“He's been great since the Florida Derby. His energy level is good. He's seemed to take the race really well,” said Pletcher. “He had a nice easy breeze this morning and was moving great. Really, I couldn't be happier with him.”

First breeze back for Fierceness since his incredible Florida Derby performance.

Todd and I flew Johnny @ljlmvel in for the work.

Todd and Johnny were extremely happy with this routine 4f breeze.

22 more days until the Derby!!!!!

LFG pic.twitter.com/UUHxSUABqG

— Repole Stable (@RepoleStable) April 12, 2024

Fierceness will complete his Derby prep at Palm Beach Downs and Pletcher noted that his training and shipping schedule is still to be decided.

“He'll get his next work here at Palm Beach Downs and then we'll make a decision when to ship to Churchill. We have to be there at 11.a.m. on the Saturday before, so there's a good chance we'll have our final breeze at Churchill, but I want to keep the window open if I don't like the way the weather is looking in Kentucky. Right now, I'm happy we've stayed where we are. We've had really great, great weather. It hasn't been too hot. The mornings have been nice and cool. We've had minimal rain, just enough to keep the track good. We haven't had to battle some of the conditions that are going on in Kentucky at the moment. We'll monitor it and call an audible if we have to.”

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Then again…

Just seven days after the Florida Derby, Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) turned in a special performance of his own in the GI Blue Grass S. at Keeneland. He didn't win by 13 1/2 lengths. The margin was just 1 1 /2 lengths. He didn't get a triple digit Beyer. It was a 98. It was a very different race than the one turned in by Fierceness but was every bit as special, maybe even more so.

His story really begins at the 2022 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sale. The Coolmore team and Peter Brant have a sharp eye for talent and it looks like this was a horse they had to have. They paid $2.3 million for him, which made him the sale topper. With Brant involved, the horse was sent to his main trainer, Chad Brown.

He broke his maiden in November at Aqueduct and came back in the GII Remsen, where he staged an epic duel with Dornoch (Good Magic). He lost by a nose but Dornoch was hugging the rail on a day where the inside was the place to be.

Sierra Leone kicked off his 3-year-old season winning the GII Risen Star S. at the Fair Grounds. Catching Freedom (Constitution), who was third, went on to win the GII Louisiana Derby. Resilience (Into Mischief) was fourth in the Risen Star and came back in his next start to win the GII Wood Memorial.

But it was the Blue Grass where Sierra Leone really showed how special he is. He acted up prior to the start and delayed the race. That's oftentimes a kiss of death, but it proved not to be a problem. With Tyler Gaffalione aboard he dropped back to ninth in the ten-horse field before launching his bid. Midway on the turn, he still had to get past six horses, which wasn't any sort problem. He came with monstrous, ground gobbling strides and flew past Just a Touch (Justify) to win going away. He ran like a horse who should love the mile-and-quarter and one who has yet to peak.

“We're just trying to maintain pretty much the way he's been his whole life, a special horse,” said Brown, who is 0-for-7 in the Derby. “I don't know if they ever fully figure it out, but he's  only had a handful of starts.”

So this was a race where Sierra Leone had to fight and show what he is capable of. He also beat some top quality horses in Just A Touch and GII Fountain of Youth winner Dornoch, who was fourth.

That wasn't at all the case for Fierceness in the Florida Derby. Perfectly ridden by Hall of Famer John Velazquez, he was wisely taken to the lead and Velazquez was able to slow the pace down. Fierceness was in front the whole way while posting tepid fractions. He went the first quarter in 24.06, the half in 47.50 and the three quarters In 1:11.31. No one was ever going to catch him with the trip he was able to work out. And to make matters even easier on him, neither of his top two challengers fired. Conquest Warrior (City of Light) was fourth, beaten 16 lengths. Hades (Awesome Slew), the GIII Holy Bull S. winner, was even worse, finishing fifth, beaten 19 3/4 lengths. Catalytic (Catalina Cruiser), a 29-1 shot, was second and 21-1 shot Grand Mo the First (Uncle Mo) was third. Both will be among the longest shots on the board in the Kentucky Derby.

