Fierceness romps under John Velazquez in the Juvenile (Ernie Belmonte/Past The Wire)
Breeders’ Cup Press Release
ARCADIA, Calif.— Owner-breeder Repole Stable’s Fierceness ($35) put on a dominating performance in scoring a 6 1/4-length victory over Muth in the 40th running of the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for 2-year-olds Friday afternoon at Santa Anita.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, Fierceness completed the mile and a sixteenth on the fast main track in 1:41.90. For Pletcher, it is his 15th victory in the World Championships and fourth in this race with his other victories coming with Uncle Mo (2010), Shanghai Bobby (2012) and Forte (2022).
For Velazquez, it is his 20th Breeders’ Cup victory and second in the Juvenile having won on Uncle Mo.
General Partner set the pace with Fierceness and Muth stalking in second and third, respectively, until the far turn when they closed in on the leader. At the top of the stretch, Fierceness and Muth were 1-2, but it soon turned into a one-horse race as Fierceness drew off.
Muth held second by a half-length over the favored Pletcher-trained Locked, who rallied from last early to get third.
Fierceness is a Kentucky-bred son of City of Light out of the Stay Thirsty mare Nona Bella. The victory was worth $1,040,000 and improved Fierceness’ earnings to $1,102,750 with two wins in three starts.
Stakes Quotes:
Winning trainer and third-place trainer Todd Pletcher, Fierceness and favorite Locked – “Look, not everyone would do that (enter this race off a seventh-place finish in the Champagne (G1) on a sloppy track at Aqueduct on Oct. 23). We talked about it, we covered every base after the Champagne. The horse trained awesome all summer (at Saratoga); he was a monster since his debut. We took a shot today and it worked out. He had a beautiful trip and he showed what he is all about. A lot of the tactics in a race like this, you have to leave in your rider’s hands. I could make a case for five horses being the pacesetter, possibly. It was really about getting in a good rhythm with him and letting him get comfortable with him. (John Velazquez) was able to do that. It did look easy. It was a helluva race. Very impressive.”
On Locked:
“It looked like he was pretty far back. Once he got clear, he almost got up for second.”
Winning jockey John Velazquez, Fierceness – “Ihad a perfect trip. We were concerned a little about the break. He behaved well in the gate and broke well. He went forwardly and sat second nicely. Once we passed the half-mile pole, he grabbed into the bridle a little sooner than I wanted. When he got to the quarter-pole, he started looking around so I got after him. He was running down the stretch and got serious once I got after him. I had no doubt (I was going to win.) I worked him in the morning and I was very impressed and I was hoping he would put the same work in the afternoon.”
Second-place jockey Juan Hernandez, Muth – “I’m really proud of my horse. He gave me everything that he had. I had a good break and was following the winner. I was tracking him and I was in a good spot. My horse was running really well and all the time I was thinking I was the winner. But around the three-eighths when I started to make my horse run and he kind of got a little close to the winner. But the winner took off. We got beat, but my horse ran really good and I was happy with that. We got beat by a better horse today.”
Third-place jockey Jose Ortiz, beaten favorite Locked – “I had a good trip. My horse was little hard to control with the dirt in his face. He was climbing a little bit. He was a little bit off the bit on the backside. Man, around the turn I was having a good trip, but I felt like the pace wasn’t fast enough and that’s why those two horses held on on the lead.”
Fourth-place trainer Brad Cox, Timberlake – “He was a little wide and didn’t go quite as quick as I thought they would early. No real excuse. We had a little opportunity to be third, but ended up fourth. We’ll regroup and turn our attention toward his 3-year-old season.”
