What's in a Name?

That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet...

Back in 1912, American businessman and thoroughbred horse breeder, Harry Payne Whitney had a mare named Jersey Lightning who he’d bred to his stallion Broomstick. He’d waited with excitement to see the foal that came from this pairing.

When the mare finally went into labor, Harry headed to the barn. The farm hand who helped deliver her announced that she’d produced a fine healthy filly. Harry was so upset that the baby was not a colt that he decided to name her Regret.

While I understand that from a business perspective, colts have the ability to generate more income than a mare because as a breeding animal they can cover a lot of mares each year while a mare who can only produce one foal per year, as a woman, it’s hard not to take his decision to name her Regret personally.

In her two year old racing season, Regret was doing pretty well on the racetrack. Harry wasn’t all that interested in promoting her though. In her three year old season (1915), Churchill Downs was in a bit of a financial crisis and so they approached Harry about his mare, Regret who was performing well in races. They thought that since she was winning so much, she might draw a crowd if he entered her in the derby.

It took some time to talk him into it. But finally, he relented. Not only did she draw a crowd, she won the Kentucky Derby as the only undefeated horse to ever win the KY Derby. She was the first of three mares to ever win the Kentucky Derby.

In my own little corner of the world, I’ve always loved following fillies and mares. It is no secret that I am a huge fan of the mare Zenyatta, the only mare to win the Breeder’s Cup Classic (2009) against the boys.

Today, on International Women’s Day, I’d like to introduce you to another mare that deserves special attention. Especially today, since she will be running in her first race of 2025 as a 4 year old.

Her story started back in October of 2022, when Thoroughbred horseracing trainer Kenny McPeek purchased a filly at the Fasig-Tipton Yearling sale for $40,000. The filly’s breeder, Judy Hicks, liked her so much that she wanted to maintain an interest in her, joining Mark Edwards of Brookdale Racing and the McPeek family’s Magdalena Racing.

Co-owner, Mark Edwards’ oldest granddaughter just happened to be named Anna and so this filly felt extra special to him. When the time came to name the filly, he called his granddaughter to ask her to help him come up with a name for this new racehorse that included the name Anna.

At the time, Anna was a sophomore at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville Kentucky. With racing in her blood, she just happened to be a swimmer on her school’s swim team. Answering her grandfather’s call, she couldn’t come up with any ideas for a name for his new horse.

But her mother could. She shared with him the name that her teammates often used for Anna while they cheered her on as she swam in meets. Since Anna’s last name was Thorp, they had started calling her Thorpedo Anna. Edwards thought that that sounded good to him.

Thorpedo Anna ran in three races in her two year old year under Brian Hernandez ,Jr. netting two wins and one second. In her three year old season, she ran in seven races winning the Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs during Kentucky Derby weekend and the Breeder’s Cup Distaff and coming in second at the Travers Stakes.

Today, she begins her four year old season at Oaklawn Park in Arkansas. She will be running in the $400,000 Azeri Stakes (GR II) that is a prep race for the Apple Blossom Handicap (GR I).

I don’t know about you, but it sure is good to see the shift in our culture where we honor strong women athletes.