Then there is Fierceness's erratic nature. He runs well every other start and seems unable to overcome any adversity. In the Derby, with 20 horses, he's never going to get a clear, uncontested lead and a slow pace and probably, at some point will encounter some trouble. It's a very hard race in which to get a trouble-free trip.

When it comes to Fierceness-versus-Sierra Leone, the deciding factor could be the pace. As strong a late kick as he has, Sierra Leone still doesn't want to be 19^th in the Derby with someone, maybe Fierceness, setting slow fractions. If Fierceness can get loose on the lead he can absolutely win, Just don't expect that to happen in a 20-horse race where there is usually a pretty quick pace.

Even without Bob Baffert's participation, this looks like a deep, Derby field with a lot of quality. Can Fierceness win? Despite his tendency to throw in bad races, absolutely. But he's going to have to beat Sierra Leone and so will 18 other horses. He's the horse to beat.

Post Time is on a Roll

The GII Carter at Aqueduct has seen better days. Once one of the most important sprint races on the calendar, it was downgraded to a Grade II for this year and the race attracted all of four horses. But the winner was notable.

Even with the small field, this was the biggest test to date for the Brittany Russell-trained Post Time (Frosted). He came into the race with seven wins from eight career starts but some were arguing that he was just beating up on inferior competition in Maryland. His lone defeat had come in the Perryville S. at Keeneland, the only time he had run outside of Maryland.

As expected, Super Chow (Lord Nelson) got off to an uncontested lead and was allowed to set easy fractions. He went in 24.38 and 48.18 and Post Time was last. He then got carried out to the middle of the track by Super Chow, who has a bad habit of bearing out in the stretch. Despite all that, he was able to get the win, beating Castle Chaos (Palace Music) by a neck.

With Elite Power (Curlin) and Gunite (Gun Runner) both having been retired, Post Time could be on his way to an Eclipse Award.

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Thanks to the contentious prohibition of his ban by a gaming corporation, GI Arkansas Derby winner Muth is ineligible to give Good Magic a second GI Kentucky Derby from two attempts. (Though the Hill 'n' Dale sire might yet manage that with the same mare who gave him the first one, with Mage's brother Dornoch heading to the GI Blue Grass S. this weekend.) The stunning return to form of Fierceness in Saturday's other big rehearsal meanwhile renewed that colt's priceless service to City of Light.

Over the water, a Classic coronation is widely anticipated for the Justify colt who achieved equivalent superiority over his crop in Europe last year, City Of Troy. Oscar Performance, for his part, was so unabashed by last week's celebration of his work that his three runners last Saturday comprised two new stakes winners plus the neck runner-up in a graded stakes. Army Mule and Girvin have maintained terrific ratios from limited opportunity; the latter's neighbor Collected is quietly moving up the rail; and of course it was Bolt d'Oro who headed the whole class, as freshmen, in 2022.

Some of these impressive young sires will have to ride out a familiar bump in the road, their books having dwindled as commercial breeders showed their habitual nervousness about reputations actually being tested on the racetrack. The traffic of several duly rallied last year: Girvin, for instance, from 86 to 181; Oscar Performance from 63 to 160; Army Mule from 115 to 199; Good Magic from 126 to 179; Justify from 156 to 222. But that extra quantity, often matched by extra quality, obviously won't tell on the racetrack for a couple of years yet.

Expectations about City of Light had been so high (his fee, most unusually, was hiked from $40,000 to $60,000 after a stellar debut at the yearling sales) that he actually lost support last year, down to 85 from 132, but his quiet start was then redressed by the emergence from his second crop of Fierceness. Remember that City of Light was himself a fairly late developer, not really breaking out until the GI Malibu S. at the end of his sophomore campaign, and none of his stock has yet reached the maturity that disclosed the peak of his prowess. Nonetheless he has been prudently returned to $35,000 for the current season, an acknowledgement that he still only has one other winner at graded stakes level (Mimi Kakushi, UAE Oaks).

It says much about the way these Thoroughbreds like to tease us that the owner of Fierceness, such a committed spender at the yearling sales, should have come up with consecutive champion juveniles that were respectively a $110,000 Book 4 yearling (co-owned with St. Elias Stables) and a homebred.

