Breeders’ Cup Replay | 2023 Juvenile: Fierceness Gives Repole, Pletcher 2nd Straight Win

Fierceness won the 2023 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita Park, giving owner Repole Stable & trainer Todd Pletcher their 2nd straight victory in this race. Like Forte a year ago, is Fierceness destined to be the morning line favorite for the Kentucky Derby?

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Watch the race replay here:

The press release:

Owner-breeder Repole Stable’s Fierceness ($35) put on a dominating performance in scoring a 6 1/4-length victory over Mush in the 40th running of the $2 million FanDuel Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) Presented by Thoroughbred Aftercare Alliance for 2-year-olds Friday afternoon at Santa Anita.

Trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by John Velazquez, Fierceness completed the mile and a sixteenth on the fast main track in 1:41.90. For Pletcher, it is his 15th victory in the World Championships and fourth in this race with his other victories coming with Uncle Mo (2010), Shanghai Bobby (2012) and Forte (2022).

For Velazquez, it is his 20th Breeders’ Cup victory and second in the Juvenile having won on Uncle Mo.

General Partner set the pace with Fierceness and Muth stalking in second and third, respectively, until the far turn when they closed in on the leader. At the top of the stretch, Fierceness and Muth were 1-2, but it soon turned into a one-horse race as Fierceness drew off.

Muth held second by a half-length over the favored Pletcher-trained Locked, who rallied from last early to get third.

Fierceness is a Kentucky-bred son of City of Light out of the Stay Thirsty mare Nona Bella. The victory was worth $1,040,000 and improved Fierceness’ earnings to $1,102,750 with two wins in three starts.