Fierceness a Towering Presence in 8-Horse Holy Bull

Newly-crowned champion 2-year-old male Fierceness will make his anticipated sophomore debut in the $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) Feb. 3 at Gulfstream Park.

The lightly-raced son of City of Light , a homebred for Repole Stable, has not started since capping his 2023 campaign with a victory in the Nov. 3 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1). In just his third career outing, Fierceness decimated his rivals by 6 1/4 lengths en route to earning Eclipse Award honors.

Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher has kept Fierceness on a steady work pattern since the colt received a brief freshening at the trainer’s Palm Beach Downs winter base after the Breeders’ Cup. He signaled his readiness two works back Jan. 20, drilling a bullet five furlongs in :59.48 in company with flashy Gulfstream debut winner Born Noble . The colt followed up that move with an easy maintenance half-mile Jan. 27 in :49.55.

“Physically he’s done well (from ages 2 to 3). He’s put on some weight,” Pletcher told BloodHorse Jan. 13. “He’s gotten a bit stronger as you would hope.”

Fierceness will be Pletcher and Repole’s second consecutive year bringing the 2-year-old champion to Florida following Forte in 2023. Forte had skipped the Holy Bull in favor of the Fountain of Youth Stakes (G2), which he won before downing eventual Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Mage in the Florida Derby (G1).

“Last year Forte needed a little time off after the Breeders’ Cup but in Fierceness’ case he only had three races (as opposed to Forte’s five starts as a juvenile) so he was fresh and doing well so we didn’t have to let him down totally (after the Breeders’ Cup),” Pletcher said. “We’re just getting him ticking now for the Holy Bull. We like the spacing of that race to the Florida Derby and then the Florida Derby five weeks to Kentucky.”

The current 8-1 second choice on the Kentucky Derby Future Wager Pool (behind “All Others”), Fierceness heads into the Holy Bull tied for first with Lecomte Stakes (G3) winner Track Phantom on the Road to the Derby leaderboard with 30 points. Contested for 3-year-olds over 1 1/16-miles, the Holy Bull offers qualifying points on a 20-10-6-4-2 scale.

Jockey John Velazquez has the call on Fierceness from post 7.

Among Fierceness’ seven challengers are the 1-3-4-5 finishers from the Jan. 1 Mucho Macho Man Stakes. The race winner, the improving Otello , figures to be the greatest threat.

A regally-bred son of Curlin campaigned by WinStar and Siena Farm, Otello has shown a fast-closing turn of foot in each of his two races. He rallied to take his Aqueduct Racetrack debut in November and then again collared his rivals in just the nick of time to take the Mucho Macho Man in a blanket finish. Trained by Christophe Clement, Otelo appears to be a colt who will only continue to shine as the races get longer.

The New Jersey-bred Sea Streak , who should partake in the pace early along with Fierceness and the undefeated Joe Orseno-trained Hades , was a game third in the Mucho Macho Man. Sea Streak looked home free after pressing the tempo until being swallowed up late by Otello and First World War . Never out of the money in four outings, the Eddie Owens Jr. trainee has proven to be a tough customer, and shouldn’t be discarded.