Fierceness victorious in the Jim Dandy (Chelsea Durand)
By Laura Pugh
It isn’t often that Todd Pletcher has a strong sophomore contingent during the summer, but 2024 seems to be changing all of that. Last week, Mindframe ran strongly in defeat to Dornoch in Monmouth Park’s Haskell Invitational. It’s worth mentioning that Dornoch is still the only horse to have finished ahead of Mindframe in that one’s short career. This week two more made their presence felt at Saratoga.
We all know about Fierceness, who I will get to in a minute, but the name Speak Easy is one that hasn’t been heard since early on during the Kentucky Derby trail. For those who need the rust knocked off their memories, Speak Easy made his debut at Gulfstream Park, running seven furlongs in an eye-popping 1:12.96 for the day.
Unfortunately, the son of Constitution wasn’t able to return earlier and wound up being benched for months, recording his first work since his debut on June 8th. Yesterday, July 27th, Jim Dandy day, Speak Easy returned coming from behind to win pulling away.
#5 Speak Easy stays perfect in R4 at Saratoga, returning to the races off a 6-month layoff!
— TwinSpires Racing (@TwinSpires) July 27, 2024
This 3YO colt was piloted by @iradortiz for trainer Todd Pletcher and owners @winstarfarm and @SienaFarmKY. pic.twitter.com/ZxLcknbTjo
Given that his connections were ready to send Speak Easy to the Fountain of Youth off his impressive maiden win, it isn’t a far-fetched thought to believe that they could have him target the H. Allen Jerkens Memorial Stakes on the Travers Stakes undercard. The race is at the same distance he won his maiden, at a track he just excelled over, in a division that looks a light on talent.
Pletcher’s next winner came when Fierceness showed a bit of a new dimension when winning the Jim Dandy in a non-blowout fashion. What do I mean by that? I mean that in his career, every time Fierceness has crossed the wire first it has been by tour de force. In today’s Jim Dandy, he stalked solid opening splits and took command around the turn but didn’t blow the doors wide open the way he has in races like the Florida Derby and last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile.
Johnny V let his mount drift quite wide around the final bend, a move he said was made to avoid the closing Sierra Leone, who has a habit of sweeping wide only to bear in badly during the stretch run. The move also allowed Fierceness, who tends to fold when he starts to feel late-race pressure, to remove himself from the presence of Sierra Leone and Batten Down. In response, Fierceness dug down in the final 1/16th of a mile to repel Sierra Leone, crossing the wire one length the best.
Pletcher has been in a similar situation before, heading to the Travers with the Jim Dandy winner with Forte just last year. The difference between Forte and Fierceness is that Forte had two rather gut-wrenching efforts coming into the Travers. The first was his massive effort in the Belmont Stakes, losing by only 1 ½ lengths after not having raced since April of that year. He followed that up with nose victory after getting jostled around early. Fierceness on the other hand ran in the Kentucky Derby, skipped the Preakness and Belmont, and ran back in the Jim Dandy off 12 week layoff. His layoff coming into the Holy Bull, his first start this season was only 1 week longer at 13 weeks between starts.
In that race, Fierceness didn’t run back to his Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, after getting knocked around early, and tracking behind a pace that is much slower than he prefers. He checked in third but came back after eight weeks to decimate the Florida Derby.
Despite the victory, Pletcher said that the Travers Stakes wasn’t a foregone conclusion, which could wind up putting Fierceness’ next start in the Pennsylvania Derby. It’s been a while since Pletcher had a top 3-year-old running at the top level in the classic division, but perhaps Fierceness could be his first.
Given the results of the last couple of weeks, there will be a lot of decisions to be made in the Todd Pletcher barn. Who goes to the Travers, do we train up to the Breeders’ Cup Classic, should they run in the Pennsylvania Derby, should they take slow or run Speak Easy in a grade one? While so many things are up in the air, one thing is for certain, Pletcher is hot as fire, and all eyes will be on his barn to see where his stable stars land in the coming weeks.