As has been well chronicled, Fierceness is out of a daughter of Nonna Mia (Empire Maker), named for Mike Repole's grandmother (“nonna”) and one of the foundations of his program when acquired as a $200,000 Saratoga yearling in 2008. Herself precocious and Grade I-placed, Nonna Mia gave Repole a homebred scorer at that level in Outwork (by the horse that really put him on the map, Uncle Mo), while her own pedigree had meanwhile been gilded by the emergence of three-parts brother Cairo Prince (Pioneerof The Nile).

In a light career, Nonna Mia's daughter by Stay Thirsty, Nonna Bella, won her first two starts and only missed black type by a neck. Nonna Bella's first two named foals, both by Uncle Mo, did not make the track, but the explosive debut of Fierceness at Saratoga last summer certainly proved well timed for the family: a couple of weeks later Nonna Bella's half-brother by Into Mischief topped the September Sale at $3 million, Repole himself retaining a stake alongside West Point Thoroughbreds, Woodford Thoroughbreds and Chuck Sonson.

All in all, then, this has become a pretty illustrious family and Fierceness, when he goes to stud, can duly be promoted as born for the job-especially if his own sire, having capitalized on its precocity and class, can now keep consolidating.

Background Genes Needed Against Throwback Horse

Muth's performance the same afternoon itself underlined the freakish talent of Fierceness, as he had been the least embarrassed of his panting pursuers at the Breeders' Cup last fall.

Muth | Coady

In contrast with all the action under Nonna Mia, Muth has a compressed page: he's the first foal of a mare who was herself one of just two named foals out of her own mother. Obviously shoppers at OBS last March had all the evidence of functionality they could require, however, and Muth duly turned himself into a spectacular pinhook: sold to Bishop Bloodstock for $190,000 at Keeneland the previous September, he left Top Line Sales for $2 million. The gentleman who signed the docket is a genius at any level of the market, and Muth has already paid off three-quarters of that investment with a stud career now secure.

Muth was bred by Don Alberto Corporation out of Hoppa (Uncle Mo), who had shown bright ability in a curtailed career, romping in a Churchill sprint maiden on her second start but derailing next time. Hoppa had herself been acquired in utero when Don Alberto gave $170,000 for her dam Handoverthecat (Tale Of The Cat), winner of two of five starts, at the 2015 Keeneland November Sale. Unfortunately they appear to have lost her after delivering only one more foal, a son of Tiznow, though at least he covered her purchase cost-to the cent-when sold as a yearling. And Hoppa has meanwhile become so valuable that an attempt to cash her out at Fasig-Tipton last November, carrying a sibling to Muth, stalled at $1.9 million.

Though his foreshortened page obviously doesn't increase their actual influence, Muth must advertise such interesting genes as he can and those are all clustered around his fourth dam, Beautiful Bedouin (His Majesty). She was an unraced half-sister to Silver Hawk, third in the Derby at Epsom and one of the most inspired stallion discoveries of the late Brereton C. Jones.

One of her daughters similarly had a transatlantic impact: Wandering Star (Red Ransom) was a stakes winner in Europe before being acquired by Joseph Allen and winning the GII E.P. Taylor S., while two of her sons became juvenile Group winners in Allen's silks: War Command (War Front) won two of Britain's signature juvenile prizes for Ballydoyle (G1 Dewhurst/G2 Coventry); and Naval Officer (Tale Of The Cat), the G3 Prix de Conde.

Beautiful Bedouin had two other foals by Red Ransom: one produced a Classic winner in New Zealand, Rollout The Carpet (Holy Roman Emperor {Ire}); the other is the third dam of Muth. She, too, was unraced, meaning that the first four dams of Muth have a grand total of eight starts between them.

That history of fragility finds a striking contrast in the colt whose pursuit of Muth on Saturday carried him so far clear of the third. The way Just Steel (Justify) is thriving on his 11 starts is not only a trademark of his venerable trainer but also offers his young sire scope for a historic double, hours after City Of Troy is scheduled to line up for the G1 2,000 Guineas at Newmarket.

A $500,000 vote of faith in D. Wayne Lukas by BC Stables in Book I of the 2022 September Sale, Just Steel's teak constitution completes one of the most wholesome and cosmopolitan packages on the Triple Crown trail. He's out of an Australian Classic winner by the top-class distaff influence Fastnet Rock (Aus), and has siblings that have cut the mustard at Group level in both hemispheres; while his third dam was an Affirmed half-sister to matriarch Fall Aspen (Pretense). That puts Just Steel on the fringe of one of the modern breed's great dynasties and, with a throwback tenacity apt to his name, he will have more relish than many for the demands of the Derby.

