Fierceness skipping to the Florida Derby Victory. (Juliana Colombo/Coglianese)
Kentucky Derby Deliberations by the Dynamic Handicapping Duo of Tamulonis and Pugh
By Ashley Tamulonis and Laura Pugh
Fierceness, named Champion 2-Year-Old Male after winning the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile, stamped himself as a leading Kentucky Derby winner after dominating the Grade 1 Florida Derby. With John Velazquez in the irons, the colt scampered out of the gate and had no problem establishing the early lead despite breaking from Gate 8. From there he pulled away to an easy 13 ½-length victory.
While the effort was visually pleasing, Ashley Tamulonis and Laura Pugh have different takes on the validity of Fierceness as a leading Kentucky Derby winner prospect.
Coming into the 150th Kentucky Derby as the likely favorite, Fierceness still has yet to show he can string together back-to-back victories. Laura believes this is more circumstantial, due to track conditions and rough trips, making him a play in her book. Ashley, on the other hand, believes that this track record and monstrous performance in the Florida Derby sets him up for a bounce… What version of Fierceness do you think we will see?
