SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Led by the fabulous filly Thorpedo Anna, six of the eight prospective starters for next week’s Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes put in their final workouts Saturday morning in Saratoga. Thorpedo Anna, attempting to become the first filly since 1915 to win the Travers, Fierceness, the juvenile champion of 2023, and Dornoch, the most accomplished 3-year-old male in the country, all worked within three minutes of each other on the main track shortly after 7 a.m. Saturday. Thirty minutes later, on the Oklahoma training track, Sierra Leone, the Grade 1 Blue Grass winner, Batten Down, and Honor Marie, all worked within three minutes of each other. :: Get Saratoga Clocker Reports straight from the morning workouts at the track. Available every race day. Thorpedo Anna had done all her previous workouts here over the training track. Saturday, trainer Kenny McPeek wanted her to get reacquainted with the main track – over which she won the Acorn in June and Coaching Club American Oaks in July – and she blew him away with a five-furlong workout that Daily Racing Form’s Mike Welsch timed in 59.66 seconds. Thorpedo Anna, under exercise rider Danny Ramsey, went in company with the maiden Elko County. At the top of the lane, after three furlongs in 35.26 seconds, the pair had to go around a Chad Summers-trainee who was working in front of them. Despite being forced to the five-path, and without Ramsey asking her to run, Thorpedo Anna got her final quarter in 24.40 seconds. She continued out six furlongs in 1:13.81. “God, she did that so easy, that’s crazy,” McPeek said. “It gives me goosebumps. Fifty-nine-and-three? He never gave her her head. If she shoves on her around there, she’d go in 56. She’s got sprinter speed and just keeps going.” McPeek said the work only further boosted his confidence in Thorpedo Anna, who is 4 for 4 this year. Thorpedo Anna started this year with a win in the Grade 3 Fantasy at Oaklawn, then rattled off Grade 1 victories in the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn, and CCA Oaks. “Ton of confidence,” McPeek said. “Hard not to be.” Thorpedo Anna was starting her work just as Fierceness, the recent Grade 2 Jim Dandy winner, was finishing his half-mile in 48.41 seconds, going in company with Grade 1 winner Bright Future. Fierceness continued out five furlongs in 1:00.73 and up in 1:14.13. “I was super happy with it,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “He went well, finished up strongly, galloped out great and did it seemingly effortlessly. Looked good.” Though Fierceness has yet to put two winning races back-to-back, Pletcher feels he’s coming up to this race the right way. “He’s trained as well as we could have hoped since the Jim Dandy,” he said. “His appetite has been great, he looks good. Hopefully, we have another good week.” As Thorpedo Anna was galloping out, Dornoch, the Belmont Stakes and Haskell winner, was starting his work, which he did in company with Ringy Dingy, who was on the outside. Dornoch went in splits of 23.68 seconds for the quarter and completed a half-mile in 47.49 though finished a head back of Ringy Dingy, a 3-year-old filly who won a listed stakes at Delaware Park last year. “She’s outworked him two or three times,” Danny Gargan, trainer of Dornoch, said. “He sits right off it, we just had her lead the way. I was trying to hit 48. I was slowing them down at the end.” Gargan communicated to his exercise riders via two-way radio. Dornoch, who won the Belmont Stakes at 1 1/4 miles here in June and then the Haskell at Monmouth in July, figures to vie for favoritism with Thorpedo Anna and Sierra Leone. Sierra Leone began the proceedings on the training track shortly after 7:30 a.m. Working alone, the lumbering colt worked four furlongs in 48.66 seconds, getting his last quarter in 23.41. He continued out five furlongs in 1:01.86, six furlongs in 1:14.64, and seven furlongs in 1:27.96. “Very consistent horse and my rider, Chris Bond, has done a great job, he never misses,” Brown said. “I feel good. I’ve felt good every time I’ve run him. He, with his [closing] running style, is going to have to work a trip out.” Batten Down, the Ohio Derby winner, and Honor Marie, fourth in the Belmont Stakes, were basically working at the same time just as Dornoch was galloping out. Batten Down, working in company with Bendoog, went five furlongs in 1:01.72, going his first quarter in 25.45 and his last three furlongs in 36.27, while lugging in a step as did his workmate Bendoog, who is headed to the Charles Town Classic. “He’s been going well, no huge changes,” trainer Bill Mott said. “His work was certainly okay.” Honor Marie went a half-mile in 50.55 seconds, going easily with Tyler Gaffalione aboard, in company with Stowaway, a 5-year-old recent allowance winner. Honor Marie worked in blinkers, equipment he will wear for the first time in the Travers. “Just looking for a run-of-the-mill work and he lived up to expectations,” said trainer Whit Beckman, who has worked the horse seven times, six in Saratoga, since his last run in the June 8 Belmont. The field for the Travers will be drawn on Sunday. In addition to those aforementioned six horses, the field will include Curlin Stakes one-two finishers Unmatched Wisdom and Corporate Power, both of whom put in their final workouts on Friday. :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.