Ferocious

Trainer Chad Brown sent out his two Keeneland-based pre-entrants in the GI Breeders' Cup Mile--'TDN Rising Star' Carl Spackler (Ire) (Lope de Vega {Ire}) and Chili Flag (Fr) (Cityscape {GB})--together for a half-mile breeze over the grass in :50.40 (1/3) Saturday morning. According to Keeneland clockers, their final quarter mile went in :22.80. "I thought it was a great work, very straightforward," said jockey Tyler Gaffalione, who rode Carl Spackler to a win in Keeneland's GI Coolmore Turf Mile Stakes Oct. 5. "He's really feeling good out there. He's a...

Multiple Grade I-placed 'TDN Rising Star' Ferocious (Flatter) was out on track at 7:30 a.m. at Keeneland following the first harrow period and had Javier Castellano in the irons for the morning session as he continued preps for his scheduled start in the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile. Castellano had spent nearly two months on the sidelines with a fractured hand, but made a trip from New York to Lexington specifically for the half-mile work. In the first move since Ferocious finished second in the GI Claiborne Breeders' Futurity, the...

Saturday is one of those 'burn the candle at both ends' kind of days for horseplayers, as no fewer than 17 graded stakes take place within a six-hour window. Eight of those events serve as 'Win and You're In' qualifying events for various Breeders' Cup races, and even those races that don't offer a free pass are liable to toss up a runner or two or three at Del Mar in four weeks' time. Keeneland Race Course brands its opening three days of racing as 'Fall Stars Weekend' and who's...

In what turned out to be the battle of the TDN Rising Stars, it was Chancer McPatrick (McKInzie) who, despite a problematic start, came on late to outgun Ferocious (Flatter) in Saratoga's closing day marquee juvenile test, the GI Hopeful Stakes. "When it's meant to be, it's meant to be," said rider Flavien Prat, who was winning his seventh Grade I race of the meet. "The break was pretty bad and I never thought from there I could regroup. He did it and he showed that he's very talented." The...

The holiday weekend of stakes action--and the Saratoga meet--conclude in style when morning-line favorite Ferocious (Flatter) faces eight rivals in contentious renewal of the GI Hopeful Stakes. Campaigned by JR Ranch, Ramiro Restrepo, High Step Racing and OGMA Investments, the $1.3-million OBS March graduate romped to a 7 3/4-length debut win and earned a 'TDN Rising Star' label Aug. 3. Off a step slow in that unveiling, Ferocious settled in a good stalking position behind an opening quarter-mile in :22.06 over a muddy and sealed main track. Tipped out to...

Some of the most highly anticipated races during the summer racing season are the 'baby' races during the boutique meetings at Saratoga and Del Mar and at Kentucky Downs, which attract its fair share of high-priced offspring from a variety of top national outfits. Summer Breezes highlights debuting and stakes-entered 2-year-olds at those meetings that have been sourced at the breeze-up sales earlier in the year, with links to their under-tack previews. Here are the horses entered for Monday's season-ending program at Saratoga: Monday, September 2, 2024 Saratoga 2, $90k,...

Saratoga Springs, N.Y.--While it wasn't the scenario he expected at the beginning of the month, trainer John Ortiz will be busy late Saturday afternoon saddling the fillies Brightwork (Outwork) and 'TDN Rising Star' Quietside (Malibu Moon) in consecutive stakes at Saratoga Race Course. First up will be WSS Racing's Brightwork in the GIII $200,000 Prioress Stakes, scheduled for 5:04 p.m. ET. Immediately after the six-furlong Prioress, Ortiz will scoot back to the paddock to prepare Shortleaf Stable's Quietside in the $300,000 GI Spinaway Stakes, which Brightwork won last year. When...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--The easy thing would be to blame the racetrack. Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert wasn't going to do that the day after his National Treasure (Quality Road) finished a non-threatening sixth in Saturday's $1 million GI Whitney Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. National Treasure, who had been at the top of most lists as the best older horse in the nation, laid an egg as the 4-5 favorite. "He just didn't show up," Baffert said on the Saratoga backstretch Sunday morning. "Once he didn't get into the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N. Y.--Ferocious's (Flatter) blowout victory in the sixth race at Saratoga Race Course Saturday produced a series of backward and forward moments in the winner's enclosure. Ramiro Restrepo and Gustavo Delgado, Jr., principals in Mage's (Good Magic) rise to prominence and victory in the 2023 GI Kentucky Derby, held court following the $100,000 2-year-old maiden special weight race that might be the first big step for another standout. Restrepo and Delgado spearheaded the purchase of Ferocious for $1,300,000 at the OBS March sale and they were appropriately excited...

The money came late for Ferocious (c, 2, Flatter--Napier, by Midnight Lute), who was available at 4-1 for a good deal of the betting, and when all was said and done, was the 3.45-1 favorite making his career debut in Saturday's sixth race at Saratoga. And the money proved right on, as the colt exploded through the final eighth of a mile to become a no-brainer 'TDN Rising Star'. Things did not go especially well at the break for the $1.3-million OBS March purchase, as he reared slightly, costing him...

6th-SAR, 100K, Msw, 2yo, 6f, 2:47 p.m. The second-costliest hip out of OBS March this year, FEROCIOUS (Flatter) worked in :9.4 and sold on a final bid of $1,300,000 to Marquee Bloodstock with the partnership of JR Ranch, Restrepo, Ramiro, High Step Racing and OGMA Investments now listed as owners. A son of the late Claiborne stallion Flatter, Ferocious is the second foal out of a winning Midnight Lute mare who is a half to GISW Obligatory (Curlin). This is also the family of French G1 winner Etoile Montante (Miswaki)...