Darling's Double Derby Impact

It feels like only a matter of time before the Japanese give American breeders the ultimate wake-up call in the GI Kentucky Derby itself. Whether or not Forever Young (Jpn) (Real Steel {Jpn}) proves to be the horse to deliver that shock to the system, his rehearsal in the G2 UAE Derby for now actually locates the race's genetic center of gravity in familiar territory.

For, quite remarkably, we now find that two of its strongest candidates share the same granddam. Forever Young's mother Forever Darling (Congrats) is a half-sister to GI Alcibiades S. winner Heavenly Love (Malibu Moon), whose son Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) is favorite for the GI Blue Grass S.

Forever Young | Dubai Racing Club

Their dam is Darling My Darling (Deputy Minister), purchased as a yearling at Keeneland in 1998 by John C. Oxley for $300,000. Her dam, GI Ballerina H. winner Roamin Rachel (Mining), was sold in the same ring that November to Nubuo Tsunoda for $750,000, a price vindicated the following summer when Darling My Darling (her second foal) won on debut at Saratoga and then finished second in consecutive Grade Is. Roamin Rachel was sold carrying a Storm Cat filly, who produced three Group winners in Japan, while her next cover by Sunday Silence produced Japanese Horse of the Year Zenno Rob Roy (Jpn).

This appeared to do curiously little for Darling My Darling's daughter by Congrats, who was pinhooked at $8,000 to become a $65,000 R.N.A. at OBS the following April. Surfacing in the silks of a partnership including trainer Richard Baltas, Forever Darling won a Santa Anita maiden on her second start and then the GII Santa Ynez S. on her sophomore bow. With her family thriving in Japan, Katsumi Yoshida moved to secure her in a private deal and, while she did not really continue her progress, she has since handsomely vindicated him in her second career.

Forever Darling was certainly given purposeful covers, starting with Frankel and Deep Impact (Jpn), and her son from the second crop of Real Steel made a sum equivalent to $700,000 as a yearling. (Yes, second crop! Forever Young is yet another Derby candidate sired by a stallion from the 2019 intake.)

This son of Deep Impact is a more resonant proposition overseas than some Japanese stallions, both as a winner of the G1 Dubai Turf in 2016 and as brother to ground-breaking Breeders' Cup winner Loves Only You. His third dam, moreover, is none other than the great Miesque (Nureyev)-one of the jewels of the program that also, as we'll see in a moment, played a key role in the headline act at Meydan.

Deep Impact | Junji Fukuda

A River Swollen by Niarchos Tributary

What Laurel River did in the desert on Saturday is hard to comprehend, but if any Thoroughbred is capable of doing that, it might be one bred like him.

If anything, he has now surpassed even two Kentucky Derby winners as the ultimate proof of how a steep upgrading of Into Mischief's mares has enabled him to stretch his trademark speed to Classic distances. Having been around as long as he has, Laurel River was admittedly conceived at no more than $75,000, but his dam certainly offered the Spendthrift phenomenon plenty of complementary stamina. In fact, Laurel River's first three dams are GI Belmont S. winners to a man: Empire Maker, Touch Gold and A.P. Indy.

True, his mother couldn't break her maiden in eight starts; nor could her own dam in six. But it was the latter whose recruitment by Juddmonte (for $550,000 at the 2005 Keeneland September Sale) gave one of the world's great breeding programs an invigorating injection of the best genes cultivated by another. Soothing Touch (Touch Gold)-who has additionally given Juddmonte multiple Grade I winner Emollient (by Empire Make, so a sister to Laurel River's dam) and GI Florida Derby runner-up Hofburg (Tapit)-was a granddaughter of Coup De Genie (Mr Prospector), one of several foals to qualify her dam, Coup De Folie (Halo), as a cornerstone of the modern breed. Having just noted that Forever Young's sire traces to Miesque, we really must salute again the Niarchos family's priceless legacy.

