Fierceness defied expectations to win the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile on Friday, stamping himself an early Kentucky Derby favorite as the $31 million thoroughbred extravaganza got underway at Santa Anita Park.
Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, the 16-1 shot stalked front-running General Partner until the far turn, when he edged into the lead ahead of the Bob Baffert-trained Muth.
From there, it was Fierceness’s race as he pulled away to win by six and a half lengths ahead of Muth with Pletcher’s Locked in third.
Pletcher notched a 15th Breeders’ Cup victory and his fourth in the Juvenile. He won the race last year with Forte, who arrived at the Kentucky Derby last May on a five-race winning streak but was scratched hours before the Run for the Roses with a bruised hoof.
The performance vindicated owner Mike Repole’s decision to target the Breeders’ Cup in the wake of a disappointing seventh-placed finish in the Champagne Stakes.
“Not everyone would do that,” Pletcher said. “We talked about it, we covered every base after the Champagne. The horse trained well all summer. He was a monster since his debut.
“We took a shot today and it worked out … he showed what he’s all about.”
There were wins for two European raiders and for two fillies sired by 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify on the day billed as “Future Stars Friday” and featuring five races for 2-year-olds.
It was a curtain-raiser for nine more races on Saturday, including the $6 million Classic and a star-studded $4 million Turf.
Rollercoaster day
Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien nabbed a sixth Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf victory as 3-2 Unquestionable, ridden by Ryan Moore, rallied from fifth on the backstretch, slipping past Air Recruit and My Boy Prince in the final straight and holding off stablemate Mountain Bear for the win.
It was a more than satisfying end to a rollercoaster day that started with O’Brien’s pre-race favorite River Tiber among more than a dozen runners scratched in the morning after veterinary exams.
Connections of many of those ruled out disagreed but had no recourse amid stringent new measures aimed at reducing equine injuries and deaths that have shadowed the sport in the United States and included two horse deaths at Santa Anita this week.
“When a day starts badly it usually spirals out of control,” O’Brien said. “It was a great ride from Ryan.”
Moore, who had been scheduled to ride River Tiber but replaced Frankie Dettori on Unquestionable, added: “We thought a lot of him and River Tiber coming here and we expected to get a one-two — just with different horses.”
Big Evs, trained by Michael Appleby and ridden by Tom Marquand, led a European one-two-three in the five-furlong, $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint.
Tracking pace-setter Crimson Advocate, Big Evs seized the lead at the top of the stretch, pulling clear and holding off the hard-charging Valiant Force — who took second ahead of Starlust.
Appleby admitted he had some concern about how Big Evs would cope with coming around a turn for the first time. Marquand said the colt was a quick study.
“It wasn’t the smoothest, but he got the hang of it halfway around and it was home to the straight,” Marquand said.
The other two races went to daughters of Triple Crown winner Justify.
Just FYI, trained by Bill Mott and ridden By Junior Alvarado, triumphed in the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile Fillies while Hard to Justify, trained by Chad Brown and ridden by US-based French jockey Flavien Prat, won the one-mile Juvenile Fillies Turf.
