Owner Mike Repole is already thinking about the 2024 Kentucky Derby, and how the prep season might shake out with this year's presumptive Champion Juvenile, Fierceness. Repole told bloodhorse.com that he and Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher may try a slightly different route than the one they took with last year's 2-year-old Champion, Forte.
Both Fierceness and Forte, winners of the Breeders' Cup Juvenile in the respective 2-year-old seasons, then shipped down to Florida. Forte began his 2023 campaign with a win in the G2 Fountain of Youth in March, and then a win in the G1 Florida Derby in April, but he was scratched on the morning of the Run for the Roses.
“It's early, but if all goes well, I think we're going to do something different and run [Fierceness] in the Holy Bull (G3) [in February], then maybe the Florida Derby and skip the Fountain Youth,” Repole told bloodhorse.com. “That gives him eight weeks to his final prep and then five or four weeks before the Kentucky Derby. That's the route we're going to take rather than start in the Fountain of Youth.”
Repole bred Fierceness (City of Light), who is out of the Repole-owned and Pletcher-trained Stay Thirsty mare Nonna Bella. Fierceness won the Breeders' Cup by 6 1/4 lengths after a disappointing loss as the 1-2 favorite in the G1 Champagne.
“He's built way different than other horses I've had,” Repole told bloodhorse.com. “He had one bad day. It just so happened to be in the Champagne. It's still a head-scratcher. But he's already run faster Ragozin numbers than Forte ever did.”
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