Coup De Folie was inbred 3 x 3 to Almahmoud, through her celebrated daughters Natalma and Cosmah. That's a blend for which I will always forage, even with its inevitable attenuation by the generations. In fact, that's one of the reasons I deplore the way breeders nowadays hop from one unproven new stallion to the next, with books as many as seven times greater than was standard in the old days. It means that too many modern pedigrees squash down the generations: how many foals born this spring, for instance, will be by very young sires out of mares by stallions that never achieved lasting viability?

Into Mischief's own pedigree shows what you risk that way. His granddam was sired by Stop The Music when 19 years old. I'm not sure how many commercial breeders today would still send a mare to a stallion with his kind of profile, at that kind of age. And that just makes it harder and harder for modern pedigrees to retain a meaningful trace of precious brands like Stop The Music's sire Hail To Reason (who of course also gave Halo to Cosmah).

Regardless, Into Mischief is surely on his way to beating his own earnings record as well as a sixth consecutive general sires' championship. He has never needed one of these modern megaprizes to dominate his rivals, but Laurel River has got him up to $12.6 million by the start of April, now just a few cents behind Senor Buscador's veteran sire Mineshaft. With his unrelenting quantity matched by the ongoing elevation of his mares, Into Mischief appears a lock to exceed his 2022 haul of $28.56 million.

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“Normally I'd be afraid of the outside post, but Forte won from the 11 last year, so you can overcome that,” Pletcher said. “Everybody knows Gulfstream two-turn races are very tricky and I think that's why the start is so important, getting away cleanly. I think what happens in a lot of these two-turn races is the jockeys are so conscious of having to get to the first turn in good position that it can get a little rough leaving the gate sometimes.”

Victorious in last fall's GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile en route to a juvenile championship, the colt kicked off his sophomore campaign with a third in the GIII Holy Bull S. Feb. 3.

Pletcher will also be represented by Repole's recent maiden winner Bail Us Out (Lookin At Lucky), who drew post three. The former will be ridden by Johnny Velazquez while the latter will be accompanied by Irad Ortiz Jr.

D.J. Stable LLC and Robert Cotran's undefeated Hades (Awesome Slew), a front-running winner in the 1 1/16-mile Holy Bull, drew post 2 and will be accompanied by regular pilot Paco Lopez. He was installed the 7-2 third choice on the morning line.

Courtlandt Farm's Conquest Warrior (City of Light), who is coming off back-to-back wins at Gulfstream including a 1 1/16-mile optional claiming allowance Mar. 1, drew the nine hole for Saturday's race. Given a 3-1 chance on the morning line, the colt is trained by Shug McGaughey, who also saddled Orb for victories in the 2013 GI Florida Derby and GI Kentucky Derby. Jose Ortiz gets the mount.

Also slated to run: Frankie's Empire (Classic Empire) (12-1, Post 1); Grand Mo the First (Uncle Mo) (15-1, Post 4); Real Macho (Mucho Macho Man) (20-1, Post 5); Le Dom Bro (Mucho Macho Man) (15-1, Post 6); Catalytic (Catalina Cruiser) (20-1, Post 7); Seminole Chief (Girvin) (30-1, Post 8); Iris's Dream (Jess's Dream) (30-1, Post 11).

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“Fierceness and Agate Road breezed a half together and both did really well, especially Fierceness. [He had] a strong gallop-out, looked good. He's continued to train really good since the Holy Bull,” Pletcher said.

He also added that, while Fierceness had also been training well up to his seasonal debut, the race dynamics may've done more against him than they'd initially thought. “[…] I don't think he needed a race. I think our expectations were so high for him that maybe we're not looking at it realistically. If you watch the start of the race, he got slammed pretty hard from both sides. Johnny [Velazquez], in order to execute the game plan, had to use him pretty hard to get to the first turn in the position we wanted to.”

“He could have been a little rusty off the layoff, even though he was training great. He was top weight. [There are] a lot of subtle excuses that, for an ordinary horse, you would try to justify it. In his case, he trained so well and we expected so much of him, sometimes you think he can overcome everything.”

