Fierceness roars clear to dominate Breeders' Cup Juvenile

History came full circle for Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez and Mike Repole on Saturday.

Thirteen years after the trainer, jockey and owner won the Breeders' Cup Juvenile with Uncle Mo, they again posed in the winner’s circle after Saturday’s 40th running of the $2 million 1 1/16-mile race for 2-year-olds at Santa Anita with Fierceness (16.5-1) unleashed a powerful stretch kick to blow away eight foes by 6 1/4 lengths.

The win in his third lifetime start stamped the Repole homebred as the leader for the year-end division crown and the early favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby.

Asked if he was surprised by the impressive turn of foot his homebred son of City of Light showed after a disastrous effort as the 2-5 favorite in the sloppy Champagne (G1) at Aqueduct on Oct. 7, Repole said he wasn’t sure what to expect.

“Todd and I all week have said if he’s sixth by 12 or first by five, we wouldn’t be surprised,” he said. “We’re not surprised, but we’re pretty happy right now.”

Pletcher said he and Repole were initially unsure whether to continue to the Juvenile after the Champagne disaster, when he finished seventh, beaten 20 1/4 lengths, but decided to give Fierceness a chance to show he belonged.

“He’d been training awesome all summer, was monstrous in his debut and trained great leading into the Champagne, so we said let’s see how he trains and he’s got to tell us … and he did,” he said.

Fierceness captures the $2 Million @FanDuel#BreedersCup Juvenile pres. by @TBAftercare! Congrats to the connections on a thrilling #FutureStarsFriday victory! pic.twitter.com/rQSmN1o5Kc

— Breeders' Cup (@BreedersCup) November 3, 2023

Velazquez found a perfect spot for Fierceness a half-length behind and outside pacesetter General Partner as the latter laid down fractions of 23.25 and 47.02 seconds and 1:10.86, with 5-2 second choice Muth another path wider in third.

Fierceness remained pinned to General Partner’s hip up the backstretch and edged past turning for home only to be immediately engaged by the Bob Baffert-trained Muth and jockey Juan Hernandez, who appeared to have dead aim on the Pletcher runner.

But Fierceness demonstrated the aptness of his name by quickly repelling that challenge and drawing clear of a startled Hernandez.

“I was in a good spot all the race,” he said. “My horse was running really comfortable and I was thinking I was the winner,” Hernandez said. “But around the three-eighths when I started to make my horse run I couldn’t get any closer.”

Velazquez kept Fierceness to task until they stopped the timer in 1:41.90, while Muth salvaged second by holding off favored Locked (2.70-1) by a half-length.

.The winner returned $35 on a $2 win bet and keyed a $101.30 payout on a $1 exacta.

The victory was Pletcher’s fourth Juvenile score, leaving him just one victory behind leaders Baffert and D. Wayne Lukas, both of whom have captured the race five times. It was the second Juvenile win for Velazquez.

Asked if he was already looking ahead to next year’s Kentucky Derby for Fierceness, Repole deflected the question.

“I won this with Uncle Mo and I won this (last year) with Forte,” he responded. “I scratched Uncle Mo as the Derby favorite and Forte … so I’m not going to think about the Derby with this race.”

Repole was more interested in looking backward at how many threads from his involvement in racing came together to produce his third Juvenile winner.

“The horse is out of Nonna Bella, which is my grandmother’s name. … Stay Thirsty (sire of City of Light) was my horse. Nonna Bella was my horse. And I’m also a big shareholder in City of Light,” he said. “If I don’t buy out the shares of City of Light, I probably don’t breed to City of Light. The way these things come together is really special.”

And he said he was grateful to be able to share the moment not just with the trainer who “put me on the map” by conditioning Uncle Mo, but especially with Velazquez, who rode his first Juvenile winner.

“To see (his wife) Leona and his daughter down there, it just – we’re still in the game. He’s still one of the great jockeys. Todd is Todd. To win that (13) years later with Johnny was very special.”