Pletcher, Repole shift Kentucky Derby dreams to Fierceness

Louisville, Ky.

It has been a half-century since that Nov. 13 when Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his place of residence. Since he had nowhere else to go. Since he appeared at the home of his childhood friend Oscar Madison.

Todd Pletcher was 7 when “The Odd Couple” went off the air. Mike Repole was 6. Yet here they are, the modern version of Felix and Oscar.

“You need to have it,” Repole said. He meant the yin and yang of their relationship. “Todd and I have been together for 15 years. Friends first. Training-owner partnership second.”

Repole is not the poster child for slobs that Oscar Madison was, and Pletcher is not prone to bursts of fastidious obsessiveness the way Felix Unger was. Still, that would be the way they would be cast if they were channeling their inner Neil Simon. They are men of very different personalities.

The biggest thing they have in common right now is Fierceness. They also hope this is not a rerun of the two episodes that Uncle Mo and Forte took them through. Like Fierceness, those two horses owned by Repole and trained by Pletcher were Eclipse Award-winning juveniles who became the likely favorites for the following spring’s Kentucky Derby.

And then they got hurt. In 2011, Uncle Mo was scratched on the eve of the Derby because of a lingering gastrointestinal infection that affected his liver. Last year Forte was benched by a Kentucky state veterinarian Nick Smith only 10 hours before post time because of a bruised right front foot.

Almost exactly a year later, Pletcher calmly tries to keep that slow-to-fade memory out of sight, out of mind.

“That’s unfortunately all you can do in this situation,” Pletcher said. “You’ve got to put that one behind you and focus on this one.”

Speaking at Keeneland eight days before this Derby, Pletcher was typically calm and poised and measured remembering that low point. He looked the same that fateful Saturday morning at 9 a.m. EDT. That was when Smith explained his decision to Pletcher. And to a much more animated Repole.

“That’s the balance that we have,” Repole said last Saturday after the post-position draw at the new Churchill Downs paddock. “There are times that I need to be calmed down, and there are times that he needs to be motivated or picked up. Or he’s frustrated, because he’s worked his tail off.”

Fire and ice. Both men are keenly aware that the juxtaposition of their personalities is entertaining to outsiders.

When Pletcher was inducted into the Hall of Fame nearly three years ago, Repole spoke for 18 minutes to introduce him.

“You actually kept it under a half an hour,” Pletcher said. “I’m impressed.”

Joking aside, both Pletcher and Repole have plenty of reasons to be confident about Fierceness, who won his championship-clinching Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall by 6 1/4 lengths and the Grade 1 Florida Derby five weeks ago by a stakes-record 13 1/2 lengths. They also have reasons to be concerned after poor starts contributed to losses as the odds-on favorite in both the Champagne (G1) last fall and the Holy Bull (G3) in February.

“The main thing is we hope for a clean trip,” Pletcher said. “I think the one thing in common with his two losses is he got into a lot of trouble coming out of the gate. He wasn’t able to get into his rhythm the way he’d like to.”

Jockey John Velázquez, who preceded Pletcher into the Hall of Fame, is a character in this story, too. Maybe like one of the guys who played poker with Felix and Oscar, who went off the air when he was 3.

Velázquez will ride Fierceness on Saturday for the third time. Before they were brought together in the Breeders’ Cup, Irad Ortiz Jr. had the ride in a debut win and the Champagne loss.

“I can tell you that on my part, when I rode him (in the Holy Bull), he got bounced out of the gate pretty hard,” Velázquez said last week at Keeneland. “I kind of got wide in the first turn. He got to the bridle on the backstretch, and it was a slow pace. Then I (showed) him the (crop), and I thought he was going to win easily. But when I asked him, he just kind of looked flat.”

“People were pretty hard on him,” Pletcher said. “If you go back and watch the start of that race, he had a lot to overcome there. Obviously he put that behind him in a big way.”

Velázquez said he thought Fierceness was looking and feeling good going into both his races this year. Even in the wake of the Holy Bull disappointment, he said was not surprised by that explosive speed that was unleashed in the Florida Derby.

“Trust me, he didn’t surprise me,” he said. “I know he was freaking, working well. Obviously the way he ran in the Breeders’ Cup, I knew it was in him. Now I’m hoping he can do the same thing.”

Fierceness originally drew post 17, from which Derby starters are 0-for-44. Even though he still will wear the number 17 saddle cloth, the scratch of Encino meant he will go Saturday from post 16, which has produced four winners.

If Fierceness breaks cleanly, he figures to find himself being taken forward by Velázquez, who may be the best jockey of his generation riding frontrunners. Yes, he successfully closed to win with Animal Kingdom in the 2011 Derby. But he stalked and then led the last half-mile in Always Dreaming’s 2017 victory for Pletcher. He led from gate to wire in 2020 on Authentic and again in 2021 on Medina Spirit, who eventually was disqualified for a medication violation.

“He’s had some success on the front end in the Derby,” Pletcher said. “If we find ourselves on the lead, we’ll be OK with that.”

Pletcher has won the Derby twice and Velázquez three times. Repole, a vocal advocate for racing reform who has dubbed himself the sport’s commissioner, still is looking for his first.

“This is my 10th entry, and I’m still here,” Repole said. “To be here with the Derby favorite again, there’s no complaints.”

Fierceness is a colt who was bred by Repole when he paid $35,000 to have City of Light visit his broodmare Nonna Bella. His breeder-owner may have a type A personality, but Fierceness seems as placid around the barn as his trainer.

“This horse is pretty special,” Repole said. “He’s chill. He’s cool. He’s calm.”

That sounds like the other reserved character in this story, except Repole said Pletcher may be churning beneath the surface as he approaches his 24th Kentucky Derby.

“He’s won two, and he’s probably having a little bit more stress and anxiety because it’s my horse,” he said. “I feel bad about that, because I told him if we come in first or last, it doesn’t change us.”