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Also representing the Hall of Famer is Repole Stable and St Elias Stable's STORM READY (City of Light), a $1.05 million Keeneland September buy. The half to GSW Biddy Duke (Bayern) posted his latest breeze at Palm Beach Downs Jan. 31, covering five panels in 1:00 3/5 (1/2). The colts will be partnered by the Ortiz brothers, the former by Jose and the latter by Irad. TJCIS PPS

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“He's perfectly fine,” Repole said in a text message.

Fierceness, the 2023 2-Year-Old male Eclipse champion, was coming off an overpowering win in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile and most believed he would pick up right where he left off in the Holy Bull, where he was the 1-5 favorite. Instead, he finished third, beaten 3 1/2 lengths.

When asked why he thought Fierceness came up short, Repole pointed to his trip.

“It was nothing more than the obvious,” Repole wrote. “Hit on both sides coming out of the gate. Wide. Bumped again at the top of the stretch. Flattened out. Last time he ran bad [when seventh in the Champagne], his next race was pretty good.”

When asked if the GI Florida Derby was still the next target for Fierceness, Repole replied: “Can't say for sure. Plenty of options on the table.”

The race was won by 9-1 shot Hades (Awesome Slew). A Florida-bred, he is undefeated in three starts and won the Holy Bull by two lengths under Paco Lopez.

“He came out of the race great,” said trainer Joe Orseno. “No decision on our next race but I am leaning towards the Florida Derby.”

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“I'm proud of him. He ran his race. He showed up,” said Baffert by phone from Southern California. “That's all you can ask for as a trainer. He was prepping well for it.”

Baffert also won the Pegasus World Cup with Arrogate (2017) and Mucho Gusto (2020).

“I've always thought he was that good a horse,” Baffert added. “He was just very immature and he's getting better and better, the way he's training. He trained much better than he was going into the Breeders' Cup.”

Flavien Prat was intent on being a forward factor aboard the 5-2 post-time favorite, but John Velazquez aboard GII Cigar Mile H. hero Hoist the Gold (Mineshaft) had similar designs on the lead.

Hoist the Gold showed the way with National Treasure a pressing second through taxing fractions of :23.18 and :46.32. National Treasure came after Hoist the Gold with a quarter mile to race and kicked for home as the one to catch.

In the meantime, GI Breeders' Cup Classic seventh and Cigar Mile runner-up Senor Buscador (Mineshaft) was winding up with an inside run on the far turn and would have had every chance given the shape of the race.

It seemed inevitable that he'd race right by National Treasure in the deciding stages, but the latter had just enough in reserve to take it by a long neck. Crupi (Curlin) closed from last of 12 to finish third at longshot odds.

“He's very brave. Obviously, a great job by Bob,” Prat said of the winner. “He's always on point. It's been a great pleasure riding [National Treasure].”

National Treasure, a solid third in the 2022 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Keeneland, followed his Preakness win with a sixth-place finish in the GI Belmont S., a fifth-place finish in the GI Travers S. and a fourth-place finish in the GI Awesome Again S. He just got tagged by a nose by Cody's Wish at the Championships.

National Treasure is campaigned by the powerful partnership of SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing, Madaket Stables LLC, Robert Masterson, Stonestreet Stables LLC, Jay Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and Catherine Donovan.

“It's a wonderful partnership,” SF Racing's Tom Ryan said. “Great group of people that have stood behind us the whole way throughout over the last five or six years. Bob has taken us to places that we probably didn't feel we could arrive. This horse, what he did today, sitting off a horse, showed a new dimension. He's going to be a very nice 4-year-old.”

'TDN Rising Star' First Mission (Street Sense), a narrow runner-up in the GII Clark S. and the 5-2 second choice, showed a little early speed before fading to ninth for trainer Brad Cox, who had saddled Knicks Go for a victory in the 2021 Pegasus World Cup.

“Just didn't handle the track at all. A lot of dirt hitting him in the face. He didn't seem like he wanted to go forward through it,” Cox said. “Luis [Saez] said at the half-mile pole he didn't move forward when asked. Pretty simple watching the race on television, I kind of thought going up the backside he was struggling with the ground. Regroup and see what happens.”

Pedigree Notes:

National Treasure, a $500,000 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Select yearling purchase, is among the 15 Grade/Group 1 winners by leading sire Quality Road. Quality Road, winner of this race's predecessor (GI Donn H.) in 2010, also sired the 2019 Pegasus winner City of Light.

