Given Another Shot, Fierceness Delivers a Championship

Not only does Fierceness  give owner Mike Repole the Eclipse Award for 2-year-old male a second season in a row and third time since 2010, the son of City of Light  —Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty   provides Repole the added satisfaction of being a homebred winner. 

In an eventful three-start campaign, Fierceness proved the talk of Saratoga Race Course when he debuted with an 11 1/4-length maiden win Aug. 25 but when bumped up to the grade 1 level for his second start, he struggled on a sloppy Aqueduct Racetrack—finishing seventh in the Champagne Stakes (G1) some 20 lengths behind winner Timberlake .

But that third start would provide one more all-important opportunity and Fierceness would deliver. Back on a fast track for the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) Nov. 3 at Santa Anita Park, Fierceness tracked the early pace under John Velazquez before taking command entering the stretch and adding to his advantage all the way to the wire to win by 6 1/4 lengths.

"I didn't know I got a Breeders' Cup award for being the breeder, too, so that's two (trophies); I like that," Repole said after the Juvenile. "Stay Thirsty was my horse. Nonna Bella was my horse, and I'm also a big shareholder in City of Light. If I don't have those shares in City of Light, I probably wouldn't have bred to City of Light. So the way these things come together are really, really special."

Repole campaigned 2022 champion 2-year-old male Forte   in partnership with St. Elias Stables and he campaigned 2010 champion 2-year-old male Uncle Mo  . After the 2023 Juvenile Repole noted that Uncle Mo put him on the map and it was special to again win with Hall of Famers Todd Pletcher and Velazquez—the same team behind Uncle Mo.

It's the fourth champion 2-year-old male conditioned by Pletcher, who also trained Forte as well as 2012 champion Shanghai Bobby  for Starlight Racing, Mrs. John Magnier, Michael Tabor, and Derrick Smith.

Repole noted that the only bad day the horse had in racing or in the morning was in the Champagne. Pletcher liked what he saw ahead of the 1 1/16-mile Juvenile.

"We said, 'Let's see how he trains and he's got to sell us on the idea of running.' He did come back with two really good works," Pletcher said after the Juvenile. "So we took a shot, and today it worked out; a beautiful trip, and he showed what he's all about."