Travers thriller: Fierceness barely holds off Thorpedo Anna

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. 

The Grade 1, $1.25 million Travers Stakes was billed as a match-up between the leading 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna and seven of the top 3-year-old males. The signature race of the Saratoga meeting did not disappoint as Fierceness took control of the 1 1/4-mile contest at the top of the stretch and held off the valiant late move by the filly to win by a diminishing margin of a head.

Out of the gate and down the stretch for the first time, Batten Down and Dornoch were the leaders heading into the turn and into the backstretch. Thorpedo Anna raced in third along the rail while Fierceness was fourth, a few paths to the outside, but only 1 1/2-lengths from the lead. As these leaders stayed in position the early fractions were 23.53, 48.10 and 1:11.62 for six furlongs.

Fierceness stayed wide around the turn and Thorpedo Anna remained on the rail. Fierceness got to the front at the quarter pole and opened up a lead that got to be two-lengths at the stretch call. At that point jockey Brian Hernandez Jr. asked Thorpedo Anna to make her move. She did that, gaining with every stride. But in the end she came up just short of a historic victory.

The connections of Fierceness added to their past success in the Travers. Owner Mike Repole won his second Travers. This time with a horse that was produced by a Repole homebred bred daughter of his previous Travers winner, Stay Thirsty. Both jockey John Velazquez and trainer Todd Pletcher added to their Hall of Fame credentials when they each won their third Travers.

“It really came the way I thought,” Velazquez said. “I know if he broke, well, I was going to be pretty close to the lead. After watching the warm up, you can start seeing who actually really wants to be close to the lead. I ended up in a perfect position. I wanted to give him a chance where I'm not in his mouth and just keep him going forward.”

Pletcher and Velazquez discussed what might happen heading into the race but it is up to the rider once the starting gate opens.

“With Johnny (Velazquez), we don’t really give instructions,” Pletcher said. “We just talk about possible scenarios of how the race might unfold and kind of what everyone is thinking. We had the benefit of a good outside post, and we felt like there were a couple of horses that would show some speed. Really, it was all in Johnny’s hands to make that decision - hope to get away cleanly and break alertly and get into a good rhythm and let him survey what is going on. That was incredible. He sat patiently, made a big move, and held off a tremendous filly.”

It was the first loss of the year for Thorpedo Anna in five starts as she came to the Travers with four graded stakes victories, the last three in Grade 1 races for trainer Kenny McPeek.

"I'm just proud of the team and everything,” McPeek said. “We've had a lot of fun with her, and she's been great. Everything really went to plan other than one horse in her way. She's so special, and we're just really proud of her. We wanted her to leave there clean, which she did. She really didn't have an excuse, but Brian felt like the winner got a little jump on him when they turned the corner and couldn't quite get there. She gallops out in front - they don't pay us for that, right?”

For the first time in his career, Fierceness won two races in a row having been on a pattern of a win then a loss throughout his previous seven starts.

“This has been something that hasn’t made sense – the odd and even (results),” Repole said. “He had to put two together eventually and this is the one. He did what we thought he could do, and he ran a great race. His last two races, coming off the pace – this horse is getting better. He’s a really nice horse.”

The Travers was the fifth career win and the third Grade 1 for Fierceness bringing his career earnings to over $2.6 million. Thorpedo Anna still has never run worse than second in her eight-race career and also increased her earnings past the $2 million mark to $2.2 million.

There were 47,844 racing fans in attendance that wagered $11.2 million on-track. Fierceness paid $9.80, 5.70, and 3.40. Thorpedo Anna was the 3.90-1 third choice just behind the winner, who was 3.40-1.

Together the $2 exacta returned $56. The 1.75-1 favorite Sierra Leone was third 1 3/4 lengths behind. He completed a $116.50 trifecta.

Thorpedo Anna will return to racing against fillies in the 3-year-old division next.

"She will most assuredly go to Parx if everything's OK,” McPeek said. “She's got four weeks to go to Parx. I see her in the (Breeders’ Cup) Distaff, I don't see her in the Classic. I see the Cotillion (G1) as a no brainer, and then the Distaff is more than likely. I don't see her going against the colts."

Fierceness will be pointed to the Breeders’ Cup Classic by Pletcher and Repole.

“We’ll most likely train up to the Classic,” Pletcher said. “We’ll kind of figure out where we are going to do that from. I’d imagine we will spend most of September here in Saratoga, then come up with a game plan. Last year we prepared at Keeneland to go to Santa Anita, so we might do the same thing to go to Del Mar, but I’m sure he’ll just train up to it.”