Fierceness

Last year's champion 3-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner), winless in two attempts since capturing the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, came storming home from last of nine to book a return trip to Del Mar in Saturday's 'Win and You're In' GI Whitney S. at Saratoga. Highland Falls (Curlin), winner of last summer's GI Jockey Club Gold Cup S. at the Spa, was a length back in second. 'Rising Star' Disarm (Gun Runner), runner-up in the 2023 GI Travers S., was up for third. The 6-5...

Before Sovereignty (Into Mischief) and Journalism (Curlin), there was Fierceness (City of Light) and Sierra Leone (Gun Runner). While we patiently wait for round three between the top two 3-year-olds in the country, last year's two standout sophomores and 'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness and Sierra Leone will meet for the fifth time and first this year in Saturday's GI Whitney S. at Saratoga, a 'Win and You're In' for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic. Fierceness defeated Sierra Leone in both the GII Jim Dandy S. and GI Travers S. at...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY--The cell phone rang, and, on the other end, Mike Repole was rolling. "I've won the Alabama twice, I've won the Jim Dandy three times ... I have to pinch myself," Repole, his rat-a-tat-tat all-Queens accent working in overdrive, said from his summer home in New England. "I've won the Coaching Club (American Oaks) twice. I've won the Hopeful ... to win the Travers once in your life is one in a million. I've won it twice, so it's one in a billion!" And a pause. In the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-'TDN Rising Stars' Fierceness (City of Light) or Mindframe (Constitution) in the GI $1 million Whitney Stakes? Will one of them be running or will it be both? Those questions got definitive answers Saturday morning outside Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track. When entries are taken for the meet's marquee race for older horses on Sunday, both horses names will be front and center, but it will be Fierceness who carries the flag for Pletcher and the ownership group of Mike Repole's...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. -- Arguably the best older horse in training, Mindframe (Constitution), went back to work Friday morning. The 4-year-old colt had his first work since winning the loaded GI Stephen Foster Stakes last month for Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher. Mindframe worked an easy four furlongs in :52.46 (76/78) on the main track with regular exercise rider Carlos Quevedo on board. "He does whatever you ask him to do," Pletcher said outside his barn at the Oklahoma Training Track. "He is cool that way. He goes easy...

SARATOGA SPRINGS -- Anyone who went by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott's barn on the Oklahoma Training Track Friday morning did a double take. A jumbo-sized maple tree, which has stood tall for years outside Mott's office, was no more. Thanks to a violent display of weather Thursday night after Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course, the tree was uprooted and came crashing down. Part of the tree came to rest on the roof of Mott's office. Miraculously, there was no damage done to the office, which was unoccupied...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Early Sunday morning, trainer Tom Morley walked down his shedrow at his barn on the Saratoga backstretch. He stopped in front of a stall occupied by a curious looking dark bay colt named Donegal Momentum (Uncle Mo). Morley snuggled close to the 4-year-old, hugged him, kissed his neck. He has affection for all his horses, but, after what Donegal Momentum went through on Saturday, he deserved an extra dose of tender love and care. During Saturday's one-mile GIII Kelso Stakes on the Inner Turf course, Donegal Momentum...

SARATOGA SPRINGS--When Neil Poznansky, sitting on the back of GI Kentucky Derby and GI Belmont Stakes champion Sovereignty (Into Mischief), saw jockey Junior Alvarado early Friday morning, he wore a wide smile. "How'd I do?" Poznansky said. Alvarado grinned back. No answer necessary. Sovereignty did what Poznansky, Alvarado and Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott wanted to see as he had his second work since winning the Belmont last month. Working in company with 4-year-old stablemate Jefferson Street (Street Sense), Sovereignty and Poznansky, Mott's assistant, covered four furlongs in :48.99...

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Next Wednesday, 2024 Horse of the Year & 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) is expected to be in Saratoga. Trainer Kenny McPeek said she will ship to the Spa from Kentucky along with Mystik Dan (Goldencents), last year's GI Kentucky Derby winner. Thorpedo Anna is coming off a three-length win in the GII, $500,000 Fleur de Lis Stakes at Churchill Downs last Saturday. "She is fine, she is like a rocket ship," McPeek said by phone from Kentucky Thursday. "She loves her work; she loves...

SARATOGA SPRINGS--After Baeza's (McKinzie) lackluster third-place finish in the GI Belmont Stakes last month, trainer John Shirreffs wasn't convinced his horse was as bad as he showed at Saratoga Race Course. Shirreffs is keeping the faith and will ship Baeza back to Saratoga for a date in the $500,000 GII Jim Dandy on July 26. "It seems like all roads lead to Saratoga," Shirreffs said by phone from California Wednesday afternoon. "So far, it's the only race that has been under discussion with [owners] Mr. [Lee] Searing and Mr. [Robert]...

1st-Belmont The Big A, $85,000, Msw, 6-12, 2yo, f, 6fT, 1:08.34, fm, 3 lengths. NONNA'S LOVE (f, 2, Caravaggio--Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty) was the lone previously raced member of the seven-strong field that loaded the stalls for the first race back down at the Belmont at the Big A meeting Thursday afternoon and made the most of her experience advantage, leading past every pole to get the program off on a high note for the favorite backers. Drawn two, the 5-4 chalk--making her first start on the grass after...

A TDN column published Sunday referenced the racing oddity of the two most recent North American champion 2-year-old colts both losing separate races within two hours of each other on June 7 at Saratoga Race Course. 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), the 2023 juvenile male Eclipse Award champ, ran second as the 3-4 favorite in the GI Metropolitan Handicap. 'Rising Star' Citizen Bull (Into Mischief), the 2024 divisional champ, was fourth at 9-2 odds in the GI Woody Stephens Stakes. T.D. Thornton asked, "Has this ever happened on...