Betting With, and Against, Thorpedo Anna in the Azeri

Reigning Horse of the Year #1 Thorpedo Anna (2-5) will face six fillies and mares in her comeback in Saturday’s $400,000 Azeri S. (G2) at Oaklawn Park. The feature will be contested at 1 1/16 miles and looks like a one-horse race if the superstar four-year-old runs her best. 

Thorpedo Anna – With

• $20 trifecta key 1 with 2,3 ($40)

Thorpedo Anna – Against

• $5 trifecta 2,3 with 1,2,3 with 1,2,3 ($20)
• $1 trifecta 2,3 with 1,2,3 with all ($20)

Thorpedo Anna compiled a fine 7-6-1-0 mark in 2024, with her lone setback coming when a close second in the Travers S. (G1), and she concluded her sophomore season with a powerful, 2 1/2-length triumph in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff (G1) at Santa Anita. The twice-beaten daughter of Fast Anna is a dual winner at the distance; she made good in her lone prior attempt at the distance, and the Kentucky-bred also has the versatility to adapt to any pace scenario, as well. Regular pilot Brian Hernandez Jr. will be in the stirrups once again. 

Multiple stakes heroine #3 Jody’s Pride (8-1) ran a big one when a neck back in third in the Inside Information S. (G2) at Gulfstream Park to kick off her 2025 campaign for conditioner Jorge Abreu. The 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Fillies (G1) runner-up is a lightly raced daughter of American Pharoah who has run well in all but one lifetime try on the dirt, and she could surely improve second time off the layoff, as well. She will stalk the action behind a lively early tempo under Ricardo Santana, Jr. 

#2 Alpine Princess (6-1) has just missed in a pair of consecutive Grade 3 tilts in advance of this and is a logical alternative if the favorite fails to fire for some reason. Trained by Brad Cox, the two-time stakes queen possesses a big turn of foot on her best day, and since I expect the tempo to be lively, the four-year-old could receive a nice pace setup in the affair. The bay daughter of Classic Empire is a three-time victress at the trip and comes into the heat with a pair of swift morning moves, too. I expect her to save ground to the top of the lane with Christian Torres in the irons.