Fierceness showed an impressive turn of foot in the final quarter-mile and rolled to an easy 6 1/4-length victory in the $2 million Juvenile to highlight Future Stars Friday, the first of two days of competition at the 40th Breeders’ Cup World Championship at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, Calif.
Friday’s five Grade 1 Championship events were exclusively for 2-year-old horses (considered juveniles). The Championship will continue Saturday with nine races, including the $6 million Classic, the $4 million Mile and the $1 million Dirt Mile.
Fierceness, bred and owned by Mike Repole, went off at odds of 16-1 as one of three horses in the Juvenile trained by Todd Pletcher. He was ridden to the win by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, beating the Bob Baffert-trained Muth and Pletcher’s Locked to the finish line in the 1 1/16-mile race in the most dominating performance of Friday’s quintet of competitions.
By winning the Juvenile, Fierceness stamps himself as the early favorite for next year’s Kentucky Derby, following the path taken last year by Forte, who also won the Juvenile and was trained by Pletcher.
In the day’s other four Championship events:
–Big Evs, the 3-1 second choice, got the championship races started with a half-length win in the $1 million Juvenile Turf Sprint, contested over five furlongs on the grass. Big Evs, an Irish-bred colt owned by RP Racing Ltd, is trained by Mick Appleby and ridden by Tom Marquand, both of Great Britain. Both men won their first-ever Breeders’ Cup race. Big Evs has now won three straight races against horses his age. Valiant Force (a 23-1 longshot) and Starlust (GB), at 24-1, finished second and third, respectively.
–Just F Y I, owned and bred by George Krikorian and trained by Hall of Famer Bill Mott, came from just off the pace to capture the $2 million Juvenile Fillies, run at 1 1/16 miles on the main track. Just F Y I, with Junior Alvarado in the saddle, stalked 4-5 favorite Tamara until the turn for home then took charge, beating 26-1 longshot Jody’s Pride by a neck and Candied by another half-length.
–Hard to Justify weaved her way through the crowded field of 14, roared to the front in mid-stretch and won the $1 million Juvenile Fillies Turf at odds of 9-1. Owned by the Wise family, Hard to Justify is trained by Chad Brown and was ridden to the half-length victory in the one-mile race by Flavien Prat. It was Brown’s record sixth all-time win in this race, which has only been contested since 2008. Porta Fortuna was second and She Feels Pretty finished third, both at odds of 7-2.
–The French-bred Unquestionable, trained by Aidan O’Brien and ridden by Ryan Moore, sat behind a wall of horses into the first turf before unleashing a furious drive in the stretch to win the $1 million Juvenile Turf at 1 mile. Unquestionable went off as the 8-5 favorite in the race after River Tiber, another O’Brien runner, was scratched this morning by the track veterinarians. Moore was set to ride River Tiber but moved to Unquestionable after the scratch. Mountain Bear, yet another O’Brien-trained colt, finished second by a nose at odds of 22-1 with My Boy Prince just third.
–Field Level Media