If Curlin were to get any hotter, I suppose the imposing chestnut son of leading sire Smart Strike (by Mr. Prospector) would have to be trotting through the Sahara Desert.
Not only did the Big C have three winners at the highest level in the Grade 1 Breeders' Cup races on Saturday – Cody's Wish in the BC Dirt Mile, Idiomatic in the BC Distaff, and Elite Power in the BC Sprint – but Curlin's sons Keen Ice and Good Magic have sired the last two winners of the G1 Kentucky Derby. Although the 2023 Derby winner Mage did not go in the BC Classic, Good Magic's top juvenile son Muth was second in the BC Juvenile and had previously won the G1 American Pharoah.
In contrast to all the immediate success and raging popularity of Clan Curlin, consider the fortunes of the sire of the colt who defeated Muth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Fierceness. The Juvenile winner is from the second crop to race by Pegasus Invitational winner City of Light (Quality Road). A winner in six of his 11 starts, including the G1 Malibu at 3, the BC Dirt Mile, G1 Triple Bend, and G2 Oaklawn Handicap at 4, and the G1 Pegasus at 5, City of Light showed very high ability, and when he was retired to stud at Lane's End Farm for the 2019 season, he proved one of the most popular young sires.
He deserved to be and not only on the score of his best racing performances. The striking bay impressed more than one knowledgeable judge as the best physical in a good-looking group of new sire prospects that year, which included champions Justify (Scat Daddy), Accelerate (Lookin at Lucky), and Good Magic.
The horse continued to impress with his early yearlings and 2-year-olds in training, as they averaged three and four times his entering stud fee of $60,000 for a live foal.
Yet, a year ago with the first racers by City of Light at the races, things were not going the way one would have hoped for this bright prospect of the stallion firmament. At the end of the season, he ranked only 10th among freshmen sires, behind crop leader Bolt d'Oro (Medaglia d'Oro), Good Magic, and Justify. And there wasn't a runner among the whole crop from City of Light who could have warmed up Fierceness.
Such a difference a year makes.
Because Fierceness, oh Fierceness, was not just an average winner of a Breeders' Cup race. He did not win by a modest margin in a “brave display” or hold off a charging foe in an “exercise in gameness.” Fierceness won the Juvenile by one of the longer margins in the history of the 40 years of the Breeders' Cup: 6 ¼ lengths. Champion and subsequent Kentucky Derby winner Street Sense won by the greatest margin: 10 lengths. Likewise, divisional champion and Horse of the Year Favorite Trick (Phone Trick) had won his Juvenile by 5 ½ lengths, even more than the amazing Arazi (Blushing Groom), who had been five lengths ahead of Bertrando.
And just in case some are inclined to whisper, “who'd he beat,” each of the next four finishers – Muth (American Pharoah), Locked (Breeders' Futurity), Timberlake (Champagne), and Prince of Monaco (Del Mar Futurity) – are already winners at the G1 level. Those results suggest that this is a pretty good Juvenile and that Fierceness might be a better than good winner of the race.
Bred in Kentucky by Repole Stable Inc., Fierceness is the first runner and winner out of the winning Nonna Bella (Stay Thirsty). In addition to racing the colt and his dam, Repole Stable also bred both, and Nonna Bella is a half-sister to G1 Wood Memorial winner Outwork (Uncle Mo), and the dam of Outwork and Nonna Bella is the Empire Maker mare Nonna Mia. She is a half-sister to Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile), a winner in three of his five starts, including the G2 Holy Bull and G2 Nashua Stakes.
Far more than that bare record, however, Cairo Prince was “one of the ones.” He was so impressive in his late juvenile and early 3-year-old form that he drew multi-million dollar offers from around the world. All that promise on the track was cut short by ill fate, but this is a pedigree that long has flirted with athleticism of a very high order, and Fierceness may be the one who fulfills the promises of the past.
The post Bloodlines Presented By Walmac Farm: Quality Runs Deep In Family Of BC Juvenile Winner Fierceness appeared first on Horse Racing News | Paulick Report.
