Zipse: Fierceness returns to his favorite stage in Met Mile

From Eclipse Award winners down to $5,000 claimers, there are certain racetracks which hit all the right notes for some horses. As good as Fierceness has been in so many of his other races, there can be no denying the 4-year-old City of Light colt appreciates Saratoga.

Be it the surroundings, the surface or both, Fierceness loves the Spa. He’ll put his fondness for his favorite track to a real test June 7 when the champion makes his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Metropolitan Handicap. Better known as the Met Mile and part of the undercard of Belmont Stakes day, it is setting up to be the race of the year to this point.

NYRA sets post times for Belmont Stakes week.

Trained by the Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, the 2-year-old champ of 2023 has run at Saratoga three times and has been sensational each time.

A second-generation homebred for owner Mike Repole, Fierceness wasted no time in showing off his racing talent when he made his career debut in late August of his juvenile season.

With a string of nice works under his belt, he was sent off at 11-10 in the Saratoga maiden and immediately exerted his authority. Opening up early, the bay poured it on down the stretch, winning over the wet track by 11 widening lengths with a time of 1:09.56.

Flash forward 11 months, and the racing career of Fierceness was in need of a boost. After an extremely disappointing finish in the Kentucky Derby where he folded to 15th, it was not quite clear where the explosive Breeders’ Cup Juvenile and Florida Derby (G1) winner fit in among the very best of his crop. Enter Saratoga.

First came the Jim Dandy Stakes (G2) on July 27. With Preakness winner Seize the Grey and Ohio Derby (G3) winner Batten Down in the field, Fierceness was made the 9-5 second choice behind highly talented late runner Sierra Leone, who was 4-5.

The majority was wrong that day as Fierceness stalked and pounced under Johnny Velázquez and had plenty left to deny the stretch challenge of the race favorite. It was on to the big one from there.

Always an important race, the Travers Stakes (G1) was just a little more than that in 2024. Sierra Leone was once again the favorite, but with the presence of the fantastic filly Thorpedo Anna as well as the Belmont and Haskell (G1) winner Dornoch, this edition was set up to be a good one. And so it was.

In a display of push-button talent combined with a fierce desire to win, Fierceness put away Dornoch with ease and then held off the tenacious rally of Thorpedo Anna to win the Travers by a thrilling head. In what I believe was the race of the year in 2024, Fierceness won it, and he did it at Saratoga.

A few months later at Del Mar, Sierra Leone, who was third in the Travers, would exact his revenge in the Breeders’ Cup Classic over a game Fierceness to win the 3-year-old males’ Eclipse Award.

Fierceness certainly ran well in defeat, and he did again in his first race back as a mature 4-year-old.

Returning in style, he defeated a solid field led by Most Wanted, Hall of Fame and Locked in decisive fashion. The 1 1/2-length victory in the 1 1/16-mile Alysheba Stakes (G2) set a track record of 1:40.66 at Churchill Downs.

Working well up at Saratoga since his return victory, it would seem the older-horse version of Fierceness might be ready to deliver his best season yet.

Even for the best, it’s hard to rest on your laurels in Thoroughbred racing. Fierceness will have to prove it all over again in the Met Mile against a field that also could include the likes of White Abarrio, Mindframe, Nysos, Just a Touch, Raging Torrent and several other talented older males.

Still, Fierceness should be the headliner of headliners. He will be back at the track where he made his scintillating debut two seasons ago and where he resurrected his career and proved his class with a pair of big wins last summer.

Adding another wrinkle to his return to his favorite track will be the Wilson chute. It was brought back to Saratoga to allow for the flat, one-mile distance on the main track, and the extra partial turn into the backstretch will be something new for Fierceness.

In less than two weeks they will run what could be a very interesting edition of the Belmont Stakes, but the final leg of the Triple Crown may be only second best of the afternoon.

The Met Mile will be loaded, and Saratoga-loving Fierceness is the one they all will have to beat.