TDN RISING STARS

August 25, 2023 - Saratoga, Race 6, Msw, USD $136,500, 6F

Fierceness, C, 2, 2021 by City of Light

1st Dam: Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty
2nd Dam: Nonna Mia, by Empire Maker
3rd Dam: Holy Bubbette, by Holy Bull

Owner: Repole Stable
Breeder: Repole Stable Inc (KY)
Trainer: Todd A Pletcher

Mike Repole knows a thing or two about impressive Saratoga maiden winners.

On the 28th of August, 2010, Repole and Todd Pletcher unleashed a son of Indian Charlie and Playa Maya (Arch) named Uncle Mo, who made a quote of 9-10 seem like a Travers Day gift when rolling home by better than 14 lengths in 1:09.21 to become a 'TDN Rising Star.' Fast forward some 4,742 days and second-generation Repole homebred Fierceness (c, 2, City of Light) put on a show of his own–one day  the marquee race of the meeting, much to Repole's 'chagrin'–turning Friday's sixth race into a one-horse rodeo in scoring by 11 1/4 dominating lengths to become a no-brainer 'Rising Star', the third for his Lane's End-based stallion.

The third foal, but the first to race out of Nonna Bella (Stay Thirsty), Fierceness traded at 7-5 into the final stages of the wagering, but the tote read even money when the gates flew and from there, it was effectively all over bar the shouting. The bay found the front with relative ease, but had a bit of early company in the form of 24-1 Billal (Street Sense) and went by the half-mile pole having covered the opening quarter in a smart :22.02. Still well within the grasp of Irad Ortiz, Jr., Fierceness got half-mile in :44.65 over the heavily rain-affected strip, and when asked for a bit of a kick three-sixteenths of a mile from home, opened up on his scuffling rivals with each powerful stride. Despite being taken in hand for the final 100 yards, he crossed the wire in a race of his own, as the well-backed Air of Defiance (Quality Road) outfinished Billal for second.

“He was training really, really well, but until you get them behind the gate, get him in the paddock….he was doing everything right,” Repole told Maggie Wolfendale on Saratoga Live. “He's so smart, he moved away quickly, 1:09 2/5. That's a pretty fast time. I feel badly for Nest because she might have the second-best Repole Stable performance today. This was really special.”

Repole paid $200,000 for second dam Nonna Mia–named in honor of his grandmother–at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale and she was a gifted 2-year-old in her own right, winning her maiden by 12 lengths at second asking at Belmont Park before finishing third to stablemate Devil May Care (Malibu Moon) in the 2009 GI Frizette S. Nonna Mia, a close relative of MGSW sire Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile), was an immediate hit in the breeding shed, first producing the multiple stakes-placed Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor) before a mating with Uncle Mo resulted in Outwork, the 2016 GI Wood Memorial S. hero. Nonna Mia's yearling colt by Into Mischief colt sells through Lane's End as hip 261 during Book 1 of the upcoming Keeneland September Sale.

Nonna Bella, the third foal out of Nonna Mia, is a daughter of Repole's 2011 GI Travers S. hero Stay Thirsty (Bernardini). The yearling full-brother to Fierceness also goes under the hammer at Keeneland (hip 1390), and Nonna Bella foaled a filly by Caravaggio before visiting Uncle Mo this term.