Thorpedo Anna, trained by Kenny McPeek, rolls to Kentucky Oaks 2024 win at Churchill Downs

Kenny McPeek’s “grizzly bear” ate.

Thorpedo Anna took the lead entering the first turn and never let it go on her way to winning Friday’s $1 million, Grade 1 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs by 4 ¾ lengths.

McPeek, Thorpedo Anna’s trainer, had predicted a big showing for his filly before the race.

"They better bring a bear,” McPeek said, “because I’m bringing a grizzly.”

“It wasn’t Babe Ruth calling his shot,” McPeek said after the race, “but maybe.”

Ridden by Brian Hernandez Jr., Thorpedo Anna covered the 1 1/8 miles on a sloppy track in 1:50.83 and paid $10.98 to win on a $2 wager as the 4-1 second choice.

Attendance was 107,236, up slightly over last year's Oaks crowd of 106,381.

Just F Y I, the 7-2 favorite, finished second. Regulatory Risk, a 29-1 long shot, finished third.

McPeek had reason to be confident following Thorpedo Anna’s 4-length victory in the Grade 2 Fantasy on March 30 at Oaklawn Park. She’d also broken her maiden at Churchill Downs last November and trained well at the track the past month.

It was McPeek’s first Oaks victory after a trio of runner-up finishes — Take Charge Lady (2002), Daddys Lil Darling (2017) and Swiss Skydiver (2020).

“It does add to it, but setbacks are part of the game,” said the 61-year-old McPeek, who was born in Arkansas and raised in Lexington, where he attended Tates Creek High School. “There’s an old saying, ‘Win like you’re used to it, and lose like you like it.’ You have to deal with the losses, and you have to learn from the losses. …

“We were getting an idea of what kind of horses it took. To punch it over the edge is really nice.”

Hernandez rushed Thorpedo Anna out of the gate and was challenged early by 40-1 long shot Fiona’s Magic.

McPeek said he was a bit concerned about the fast early fractions — 22.87 seconds for the quarter-mile, 46.79 seconds for the half-mile and 1:11.75 for three-quarters.

“Pretty confident throughout the race, especially when I saw the way she was sitting underneath Brian,” McPeek said. “He didn’t have to hustle her to get here there. She took him there.”

Ways and Means pulled within a half-length of Thorpedo Anna on the final turn before the daughter of Fast Anna pulled away.

“She is just such a naturally talented filly,” Hernandez said. “She went quick through the half and the whole way around there, really. She was just doing it with her ears up and cruising along.”

Just F Y I trainer Bill Mott said his filly had no excuses.

“My filly broke a little funny from the outside post, but we got as good a trip as you could possibly ask for,” Mott said. “I mean (jockey Junior Alvarado) got her tucked in. She was in position leaving the five-sixteenths pole to win. It looked like we had that filly (Thorpedo Anna) on our radar. It looked like she could probably catch her from there, and the other filly just didn’t back up.”

Thorpedo Anna improved to 4-1-0 in five career starts for the ownership group of Brookdale Racing, Mark Edwards, Judy Hicks and Magdalena Racing. Friday’s victory was worth $846,300 and boosted her career earnings to $1,430,663.

McPeek said he’ll talk with those owners in the coming days about Thorpedo Anna’s next start, with a trip to the Preakness on May 18 at Pimlico — at least — on the radar.

McPeek won the Preakness with Swiss Skydiver after her runner-up Oaks finish in 2020.

“I’ve thought about it already,” McPeek said of the Preakness. “It would be like me to do something like that. … I’ve said all week that I wasn’t scared to even run her against colts. She’s that good.”

Jason Frakes: 502-582-4046; jfrakes@courier-journal.com. Follow on X @KentuckyDerbyCJ.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Thorpedo Anna, Kenny McPeek win Kentucky Oaks 2024 at Churchill Downs