Fierceness, Mindframe in Travers? Not so fast, says Pletcher
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SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. - While trainer Ken McPeek made his decision early to run the filly Thorpedo Anna against the boys in the Travers Stakes here on Aug. 24, trainer Todd Pletcher will take his time in deciding what’s next for Jim Dandy Stakes winner Fierceness and his stablemate Mindframe.
The way it sounded Saturday evening and again Sunday morning, there’s a very good chance that Fierceness doesn’t run in the Travers and a pretty good chance Mindframe skips it as well.
While Fierceness was a one-length winner over Sierra Leone in Saturday’s Grade 2, $500,000 Jim Dandy, the idea of running him back in four weeks is not attractive to Pletcher.
“Twenty-eight days is probably not ideal for him,” Pletcher, who trains Fierceness for Mike Repole, said Sunday morning.
Pletcher said his initial impression is that Fierceness has come out of the Jim Dandy well and with good energy. However, following his 13 1/2-length victory in the Grade 1 Florida Derby on March 30 at Gulfstream Park, Fierceness gave Pletcher all the right signs heading into the Kentucky Derby on May 4, when he finished 15th as the favorite. Beyond the Travers, options for Fierceness include waiting for the Grade 1, $1 million Pennsylvania Derby on Sept 21, which gives him eight weeks but means running back in six weeks for the $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic on Nov. 2, or perhaps just training up to the Breeders’ Cup, 14 weeks away.
“Lot to process,” Pletcher said. “Talking to Mike a little bit last night, we don’t want to make any decisions too soon.”
The same goes for Mindframe, whom Pletcher trains for Repole and Vinnie and Teresa Viola. Mindframe has run second in both the Belmont Stakes on June 8 and Haskell on July 20. Pletcher’s not sure about running him back in the Travers or possibly wait for the less-prestigious, but lucrative $1 million Pennsylvania Derby.
“Are all Grade 1s created equal?” Pletcher mused. “Probably not. We’ll balance all that out.”
Pletcher said Mindframe has appeared to come out of the Haskell well.
“He’s a pretty hardy colt, he’s got a good appetite, seems to stay in the tub pretty well,” Pletcher said. “He’s maintained his overall condition and weight really well. That helps, but he’s still coming off back-to-back pretty strong races.”
About two hours before the Jim Dandy was run, McPeek announced that Thorpedo Anna, the Kentucky Oaks, Acorn and Coaching Club American Oaks winner, would definitely start in the Travers, seeking to become the first filly since Lady Rotha in 1915 to win the race. Five have tried since, and failed.
“Racing’s about challenges and it hasn’t been done in a long time and I think she’s the horse to do it,” McPeek said Saturday.
As of Sunday, there were at least seven colts seemingly headed to the Travers: Belmont Stakes and Haskell winner Dornoch; Kentucky Derby and Jim Dandy runner-up Sierra Leone; Curlin Stakes one-two finishers Unmatched Wisdom and Corporate Power; Preakness winner and Jim Dandy sixth-place finisher Seize the Grey; Ohio Derby winner and Jim Dandy third-place finisher Batten Down; and Belmont Stakes fourth-place finisher Honor Marie.
Trainer Chad Brown said while he was disappointed with Sierra Leone getting beat in the Jim Dandy, he was happy that some of the tweaks he made since his defeat in the Belmont Stakes seemed to work. Brown changed to a ring-bit from a more severe bit, known as a cage bit, and the horse did not lug in during the stretch run. Brown also started working the horse without company.
“I changed the bit again, I changed the way I was training the horse and I’m really pleased with how he performed,” Brown said. “I put a ring bit on him. I found a happy medium where the horse was traveling the way I want.”
Brown said he would have preferred Flavien Prat to get Sierra Leone to the outside in the stretch, but John Velazquez, on Fierceness, made that difficult by putting his horse in the middle of the track.
“Johnny rode a smart race, he was looking for him,” Brown said. “[Prat] didn’t have any choice but to go down where it was deeper yesterday and run inside, that didn’t help matters. Fierceness kept running on, too, he really earned the win.”
Prat has ridden Sierra Leone in his last two starts and he has ridden Unmatched Wisdom to victory in all three of his starts. Brown said he would leave it up to Prat to make a decision on which horse he would ride in the Travers.
Javier Castellano, who has won the Travers a record seven times, will be aboard Corporate Power in the Travers, He finished second on him in the Curlin Stakes.
Trainer D. Wayne Lukas said Preakness winner Seize the Grey “was a little flat in the paddock” prior to the Jim Dandy and that was a tell that he would not run his race.
“He should have been right off the speed horses, right off their hip,” Lukas said. “We did want to stalk the early pace. When he wasn’t doing that right from the get-go, I knew we were in trouble.”
Lukas said he would press on to the Travers.
Trainer Bill Mott felt Batten Down ran credible enough when finishing third to consider running back in the Travers.
“My colt ran credible against two of the top 3-year-olds in the country,” Mott said. “If McPeek runs that filly, she might be the best of them all.”
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