LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Thorpedo Anna is headed for a checkup at a veterinary clinic after the reigning Horse of the Year finished a surprising seventh in her return to Churchill Downs.
She was jostled in between horses in a race to the first turn and began to fade by the top of the stretch in Friday’s $1 million La Troienne for fillies and mares. She was coming off a victory in the Apple Blossom Handicap on April 12 in Arkansas.
“The first turn incident may have thrown her off her game, or maybe the 3 week turnaround wasn't my best choice,” trainer Ken McPeek posted Saturday on X. “She showed no signs she couldn't handle that. I'm more critical of myself than anyone. Regardless, she won't be rushed back soon.”
McPeek said Thorpedo Anna was walking well on Saturday. She will have X-rays on her knees and ankles and then be sent to Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington for further examination.
Raging Sea won the La Troienne by three-quarters of a length in her first start since finishing second to Thorpedo Anna in the Breeders' Cup Distaff last year.
Thorpedo Anna won last year's Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs and finished the year with six wins in seven starts. Her only loss came against male horses in the Travers, where she was second.
Now a 4-year-old, she opened this year with wins in the Azeri Stakes and Apple Blossom Handicap. She has won 10 of 13 career starts and has over $4 million in earnings.
AP horse racing: https://apnews.com/hub/horse-racing
FILE- Jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. reacts aboard Thorpedo Anna after winning the 150th running of Kentucky Oaks horse race at Churchill Downs Friday, May 3, 2024, in Louisville, Ky. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Tuesday that they will refuse to comply with a congressional subpoena to testify in a House committee's investigation of Jeffrey Epstein.
The Clintons, in a letter released on social media, slammed the House Oversight probe as “legally invalid” even as Republican lawmakers prepared contempt of Congress proceedings against them. The Clintons wrote that the chair of the House Oversight Committee, Republican Rep. James Comer, is on the cusp of a process “literally designed to result in our imprisonment.”
“We will forcefully defend ourselves,” wrote the Clintons, who are Democrats. They accused Comer of allowing other former officials to provide written statements about Epstein to the committee, while selectively enforcing subpoenas against them.
Comer said he’ll begin contempt of Congress proceedings next week. It potentially starts a complicated and politically messy process that Congress has rarely reached for and could result in prosecution from the Justice Department.
“No one’s accusing the Clintons of any wrongdoing. We just have questions," Comer told reporters after Bill Clinton did not show up for a scheduled deposition at House offices Tuesday.
He added, “Anyone would admit they spent a lot of time together.”
Clinton has never been accused of wrongdoing in connection with Epstein but had a well-documented friendship with the wealthy financier throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Republicans have zeroed in on that relationship as they wrestle with demands for a full accounting of Epstein's wrongdoing.
Epstein was arrested in 2019 on federal sex trafficking and conspiracy charges. He killed himself in a New York jail cell while awaiting trial.
“We have tried to give you the little information we have. We've done so because Mr. Epstein's crimes were horrific,” the Clintons wrote in the letter.
Multiple former presidents have voluntarily testified before Congress, but none has been compelled to do so. That history was invoked by President Donald Trump in 2022, between his first and second terms, when he faced a subpoena by the House committee investigating the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, riot by a mob of his supporters at the U.S. Capitol.
Trump's lawyers cited decades of legal precedent they said shielded an ex-president from being ordered to appear before Congress. The committee ultimately withdrew its subpoena.
Comer also indicated that the Oversight committee would not attempt to compel testimony from Trump about Epstein, saying that it could not force a sitting president to testify.
Trump, a Republican, also had a well-documented friendship with Epstein. He has said he cut off that relationship before Epstein was accused of sexual abuse.
FILE - Former President Bill Clinton, left, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen as Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy for U.S. Rep.†Sheila Jackson Lee, Aug. 1, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/LM Otero, File)
FILE - Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton listen during the state funeral for former President Jimmy Carter at Washington National Cathedral in Washington, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)
Documents that were included in the U.S. Department of Justice release of the Jeffrey Epstein files are photographed Friday, Jan. 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Jon Elswick)
