City of Light

During Saturday's post-position draw at Gulfstream, Repole Stable's Fierceness (City of Light) was installed the 8-5 favorite on the morning line for next weekend's GI Curlin Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. Drawing post 10 in the field off 11, the colt will try to give his trainer Todd Pletcher a record eighth win in the Classic prep. Pletcher won the nine-furlong test with defending 2-year-old champion Forte (Violence) last year. "Normally I'd be afraid of the outside post, but Forte won from the 11 last year, so you can overcome...

Champion Fierceness (City of Light) continued his preparations for a likely start in the GI Curlin Florida Derby Mar. 30 with a half-mile breeze Friday at Palm Beach Downs in company with fellow 'TDN Rising Star' Agate Road (Quality Road). The pair clocked in at :48.89, leaving conditioner Todd Pletcher satisfied with the progress he'd seen since the GIII Holy Bull S. "Fierceness and Agate Road breezed a half together and both did really well, especially Fierceness. [He had] a strong gallop-out, looked good. He's continued to train really good...

5th-GP, $89K, MSW, 4yo/up, 7 1/2fT, 2:09pm EST Trainer Todd Pletcher offers up a pair of seven-figure sales horses making their belated debuts. Victorious Racing LLC's SWORDOFHONOR (IRE) (Siyouni {Fr}) sports some pretty flashy credentials. The €1.5 million Arqana August yearling purchase is a half-brother to the year-older Angel Bleu (Fr) (Dark Angel {Ire}), a two-time Group 1 winner as a juvenile who subsequently won last summer's G2 Celebration Mile S. at Goodwood. Consigned by Ecurie des Monceaux and purchased by Oliver St Lawrence, the bay was the second highest-priced...

'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), a disappointing third in his 3-year-old debut in Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S., exited the race in good order, reports owner Mike Repole. "He's perfectly fine," Repole said in a text message. Fierceness, the 2023 2-Year-Old male Eclipse champion, was coming off an overpowering win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and most believed he would pick up right where he left off in the Holy Bull, where he was the 1-5 favorite. Instead, he finished third, beaten 3 1/2 lengths. When asked...

National Treasure (Quality Road), last year's front-running GI Preakness S. hero and a latest painful second to Horse of the Year Cody's Wish (Curlin) in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita Nov. 4, gave trainer Bob Baffert a third victory in the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. and his sire a second Saturday afternoon at Gulfstream Park. "I'm proud of him. He ran his race. He showed up," said Baffert by phone from Southern California. "That's all you can ask for as a trainer. He was...

Repole Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), newly honored as 2023 champion 2-year-old, breezed at Palm Beach Downs Saturday morning in advance of next Saturday's GIII Holy Bull S. at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher, he was timed in :49.55 (20/29) for a half-mile. "I was very pleased. He had a serious work last week--fifty-nine-and-change [for five furlongs]. We were just looking for a maintenance work today," Pletcher said. Fierceness is coming off a 6 1/4-length romp in the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup...

It was an evening to remember for Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum's Godolphin team, as the worldwide operation accumulated no fewer than five statuettes over the course of the evening at Thursday's 53rd Annual Eclipse Awards Presented by FanDuel TV, John Deere, Keeneland and The Jockey Club, honoring and recognizing excellence in Thoroughbred racing. And they saved the best for last, as Cody's Wish (Curlin), whose story resonated with nearly every fan of Thoroughbred racing and beyond, was named Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male for...

Repole Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), the favorite to be named champion 2-year-old male of 2023 following his dominant victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita, remains on track to make his sophomore debut in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park. He posted his second work of the new year Saturday at Palm Beach Downs, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.17 (8/12). "He worked super this morning and everything is going according to plan, so far," Hall of Fame trainer Todd...

Achieving the mark of 'TDN Rising Star' means that you have done something out of the ordinary. Though he may have been green at the start of Aqueduct's fourth race on a slop-filled Sunday afternoon, by the time it was over, Crimson Light (c, 3, City of Light--Crimson Frost, by Stormy Atlantic) proved he earned the title. The colt definitely fit the mold when he came back from a seemingly insurmountable distance to graduate. The Todd Pletcher trainee debuted with Lasix as the even-money choice here, but he hopped so...

Now we're really entering nosebleed altitudes for most breeders, between $30,000 and $50,000: a zone where you should feel that you're improving the odds of coming up with an elite horse. It tells you a lot about our business that the majority of the two dozen stallions operating at this level can only do so because they have yet to send a single runner into the starting gate. A quarter of these we immediately set to one side, as absolute beginners, because those received separate consideration in the opening instalment...

2nd-AQU, $85k, Msw, 2yo, 7f, 12:20p.m. ET From the family of GISW Acoma (Empire Maker) and her half-brother, the late, great GISW Arch (Kris S.), CONQUEST WARRIOR (City of Light) will be the priciest unveiling on the afternoon in New York, carrying a princely $1 million tag from the 2022 KEESEP sale. Racing for Courtlandt Farms under the tutelage of Shug McGaughey, the colt is a half-sibling to a series of winners out of dam MSW Tea Time (Pulpit) including unraced 3-year-old filly Soul Play (Union Rags), who was also...

9th-FG, $52K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 5:45 p.m. A $700,000 son of Arrogate, PHANTOM SPEED makes the races Friday for Pin Oak Stud and trainer Michael Stidham. The colt is a half to GSW Biddy Duke (Bayern) while his 3-year-old City of Light half-brother brought a final bid of $1.05m from Repole Stable and St. Elias out of the 2021 Keeneland September Sale. This is the extended family of champion 2-year-old filly Folklore (Tiznow). TJCIS PPS 4th-AQU, $85K, Msw, 2yo, 1m, 1:46 p.m. Leading off a pair of homebreds, The Hero...