to come on late and secure place honors 4 3/4 lengths behind Thorpedo Anna.

Just F Y I has posted two bullet works at Saratoga, covering a half-mile in 47 seconds flat on May 20, and five furlongs in 1:01.20 Friday over the Oklahoma dirt.

R. Lee Lewis’ talented Gun Song [post 8, John Velazquez] was an emphatic last-out winner of the Grade 2 Black-Eyed Susan on May 17 at Pimlico Race Course, utilizing a stalking trip under Hall of Famer John Velazquez to overtake pacesetter Jeanne Marie in the final turn and waltz home 3 1/4 lengths in front.

Trained by Mark Hennig, the Gun Runner chestnut graduated on debut in October at Belmont at the Big A sprinting six furlongs ahead of two on-the-board efforts when stretched out to seven furlongs. She relished even more ground in her fourth outing to annex a first-level optional claimer by 5 3/4 lengths in February at Gulfstream ahead of her lone off-the-board finish, a fourth in the Gulfstream Park Oaks.

The $400,000 OBS March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase is out of the graded stakes-winning Mr. Greeley mare Nicole H, who is from the family of two-time Champion Sprinter Housebuster.

Michael McMillan’s Grade 3 Gazelle-winner Where’s My Ring [post 6, Tyler Gaffalione] looks to bounce back from an off-the-board finish in the Kentucky Oaks for trainer Val Brinkerhoff. The daughter of Twirling Candy finished an even 10th after emerging a step slow from post 2 and impeded when making a run along the rail in the final turn.

“She’s a bit slow away all the time and everybody was wanting to leave and that put us in a real bind there,” said Brinkerhoff. “She was starting to run but in my opinion, she didn’t get a fair shot.”

Where’s My Ring graduated in style in the Gazelle after finishing second to Kinza in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 3 Santa Ysabel in March at Santa Anita as a maiden. In the nine-furlong Gazelle, Where’s My Ring pounced from 1 1/2 lengths off the pace to score by 4 1/4 lengths and earn her connections a trip to Louisville for the Oaks.

Brinkerhoff said the addition of blinkers four starts back when a close runner-up in a maiden have greatly aided the talented bay.

“She always seems to be so calm and [with blinkers] she seems to be more aggressive in the race and puts you in a better position where before she wouldn’t leave the gate,” said Brinkerhoff. “The blinkers have made all the difference in the world with the way she breaks and the way she runs.”

Completing the talented Belmont Stakes Racing Festival field are:

• Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks-winner Power Squeeze [post 2, Javier Castellano] for trainer Jorge Delgado
• Grade 2 Eight Belles-winning New York-bred My Mane Squeeze [post 5, Luis Saez] for trainer Mike Maker
• Kentucky Oaks third-place finisher Regulatory Risk [post 7, Jose Ortiz] for four-time Eclipse Award-winning trainer Chad Brown
• Grade 3 Schuylerville-winner Becky’s Joker [post 1, Paco Lopez], whom trainer Gary Contessa crossed entered in Thursday’s Listed Jersey Girl at the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival