Thorpedo Anna, the top 3-year-old dirt filly in North America, was committed by trainer Kenny McPeek to the prestigious Aug. 24 DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course, where she will face males.

The move was announced July 27 after consultation with the filly’s owners. The daughter of Fast Anna races for Nader Alaali, Mark Edwards, Sherri McPeek’s Magdalena Racing, and breeder Judy Hicks.

The decision to pursue the $1.25 million, 1 ¼-mile Travers, announced on “FOX Saratoga Saturday,” was widely anticipated after Thorpedo Anna overpowered the competition this year in the 3-year-old filly dirt division. She is 4-for-4 in 2024, topped by winning three consecutive Grade 1s under regular rider Brian Hernandez Jr., most recently a 4 ½-length romp in the Coaching Club American Oaks July 20 at Saratoga. She is 6-for-7 overall with earnings of just less than $2 million.

“I’m a big believer that the sport needs stars,” McPeek said. “It needs to be promoted. It needs to be lifted. She can do that.”

He encouraged her fans to wear pink in support of his filly on Travers day.

Thorpedo Anna will not be the first 3-year-old filly McPeek has run against males in a major race for 3-year-olds. Four years ago, he won the 2020 Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course with Swiss Skydiver.

McPeek seemed intrigued about the possibility of running his star filly in the June 8 Belmont Stakes at Saratoga but decided against it, instead running her stablemate, Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve winner Mystik Dan. He ran eighth and has since been given time off to rest after competing in all three legs of the Triple Crown. Before the Belmont, he had been second in the Preakness Stakes.

The Travers field is expected to feature the best 3-year-old males in training, among them the Belmont and NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes winner, Dornoch.