Fierceness

Repole Stable's homebred 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light) returned to the worktab Thursday for the first time since his determined one-length victory in the GII Jim Dandy July 27, posting a half-mile in company with graded stakes winner Surprisingly (Mastery) in :49.59 (89/172) over the Saratoga Race Course main track. "Perfect," Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher said of the work. "We originally scheduled it for tomorrow, but that [the weather] looked dicey, so we went today. He did really good and seems very happy. He went with...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--After the impressive win in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga Race Course last weekend, the chances of the winner, Fierceness (City of Light) showing up in the $1.25, GI Travers Stakes were--take your pick--slim and none. Much has changed in the last few days and now Fierceness may very well be on his way to a date with the likes of Dornoch (Good Magic), Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) and the filly, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna). "That is what we are thinking about," Hall of Fame trainer...

When City of Light won the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile in 2018, it was one of the more impressive performances of the day. Although it had already been announced he would enter stud in 2019 at Lane's End Farm near Versailles, Ky., he had one race remaining on his dance card: the GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes the following January. He romped that day as well, besting a slightly favored GI Breeders' Cup Classic winner with a 112 Beyer Speed Figure, which topped his 110 Breeders' Cup mark,...

TDN Rising Star Mindframe (Constitution), runner up in both Grade I attempts, will be sidelined because of bone bruising through the remainder of this year, according to DRF Wednesday. Campaigned by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stable, the Todd Pletcher trainee was sent to Ocala, Florida earlier this week and was examined by Dr. John Madison. With the defection of Mindframe, Repole also indicated that recent GII Jim Dandy Stakes winner Fierceness (City of Light) is a possibility to run in the Aug. 24 GI Travers S. "He's clear go...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.-A healthy field of 12 was entered Sunday for the 97th running of the $1-million GI Whitney Stakes, which will be run at Saratoga Race Course Saturday. National Treasure (Quality Road), from Hall of Fame trainer Bob Baffert, will be the favorite as he is ranked as the top older horse in the country in the weekly NTRA poll. Evidently, he is not scaring anyone off. Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher has a trio of horses entered in Bright Future (Curlin), Charge It (Tapit) and Crupi (Curlin)....

Last year's champion 2-year-old colt and 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness (City of Light), a very disappointing 15th as the favorite in the GI Kentucky Derby last out, showed up in a big way Saturday, defeating favored 'Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) by a length in a fantastic renewal of the GII Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. It was another 5 3/4 lengths back to Batten Down (Tapit) in third. Drawn widest of all in post six, the 9-5 second-choice exited the stalls running beneath John Velazquez and was perfectly...

Trainer Chad Brown has long stated that a victory in the GI Travers S., not far from home in Mechanicville, would be one of the crowning moments of what will be a Hall of Fame career. 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is the barn's main hope for the centerpiece of the Saratoga meeting and he can take one giant step towards fulfilling his trainer's dream as the likely favorite in Saturday's GII Jim Dandy Stakes. The colt, who topped the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale not far from the...

Saratoga Springs, N.Y. -- It is no surprise that Hall of Fame trainer D. Wayne Lukas is confident that his GI Preakness Stakes winner Seize the Grey (Arrogate) is up to the challenge he will face Saturday at Saratoga Race Course in the GII Jim Dandy Stakes. Never shy about touting his horses, Lukas, 88, said that the MyRacehorse colt is ready to take on beaten GI Kentucky Derby favorite Fierceness (City of Light) and beaten GI Belmont Stakes favorite Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in the local prep for the...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - A final decision on whether or not 'TDN Rising Star' Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) will run against the boys in the $1.25 million GI Travers Stakes will be made on Saturday. That's the deadline trainer Kenny McPeek put on himself Sunday morning, the day after his 3-year-old filly dominated the GI Coaching Club American Oaks, winning by 4 1/2 lengths. "We are going to take the week, get her back on the track Wednesday, and I will make a decision Saturday," McPeek said, sitting in his...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - Pressure? What pressure. There was none of that over at trainer Kenny McPeek's barn at the Oklahoma Annex Friday morning. Even though the stable star--the imposing, impressive and almost undefeated 3-year-old filly Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna)--is running on Saturday, no one on McPeek's staff was sweating bullets. Thorpedo Anna is the 1-2 morning-line favorite in the $500,000 GI Coaching Club American Oaks at 1 1/8 miles at Saratoga Race Course. She has won five of six career starts and has won all three of her races...

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y.--Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher promised that he would enter three of his horses for Saturday's $1 million NYRA Bets GI Haskell Stakes at Monmouth Park. And that he did on Wednesday as a pair of 'TDN Rising Stars' in Fierceness (City of Light) and Mindframe (Constitution), plus Tuscan Sky (Vino Rosso) were three of the eight 3-year-olds signed on to run in the signature race at the Monmouth. It remains to be seen how many of them actually take the trip from the Spa City to...

Todd Pletcher has taken multiple swings, 18 to be exact, at the GI Haskell S. in the past, and the Hall of Fame trainer once again returns to Monmouth Park loaded for this year's renewal. Pletcher's trio of entered runners is headed by Repole Stable and St. Elias Stables'  Mindframe (Constitution). During Wednesday's draw luncheon at the Oceanport oval, the GI Belmont Stakes runner-up was installed the 9-5 morning line favorite shortly after drawing post seven in the eight-horse field. Irad Ortiz Jr., making his first appearance in the Haskell,...