National Treasure was bred by Peter Blum Thoroughbreds, who retained his dam Treasure–a maiden of seven career start–after she RNA'd for $375,000 as a yearling at the 2013 Keeneland September Sale. Treasure is also responsible for the stakes winner Ultimate (Speightstown) and last year's GI Hopeful S. third-place finisher and 'TDN Rising Star' Pirate (Omaha Beach), who commanded $350,000 as a Keeneland September yearling. Treasure's 2-year-old Authentic filly has been named Renoir. Treasure delivered a full brother to National Treasure Jan. 19.

A treasure for a treasure! #7 NATIONAL TREASURE ($7.20) holds of a rallying Senor Buscador to win the $3,000,000 GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational Stakes!

The Preakness Stakes winner was ridden by Flavien Prat for trainer Bob Baffert. pic.twitter.com/5pdKVlydwx

— TVG (@TVG) January 27, 2024

Saturday, Gulfstream
PEGASUS WORLD CUP INVITATIONAL S. PRESENTED BY BACCARAT-GI, $2,932,700, Gulfstream, 1-27, 4yo/up, 1 1/8m, 1:50.51, ft.
1–NATIONAL TREASURE, 123, c, 4, by Quality Road
               1st Dam: Treasure, by Medaglia d'Oro
                2nd Dam: Proposal, by Mt. Livermore
                3rd Dam: Lady of Choice, by Storm Bird
($500,000 Ylg '21 FTSAUG). O-SF Racing LLC, Starlight Racing,
Madaket Stables LLC, Robert E. Masterson, Stonestreet Stables
LLC, Jay A. Schoenfarber, Waves Edge Capital LLC and
Catherine Donovan; B-Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds, LLC (KY);
T-Bob Baffert; J-Flavien Prat. $1,719,000. Lifetime Record:
11-3-2-2, $3,322,000. *1/2 to Ultimate (Speightstown), SW,
$395,778 and Pirate (Omaha Beach), GISP. Werk Nick Rating:
A++. Click for the eNicks report & 5-cross pedigree. Click for
the free Equineline.com catalogue-style pedigree.
2–Senor Buscador, 123, h, 6, Mineshaft–Rose's Desert, by
Desert God. O-Joe R. Peacock, Jr.; B-Joe R Peacock Sr. & Joe R
Peacock Jr. (KY); T-Todd W. Fincher. $573,000.
3–Crupi, 123, c, 4, Curlin–Don'tforgetaboutme, by Malibu
Moon. 1ST GRADED BLACK TYPE, 1ST G1 BLACK TYPE.
($275,000 Ylg '21 KEESEP). O-Repole Stable and St. Elias
Stables LLC; B-Claiborne Farm (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.
$286,500.
Margins: NK, 4HF, 6 1/4. Odds: 2.60, 8.90, 34.00.
Also Ran: Hoist the Gold, O'Connor (Chi), Il Miracolo, Dynamic One, Nimitz Class, First Mission, Trademark, Grand Aspen, Skippylongstocking. Scratched: Castle Chaos.
Click for the Equibase.com chart and the TJCIS.com PPs. VIDEO, sponsored by FanDuel TV.

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“I was very pleased. He had a serious work last week–fifty-nine-and-change [for five furlongs]. We were just looking for a maintenance work today,” Pletcher said.

Fierceness is coming off a 6 1/4-length romp in the Nov. 3 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita.

“Knock on wood. He's done everything super this winter. We're excited getting him going again,” Pletcher said.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez, who guided Fierceness to victory in the Juvenile, was aboard for Saturday's breeze.

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And they saved the best for last, as Cody's Wish (Curlin), whose story resonated with nearly every fan of Thoroughbred racing and beyond, was named Horse of the Year and champion older dirt male for a season in which he won four times from five starts for trainer Bill Mott, including a towering victory in the GI Hill 'n' Dale Metropolitan H. in June and a nails-tough defense of his title in the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile, overcoming plenty of adversity in the process.

For all they have accomplished in their rich history on the North American continent, Godolphin was being represented by its first Horse of the Year and Mott was named outstanding trainer for the fourth time in his Hall of Fame career, but first since 2011.

