Fierceness continued the win-lose pattern that he has maintained throughout his seven-race career when he captured the Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy Stakes by one length against Sierra Leone on Saturday at Saratoga.
When Mike Repole was asked how his perplexing 2023 juvenile male champion should be viewed among the pantheon of stars he has owned, he responded, “You could say it one or two ways. Strangest and one of the most talented. He’s definitely one of the most talented.”
But he is most definitely strange.
The homebred son of City of Light followed an 11 1/4-length romp when he debuted at Saratoga last August by flopping in the Champagne (G1). He performed so poorly that Repole and trainer Todd Pletcher debated long and hard about whether to go on with him to the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. They were delighted they did when he dominated by 6 1/4 lengths at Santa Anita.
Fierceness tracked West Coast shipper Pony Express in second, as the recent maiden winner took the six-horse field through an opening quarter-mile in 23.80 seconds and a half-mile in 47.44 seconds. Fierceness blew past him when asked, and Velázquez, anticipating that Sierra Leone would be uncorking his patented charge, allowed his mount to drift toward the middle of the track.
“I expected Sierra Leone to come out, so I went out. I just let him do it,” Velazquez said. “I wanted to get him out there, and when I looked, the other horse came inside.”
Indeed, Flavien Prat went inward with Sierra Leone to maintain his momentum, but there was no denying the winner. Fierceness completed the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.15 on the fast main track. Ohio Derby (G3) winner Batten Down, Preakness victor Seize the Grey, Gould’s Gold and Pony Express rounded out the Jim Dandy order of finish.
