DEL MAR, Calif. – Fierceness shipped from New York to California seeking redemption, and the 4-year-old colt found it in the Grade 1 Pacific Classic on Saturday at Del Mar.
The plane ride to California was probably less eventful than the race.
Despite veering in sharply at the start, getting keen under a hold from jockey John Velazquez, and making a premature move into the far turn, Fierceness delivered. He won the Pacific Classic by 3 1/4 lengths over odds-on Journalism. Program favorite Nysos scratched.
Todd Pletcher trains Fierceness ($5.20, second favorite), whose Pacific Classic win was his fourth Grade 1 and erases the disappointment of his most recent start on Aug. 2, when Fierceness finished fifth as the favorite in the Grade 1 Whitney at Saratoga.
Velazquez has ridden Fierceness his last 11 races and knew the colt was better than his Whitney finish position.
“We know he’s very good, it’s about trying to stay off his mouth and give him as clean a trip as we can,” Velazquez said.
It was not a clean trip in the Pacific Classic.
Fierceness veered in after the start and nearly crashed into the temporary rail. It did not get much better. Fierceness got keen while fourth on the rail, forwardly placed behind a fast pace. Front-runners Tarantino and Midnight Mammoth dueled through a half-mile in:45.84.
Nearing the three-eighths pole, Velazquez turned Fierceness loose. He split horses into the far turn, opened up at the quarter pole and was never in danger. He won in a fast time of 2:01.00.
Journalism, a 3-year-old facing older for the first time and favored at 2-5, trailed early and looped wide on the far turn. He entered the stretch with a head of steam, but Fierceness kept on running. Journalism finished 6 1/2 lengths clear of third-place Ultimate Gamble.
“I thought he ran very well,” Journalism’s trainer Michael McCarthy said. “He was farther back than I thought he would have been, but went a half-mile in 45 and four.”
Fierceness was better than Journalism on Saturday, just like Sovereignty was better than Journalism in the Kentucky Derby and Belmont Stakes. None of those three is expected to race again until the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov.1 at Del Mar. Journalism, three-time Grade 1 winner, will have a score to settle.
“It’s two months from now,” McCarthy said. Having a “race over the track is perfect, see what happens in two months.”
Fierceness, who earned a fees-paid berth into the BC Classic by winning on Saturday, is expected to return to the Pletcher stable at Saratoga and train up to the Breeders’ Cup. McCarthy implied that Journalism also will train into the race.
Fierceness, perhaps, should ship to California more often. This was his third trip West. He won the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile in 2023 at Santa Anita; he finished second to Sierra Leone in the BC Classic last fall at Del Mar. As a 3-year-old last year, he also won the Travers and Florida Derby. Fierceness has now won seven races and $5,155,230 from 13 starts.
The scratch of Nysos took some of the starch out of the Pacific Classic. Nysos scratched Saturday with a foot issue. It was the second straight year trainer Bob Baffert scratched the Pacific Classic program favorite. The mare Adare Manor was scratched the day before the 2024 Pacific Classic when she tied up.
After the top three finishers in the Pacific Classic, the order was completed by Indispensable, Lure Him In, Midnight Mammoth and Tarantino.
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