On a grand July 27 afternoon of racing at Saratoga Race Course, the pendulum swung back in the proper position for the 2023 2-year-old champion male, Fierceness.
Owner Mike Repole’s homebred son of City of Light has been utterly baffling with a frustrating habit of alternating brilliant and weak performances.
On Saturday, after flopping and finishing 15th as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve, Fierceness was due for a gem and he surely lived up to those expectations in taking the Jim Dandy by a length over Sierra Leone in a wild stretch drive.
“I feel so good for the horse,” trainer Todd Pletcher said. “I feel he’s been underappreciated at times and he’s a super talented horse. He’s had a couple of off days but when he shows up he’s very, very good.”
Running off a 12-week rest Saturday, the timing was indeed perfect for Repole’s homebred Eclipse Award winner, but it could be problematic for a return start four weeks from now in the huge summer showdown for 3-year-olds, the Aug. 24 DraftKings Travers Stakes at the Spa.
Pletcher said after the race that running back a month later in the Travers was not in the cards as they planned for the Jim Dandy. Earlier in the summer, when Repole discussed holding Fierceness out of the Belmont Stakes in favor of running in the July 20 NYRA Bets Haskell Stakes, he mentioned the timing between races and that Fierceness would not run in the Travers.
Those plans were changed to put stablemate Mindframe in the Haskell – where he finished second – and run Fierceness in the Jim Dandy, where there’s a shorter gap before the Travers.
“We came into this with the idea that he would probably not run back in the Travers. We’ll let the dust settle and see what happens,” Pletcher said. “It seems like he needs a little more time between races. We’re not committed to anything.”
Regardless of where he runs next, the Jim Dandy marked an improved effort for Fierceness while Sierra Leone, the $2.3 million yearling buy, continued his exasperating stretch of second- and third-place finishes in the major 3-year-old races.
For Fierceness, the win showed a new dimension as it marked his first hard-fought victory. His three previous wins had a margin of victory that ranged from a high of 13 ½ lengths to a low of 6 ¼ lengths.
In the Jim Dandy, jockey John Velazquez kept Fierceness second behind the pace-setting longshot Pony Express after a half-mile in :47.44 before moving to the front at the top of the final turn with Batten Down in closest pursuit and the late-running Sierra Leone eventually moving out of last with his customary strong closing kick.
Already four wide entering the stretch, Fierceness, while clear, moved out a few paths, forcing Batten Down to shift inside, and that pushed Sierra Leone to the rail.
In mid-stretch, as Batten Down weakened, it was the race everyone expected in the Kentucky Derby, where Fierceness and Sierra Leone were the two favorites. In mid-stretch, Fierceness led Sierra Leone by 2 ½ lengths and while the margin shrank, Fierceness held on and crossed the wire in 1:49.15 as the 9-5 second choice.
Repole leads Fierceness to the winner’s circle. (Eclipse Sportswire)
“Super pleased,” Pletcher said. “He kind of got the trip we were hoping for. We knew what our strategy was, the thing is you don’t know what everyone else is going to do. It looked like there were a couple of other horses with potential speed, so we had to break, get to the first turn in good position and get in a good rhythm, and that is what we were able to do.”
“I thought he ran great. I don’t have any excuses,” trainer Chad Brown said. “The track was playing very fair for his running style. Fierceness came back into form and ran a terrific race. I thought he had every chance turning for home to get him. Yes, we found ourselves on the inside of him, but Fierceness really found more today and ran a great race. I’m happy with my horse’s performance. Yes, it’s a race he came up just short again, but he did fire and it looked like he galloped out well.”
Brown said the timing of the Travers should be fine for the son of Gun Runner.
“I’m looking forward to getting him back out to a mile and a quarter in the Travers, if he’s healthy,” Brown said.
