SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY – When it became abundantly clear that the outcome of Saturday’s $1.25 million GI DraftKings Travers Stakes at Saratoga Race Course was going to be desperately close, trainer Todd Pletcher went to work.
The usually calm Pletcher sat in his clubhouse box, stood up and screamed and roared for his three-year-old colt. Wildness (City of Light) to complete the task in the Midsummer Derby.
“I knew it was going to be close,” the Hall of Fame trainer said Sunday morning outside his office in his barn on the Oklahoma training track. “I had to give (jockey) Johnny (Velazquez) a little help in the last 100 yards.”
Pletcher provided proof when he opened a photo on his phone that showed him standing on his tiptoes, begging Fierceness to come all the way home.
“Someone sent me this this morning,” Pletcher said.
When asked if he screamed, he did not answer the fifth.
“A little bit,” he said. “It was exciting.”
Fierceness won the Travers by a head ahead of the mare, Thorpedo Anna (Fast Anna) and asserted himself as the best 3-year-old stallion in the country. His resume now includes three wins in five starts, including the GI Curlin Florida Derby, Travers and GII Jim Dandy.
“Johnny said when he took the lead he let up a little,” Pletcher said. “But when he felt the mare coming, he got going again and felt like he was fighting back. He ran hard. That was a tough race.”
Pletcher spent the evening celebrating with owner Mike Repole’s crew at Saratoga Prime, a local fine dining restaurant. Pletcher said he left at 11:30 p.m. – a very late night for him – and Repole didn’t show up until 10:30 p.m.
The Travers was also the first time in his career that Fierceness had won two races in a row. The disadvantage of the Midsummer Derby was that he had not been able to run two good races in a row.
“It’s official that he can win two races in a row,” Pletcher said. “It seems to be in the books.”
Fierceness will stay at Saratoga, probably through the end of September, Pletcher said. Last year he trained at Keeneland before going to Santa Anita, where he won the GI Breeders’ Cup Juvenile. He said he would consider doing that again.
Regardless, Fierceness will head back to California where he will make his next start in the GI Breeders’ Cup Classic for owner Mike Repole.
Before the start of Sunday’s program at Saratoga, the new Travers canoe, which is painted each year in the colors of the winning owner, made its maiden voyage in the infield pond, which is decorated in the blue and orange colors of Repole.
The captain of the canoe was none other than Pletcher.
He admitted he had to do a double take on Saturday when he went into the paddock to saddle Fierceness.
“It was 6-1 when we showed up in the paddock and that surprised me,” Pletcher said. “I thought I had misread the scoreboard. I think everyone was fascinated by the every-other-race thing.”
When they reached the starting gate, Fierceness was the third choice at 7-2.
McPeek is still raving about the performance Thorpedo Anna gave him
Of course, trainer Kenny McPeek wanted his three-year-old mare to be on the other side of the result of the 155th Travers Stakes on Saturday.
But that was not to happen. Thorpedo Anna, who wanted to be the first mare to win the Midsummer Derby since 1915, narrowly lost to Fierceness.
Early on Sunday morning, Thorpedo Anna left her stable, was walked, washed and had a little grazing. Several of her fans came to take photos of the mare, who looked lively and composed a day after suffering only the second defeat in her eight-race career.
“Really proud of her performance,” McPeek said Sunday morning by phone from home, where he said he still had a house full of guests. “It was hard not to be proud. She ran a winning race; there was only one horse she couldn’t get to.”
After having a night to digest the heartbreaking defeat, McPeek said there was not much that could have been done to reverse the decision. Perhaps there could have been a different result if jockey Brian Hernandez and Thorpedo Anna had found their way past early pacesetter Batten Down (Tapit) mid-race.
Then they wouldn’t have had to turn far into the finish straight.
But there was no point in trying to act like a know-it-all on Sunday.
“There are a few things that would have, could have or should have,” McPeek said. “But there are no repeats. The fact that she had to run around like that hurt her chances. Fierceness had a long way to go the whole race, so he probably covered more ground than we did, so he may well have been the better horse. Still, he ran fantastically.”
McPeek is confident Thorpedo Anna will stay with the mares the rest of the way. There is one pit stop on the way to the GI Breeders’ Cup Distaff, at the GI Cotillion at Parx on September 21.
Thorpedo Anna will remain in Saratoga to complete all her training for the Cotillion and then the Breeders’ Cup.
McPeek had no doubts about letting Thorpedo Anna compete against the boys, and she backed up his confidence with a solid performance.
“I’ve always tried to promote the sport,” he said. “I thought this was a great opportunity to showcase her and show how good she is. I hope people enjoyed it; that’s what racing is all about. I was never scared of it. We went in with the goal of winning and we thought we could win.”
Dornoch aims for comeback in Breeders’ Cup Classic
Trainer Danny Gargan admitted on Sunday morning that he was more than a little nervous ahead of Saturday’s Travers Stakes.
This feeling was as real as Dornoch (Good Magic), winner of the GI Belmont Stakes and GI Haskell Stakes, failed to repeat the Grade I finish. He finished fourth.
“He didn’t run bad, he was just a little flat,” Gargan said Sunday morning in his barn on the backstretch at Saratoga. “He didn’t have his usual kick. I was a little nervous after his last work; he just didn’t look as good as he usually does. Yesterday was their (Fierceness and Thorpedo Anna) day. We got passed. You can’t win every time, boys.”
Dornoch will stay at Saratoga and train for the $7 million GI Breeders’ Cup Classic at Del Mar. He could then run in the $3 million GI Pegasus World Cup, which would be his final race.
“He’s worth too much money,” Gargan said of the opportunity to run a full season as a 4-year-old. “He’s the best 3-year-old in the country, multiple Grade I winner and he’s beautiful. He’s being offered at Spendthrift for $40,000 or $50,000. We’re blessed to have been able to do this ride and blessed that Spendthrift bought him.”
Gargan said the 3-year-old colts championship is currently at a “standstill.” Fierceness, the Travers winner, and Dornoch are the horses challenging for the title, according to Gargan.
And it will come down to the Breeders’ Cup Classic.
“We won the Haskell and the Belmont, he won the Florida Derby and the Travers,” Gargan said. “Whoever beats who in the Classic wins. If I beat him, I get it. If he beats me, he gets it. I think the 3-year-old division is great.”
