Fierceness leads field of eight in Saturday's Holy Bull

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - Recently elected Juvenile champion Fierceness will make his much-anticipated 3-year-old debut as expected Saturday at Gulfstream Park in the $250,000 Holy Bull Stakes. The Grade 3 Holy Bull drew a field of eight to go 1 1/16 miles and will be run as the final event on a 12-race program that includes four other stakes, all for 3-year-olds.

Fierceness completed his championship campaign with an eye-catching 6 1/4-length victory over Muth in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita on Nov. 3. The outing was just the third for the son of City of Light who won his debut in equally sensational fashion, by 11 1/4 lengths, at Saratoga before finishing a distant seventh following a poor start in the Grade 1 Champagne.

Fierceness has trained forwardly for his return at Palm Beach Downs, capping off a strong series of works going an easy half-mile in 49.40 seconds on Saturday. Trained by Todd Pletcher for owner Mike Repole, Fierceness is using the Holy Bull as a prep for the $1 million Florida Derby on March 30.

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Fierceness will break from post 7 under jockey John Velazquez in the Holy Bull. He faces a lineup that includes Dancing Groom, who finished a distant third in the Champagne; Otello, Sea Streak, Inveigled and No More Time, the first, third, fourth and fifth finishers respectively in the one-mile Mucho Macho Man here on New Year's Day; the undefeated Hades and New York invader Domestic Product.

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