Ferocious

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.--While it wasn't the scenario he expected at the beginning of the month, trainer John Ortiz will be busy late Saturday afternoon saddling the fillies Brightwork (Outwork) and 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) in consecutive stakes at Saratoga Race Course. First up will be WSS Racing's Brightwork in the GIII $200,000 Prioress Stakes, scheduled for 5:04 p.m. ET. Immediately after the six-furlong Prioress, Ortiz will scoot back to the paddock to prepare Shortleaf Stable's Quietside in the $300,000 GI Spinaway Stakes, which Brightwork won last year. When...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--The easy thing would be to blame the racetrack. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert wasn't going to do that the day after his National Treasure (Quality Road) finished a non-threatening sixth in Saturday's $1 million GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. National Treasure, who had been at the top of most lists as the best older horse in the nation, laid an egg as the 4-5 favorite. "He just didn't show up," Baffert said on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. "Once he didn't get into the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y.--Ferocious's (Flatter) blowout victory in the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course Saturday produced a series of backward and forward moments in the winner's enclosure. Ramiro Restrepo and Gustavo Delgado, Jr., principals in Mage's (Good Magic) rise to prominence and victory in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby, held court following the $100,000 2-year-old maiden special weight race that might be the first big step for another standout. Restrepo and Delgado spearheaded the purchase of Ferocious for $1,300,000 at the OBS March sale and they were appropriately excited...

The money came late for Ferocious (c, 2, Flatter--Napier, by Midnight Lute), who was available at 4-1 for a good deal of the betting, and when all was said and done, was the 3.45-1 favorite making his career debut in Saturday's sixth race at Saratoga. And the money proved right on, as the colt exploded through the final eighth of a mile to become a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star'. Things did not go especially well at the break for the $1.3-million OBS March purchase, as he reared slightly, costing him...

6th-SAR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 2:47 p.m. The second-costliest hip out of OBS March this year, FEROCIOUS (Flatter) worked in :9.4 and sold on a final bid of $1,300,000 to Marquee Bloodstock with the partnership of JR Ranch, Restrepo, Ramiro, High Step Racing and OGMA Investments now listed as owners. A son of the late Claiborne stallion Flatter, Ferocious is the second foal out of a winning Midnight Lute mare who is a half to GISW Obligatory (Curlin). This is also the family of French G1 winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki)...