Fierce Boots looks to rebound in Calder Oaks

MIAMI – Trainer Todd Pletcher is winding down his business in south Florida after the winter, but before packing up completely, he’ll look to add Saturday’s $65,000 Calder Oaks to his laundry list of accomplishments this season, sending out Fierce Boots against eight rivals in the 1 1/16-mile fixture for 3-year-old fillies.

Fierce Boots is one of three stakes winners in the Calder Oaks field, along with Joint Return and the locally based Flutterby. Fierce Boots, a daughter of Tiznow owned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay, led throughout to capture Aqueduct’s Busanda Stakes in her 3-year-old debut Jan. 4. She proved no match for Joint Return when finishing a tiring fourth one month later in the Busher, after which she shipped south to join Pletcher’s main winter contingent stabled at Palm Meadows. She has started just once since the Busher Stakes, finishing a distant sixth in Gulfstream Park’s rapidly run Any Limits Stakes, going seven furlongs March 9.

“There weren’t a lot of options for her at Aqueduct after the Busher, so we brought her down here,” Pletcher said. “She didn’t break well and had to rush up in her last start, and I believe she’s better suited to two turns, so this is the logical race to try to get her back on track.”

There is plenty of speed signed on for the Calder Oaks, and while Fierce Boots captured the Busanda Stakes on the lead, she proved that she can win from off the pace on graduation day when rallying from fourth to capture a one-mile maiden special weight race last summer at Parx.

“I don’t think she has to be on the lead, and from her outside post, we’ll just try to get some good position going to the first turn,” Pletcher said. “If she’s up to her best race, she fits with these.”

Abdiel Jaen will be aboard Fierce Boots, who breaks from post 8 in the nine-horse lineup.

Joint Return capped a three-race winning streak with a 4 1/4-length triumph in the Busher Stakes and likely will be favored in the Calder Oaks, despite finishing a well-beaten fifth behind Pletcher’s undefeated In Tune two weeks earlier in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Oaks. She’ll break just inside Fierce Boots, with Kendrick Carmouche to ride for trainer John Servis.

Flutterby won the 5 1/2-furlong Cut The Charm Stakes for 94-year-old trainer Jerry Bozzo at 2. She has been around two turns just once, finishing a tiring second after contesting a slow pace in the one-mile Chispiski Stakes when making her 3-year-old debut Jan. 4. She figures to be prominent early Saturday, along with Faith Hall, Fast Betty Blue, Florida Sun, and Her Special Way.

Dream Come True and Her Special Way give trainer Bill White a potent one-two punch in the Calder Oaks. Dream Come True rallied to a 2 1/2-length optional-claiming victory at a mile in her last start and would benefit from an honest pace scenario. Her Special Way has won her only two starts by an average margin of four lengths since being transferred to White’s barn for the winter but has yet to run beyond seven furlongs.