Fierceness, 16-1, wins Breeders’ Cup Juvenile for Pletcher

ARCADIA, Calif. — Fierceness won the $2 million Breeders’ Cup Juvenile by 6 ¹/₄ lengths at Santa Anita on Friday, giving trainer Todd Pletcher the early favorite next year for the Kentucky Derby.

Pletcher and ownerbreeder Mike Repole won the Juvenile last year with Forte. The colt came into the Kentucky Derby on a five-race winning streak and was the morning-line favorite only to be scratched hours before the race because of a bruise in his right front foot.

Repole was forced to scratch Uncle Mo, the early Derby favorite in 2011, the day before the race because of a gastrointestinal infection.

“The last two times I had to scratch the Derby favorite,” he said. “I might be skipping it.”

Fierceness made quite the turnaround from a 20-length defeat in the Champagne Stakes nearly a month ago. He won his debut in the mud at Saratoga by 11 lengths before getting trounced.

“The Champagne was a head scratcher,” Pletcher said. “We had to go based on what we had been seeing from him all summer, before he was training for the Champagne and after the

Champagne. Mike’s not afraid to take a shot. He said, ‘If you like the way he’s training, let’s take another shot.’ ”

Pletcher earned his 15th Cup victory, while John Velazquez notched his 20th, second among jockeys on the career list.

Fierceness ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.90 and paid $35 to win at 16-1 odds.

“This one’s really special because 14 years ago the horse that won this race, called Uncle Mo, put the Repole Stable on the map. And Johnny Velazquez rode him,” Repole said. “We were in our 30s, now we’re in our 50s. These wins feel a lot better now.”

Muth, trained by Bob Baffert, was second. Locked, the 2-1 favorite also trained by Pletcher, was third.

Baffert’s other entries, Prince of Monaco and Wine Me Up, were fifth and eighth, respectively. Pletcher’s third horse, Noted, finished last in the nine-horse field. The Wine Steward and Ecoro Neo were scratched.

Five of the seven horses that were scratched from Cup races Friday were for veterinary reasons, while the other two were by order of the stewards.

Racing resumes Saturday with nine Cup races, including the $6 million Classic.