Fierceness

The gates are scheduled to open at 9:30 a.m. on Friday. Post time for the first race is 11:35 and the first Breeders' Cup race goes off at 2:45. But long before those bright-eyed Breeders' Cup attendees begin filling the grandstands of Del Mar, the backside will have been awake for hours. For those back in the barns as Breeders' Cup morning dawns, in many ways it's just like any other day. It is the same routine of raking barn aisles, topping off water buckets, checking temps, preparing feed, wrapping...

DEL MAR, CA - With the rising sun attempting to make its way out of a dense cloud cover, contenders for Saturday's $7-million GI Breeders' Cup Classic were out in force during about a 30-minute window following the renovation break at Del Mar Tuesday morning. 'TDN Rising Star' Newgate and Pyrenees, a pair of blaze-faced, 4-year-old sons of the all-conquering Into Mischief, both entered on their toes and filled the frame nicely while training with good energy. Newgate, listed at a very generous 20-1 on the morning-line, adds blinkers for...

Despite never having raced on the dirt in his two seasons at the races, Mrs John Magnier, Michael Tabor and Derrick Smith's champion and 'TDN Rising Star' City of Troy (Justify) was assigned gate three as the 5-2 morning-line selection in a full field of 14 and will be ridden by Ryan Moore in Saturday's $7-million GI Longines Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Deemed by trainer Aidan O'Brien--a two-time runner-up in the Classic (Giant's Causeway, Declaration of War)--'the best he's ever trained,' the son of G1SW Together Forever (Ire)...

Outwork (Uncle Mo--Nonna Mia by Empire Maker), has been purchased to continue his stud career in Saudi Arabia through a deal brokered by Chad Schumer. The GI Wood Memorial winner won three of five career starts before retiring to WinStar Farm in 2017 with $701,800 in earnings. He's gone on to sire two Grade I winners, Leave No Trace and Brightwork. Another top performer includes millionaire Outadore, who won the Kentucky Downs Juvenile Turf Sprint in 2020 before running in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf at Keeneland, making a gallant...

Champion juvenile and 'TDN Rising Star' MGISW Fierceness (City of Light) will join the ranks at Ashford Stud upon his retirement from racing, the farm announced via release Sunday. The champion juvenile from 2023 is a leading GI Breeders' Cup Classic contender and will likely be one of the favorites at post-time. Of the others, Coolmore will have two other rooting interests as well with 'TDN Rising Star' GISW Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and 'TDN Rising Star' MG1SW-Eng City of Troy (Justify) in the race. That group accounts for three...

Repole Stable's 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), expected to vie for favoritism in next Saturday's GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar, turned in his final breeze Friday ahead of the $7-million centerpiece of championship weekend, going a half-mile in :48.98 over the Oklahoma training track. With his regular work rider Danny Wright in the irons, the homebred began his work slightly behind a workmate, drew alongside at the entrance to the stretch and was in front at the line before galloping out five furlongs in 1:02 1/5....

Bolstered by a record 80 entries from the connections of horses based overseas--smashing the previous mark of 60 set just last year--some 212 horses have been pre-entered for the 2024 Breeders' Cup World Championships to be held Friday and Saturday, Nov. 1 and 2. For the third time, the festival will take place at the Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, which hosted the event for the first time in 2017 and again in 2021. "The record number of outstanding international contenders pre-entered this year speaks to the truly global nature of...

With the Del Mar Breeders' Cup officially less than two weeks away, trainer Chad Brown is continuing to oversee his string's preparations at Belmont Park, while the accomplished MGISW Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) puts in her final works for conditioner Ken McPeek upstate at Saratoga. Over the training surface in Elmont, Brown sent out two juveniles for half-mile works in 'TDN Rising Star' Chancer McPatrick (McKinzie) [:48.01] and Zulu Kingdom (Ire) (Ten Sovereigns {Ire}) [:48.63], who are targeting the GI FanDuel Breeders' Cup Juvenile and GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf,...

Repole Stable's Breeders' Cup-bound homebred full-brothers champion and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) and Mentee (City of Light) turned in workouts on a brisk autumn morning over Saratoga's Oklahoma training track Thursday. Fierceness, who was last seen winning a thrilling renewal of the GI DraftKings Travers Stakes Aug. 24, breezed five furlongs to the outside of the stakes-placed Classic Catch (Classic Empire) in 1:01.69 (1/3). The GI Breeders' Cup Classic will be next for Fierceness. "It was another excellent breeze, pretty much what we've become accustomed to seeing...

It will be a family affair at Del Mar. His older brother may be looking to claim divisional honors on the dirt in the GI Breeders' Cup Classic next month while 2-year-old Mentee (City of Light) is taking a different route to the seaside oval, booking his slot in the gate for the GII Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint with a win in Friday's GIII Futurity Stakes at Aqueduct. A winner by the narrowest of margins, albeit always confidently handled, in his track-record setting Aqueduct debut, the Repole Stables homebred...

Fresh off his gutsy win in the inaugural GI California Crown Stakes Saturday, Subsanador (Arg) (Fortify) jumped into the fourth slot of the NTRA Top Thoroughbred Poll. Last year's champion juvenile colt Fierceness (City of Light) sits at the top just 7 points ahead of top filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). Top sprinter Cogburn (Not This Time) sits third while Highland Falls (Curlin) and National Treasure (Quality Road) share fifth to round out the top five. Idiomatic (Curlin), Next (Not This Time) and Seize the Grey (Arrogate) fill out the...

Subsanador (Arg) (Fortify) didn't get much respect at 6-1 in the betting when throttling between rivals to seize a three-horse photo by a head in Saturday's GI California Crown S., and he likely won't be favored for the GI Breeders' Cup Classic in five weeks, either. But make no mistake: There were no fewer than 10 aspirants for the Classic in the entries worldwide last week, and only Subsanador's score at Santa Anita resonated as a true status shifter that elevated this Richard Mandella trainee into the top tier among...