The Brendan Walsh-conditioned 'TDN Rising Star' Pretty Mischievous (Into Mischief) became Godolphin's first winner of America's premier race for sophomore fillies, the GI Longines Kentucky Oaks, and largely on the strength of that effort was named champion of her generation. She is an eighth champion for her sire, whose daughter Covfefe won the same award in 2019. And while falling short of championships, Godolphin's GI Breeders' Cup Mile hero Master of the Seas (Ire) (Dubawi {Ire}) and the narrowly defeated 'TDN Rising Star' Mawj (Ire) (Exceed and Excel {Aus}) received the third-most number of first-place votes in the male and female turf divisions, respectively.

With 27 victories in North American graded stakes, including 12 at Grade I level, Godolphin was the outstanding owner for the fourth year in a row and outstanding breeder for a third straight time.

A year after accounting for three divisional champions, Hill 'n' Dale Farm's sensational Curlin was responsible for another trifecta in 2023. In addition to Cody's Wish, the recently turned 20-year-old was also represented Thursday evening by Elite Power (Curlin), who took home a second consecutive award as champion sprinter; and by Idiomatic (Curlin), whose meteoric rise through the ranks was capped by an ultra-tough victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Distaff. Curlin's daughter Malathaat was champion older dirt female of 2022. While Elite Power has joined the stallion barn at Juddmonte Farms in Lexington, Idiomatic will aim for another championship, as she remains in training in 2024.

The female sprint division also saw a repeat champion, as Goodnight Olive (Ghostzapper) parlayed a second straight victory in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Sprint into an Eclipse Award, easily outpointing 'TDN Rising Star' Echo Zulu (Gun Runner), whose chances were dashed by a career-ending injury while prepping for the Filly & Mare Sprint.

There were no surprises in the male turf category, as Up to the Mark (Not This Time) became a second champion in two years and third overall for his rising stallion, having won Grade Is at a mile, mile and an eighth and mile and a quarter before finishing second to 'TDN Rising Star' Auguste Rodin (Ire) (Deep Impact {Jpn}) in the GI Longines Breeders' Cup Turf going 12 furlongs. While the voters did not go for the latter off his single American appearance, they did in large numbers for Inspiral (GB) (Frankel {GB}), who–in perhaps the evening's most surprising result–took home the hardware for turf female following her scintillating score in the GI Breeders' Cup Filly and Mare Turf. She is a first American champion for the Banstead Manor resident and his sixth all totaled.

Arcangelo (Arrogate) was much preferred to Auguste Rodin and became his much-missed sire's first champion in the 3-year-old male division, with victories in the GI Belmont S. and GI Travers S. Scratched on the eve of the GI Breeders' Cup Classic, the gray stands his first season at Lane's End in 2024.

Courtesy of his bounceback success in the GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, 'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness also gave his sire City of Light a first champion in the 2-year-old male division. There was also little suspense in the 2-year-old filly ranks, as the undefeated GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies heroine Just F Y I (Justify) became the first North American champion for her sire.

Merry Maker (Ire) (Malinas {Ger}), who won the G1-Stp Lonsome Glory H. at Aqueduct in September, was a relatively narrow winner of the Eclipse for champion steeplechase horse.

In the other human divisions, Irad Ortiz, Jr. won his fifth Eclipse in six years as outstanding jockey and Axel Concepcion was the runaway winner of the Eclipse for the country's top apprentice. Stuart S. Janney III received the Eclipse Award of Merit, broadcaster Tom Hammond the Special Eclipse Award for Career Excellence and Paul Calia for Horseplayer of the Year.

The TDN Writers' Room Podcast was among the media award winners recognized for the 'Wade and Carson Jost' episode from Sept. 20, 2023. On hand to accept the award were co-producer Anthony LaRocca, editor Alia LaRocca and podcast panelists Zoe Cadman and Randy Moss.

The Eclipse Awards are voted upon by the NTRA, Daily Racing Form (DRF) and the National Turf Writers And Broadcasters (NTWAB). The votes are tabulated and certified by LBMC. Voters are asked to identify their top three candidates when submitting their ballots and the three finalists in each division were made public on Jan. 6. Eclipse Award winners are determined by first-place votes only. Of 250 eligible voters, 219 (88%) completed a ballot.

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