Florida Derby: Will Fierceness run to his strong works?

Delray Beach, Fla.

Will Fierceness run to his works?

That is the overriding question as the 2-year-old champion attempts to rebound from the second perplexing defeat of his career in the $1 million Grade 1 Florida Derby on Saturday at Gulfstream Park.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher could not have asked for anything more than what Fierceness provided in five breezes at Palm Beach Downs after a third-place finish in the Feb. 3 Holy Bull (G3) at Gulfstream. The 3-year-old debut marked the second major disappointment of the colt's four-race career.

“His breezes have been outstanding,” Pletcher said as he stood trackside at sun-bathed Palm Beach Downs. “He gives you a lot of confidence with his breezes that he’s a top-level horse that’s in top-level form.”

The bay son of City of Light returned to the work tab in a big way, with a four-furlong bullet in 48.54 seconds on Feb. 23, fastest of 27 moves at the distance that morning. The hits kept coming: March 1, four furlongs, 48.89, third of 26; March 8, five furlongs, 1:00.99, fifth of 10; March 15, five furlongs, 1:01.03, third of 10; and March 22, another bullet, four furlongs, 47.43, first of 38.

The regularity and consistent quality of the breezes suggests Fierceness is ready to flash the thrilling form he displayed when he ran away with his Aug. 25 debut at Saratoga by 11 1/4 lengths and secured the Eclipse Award as leading 2-year-old male with another dominant effort when he captured the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 6 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita for owner Mike Repole.

The colt’s training suggests he is prepared to overcome almost anyone and anything in the 1 1/8-mile Florida Derby. And he may have to after enduring the misfortune of drawing post 10 in a field of 11. When that happened, Pletcher knew immediately that jockey John Velazquez’s task had grown infinitely more difficult.

“Look, we all know one of the concerns about running two-turn races at Gulfstream is that it’s a very short run into the first turn,” Pletcher said. “I think that’s heavily on jockeys’ minds in the race.”

The urgency to gain a good striking position entering the first turn can lead to rough riding. Fierceness fell victim to that in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull. “He got slammed pretty hard at the start,” the trainer noted. “Johnny had to use him in the Holy Bull going into the first turn to get position and he still got hung out a bit wide and then he flattened out.

“You wonder how much it takes out of one when you get sandwiched at the start like that and bumped pretty hard. Sometimes you lose sight how much it can take out of one.”

The good and great ones, however, find ways to overcome almost anything. Repole’s Forte overcame post 11 only last year in the Florida Derby to give Pletcher a record seventh victory in the last and most significant of the Kentucky Derby preps on the Florida calendar.

Fierceness is listed as an 8-5 favorite on the morning line to get back on track. With 36 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, he can ill afford clunkers such as the Oct. 7 Champagne, where he inexplicably ran seventh of eight, or the Holy Bull. The Florida Derby will award points to the top five finishers on a 100-50-25-15-10 basis.

It may all depend on which horse shows up. “We just need to see more of what we’re seeing every time we breeze him and more of what we saw in his maiden race and the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile,” Pletcher said. “To me, he’s showing that when he runs his A race, his A race in my opinion is the leader of the division until someone can prove otherwise.”

The powerful outfit also will be represented in the Florida Derby by long shot Bail Us Out, who will be ridden by Irad Ortiz Jr. on behalf of Repole. “He’s a horse that doesn’t have much early speed,” Pletcher said. “If things go fast up front, maybe we can pick up some pieces. He’s lightly raced, there is room for improvement, but he needs to make a big step forward to make any impact.”

Pletcher will likely have at least three horses for the final round of major Derby preps on April 6. He is looking at promising Tuscan Sky for the Blue Grass (G1) at Keeneland. Be You, coming off a maiden victory in his sixth attempt, and the maiden Protective are slated for the Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct.