Pierce enjoying late-season success with juveniles

Though Malcolm Pierce has sent out only six 2-year-olds this year at Woodbine, the trainer has enjoyed success with those runners, including recent wins from Verboten and It’s Fate, along with a third-place finish from Kitten’s Boy in Sunday’s Coronation Futurity Stakes.

Four of Pierce’s juvenile starters have won a maiden race. In all, Pierce’s 2-year-olds have recorded five wins from 14 starts, and eight in-the-money finishes.

“It’s been a good year for the 2-year-olds in a limited number of starts,” he said. “That’s what keeps you getting up in the morning is a good 2-year-old. You hope they’re going to advance and be a good 3-year-old.”

Verboten improved his record to 2 for 2 with a half-length victory over Hoochiecoochie Sam in a first-level allowance with a $75,000 claiming option over a mile on yielding turf on Oct. 29. Verboten, a Kentucky homebred for Pin Oak Stable, is unlikely to start again during the Woodbine meet.

“We’ll probably just wrap him up and take him to Tampa for the winter and maybe see if he handles the dirt a little bit over the winter time,” Pierce said.

With both of Verboten’s wins coming on the turf, Pierce said an early 2018 goal for the colt could be the Grade 3 Transylvania Stakes at Keeneland in April.

It’s Fate, who ran well over a yielding turf course to win his maiden on Saturday in his second start, also is slated for some time off.

“He’s a nice little horse,” Pierce said of the Sam-Son Farm homebred. “He’s wrapping up. He’s probably going to go to Florida this week and have a little time off. We’ll maybe try to get him a race at Tampa before we come north in the spring.”

It’s Fate is an Ontario-bred, which will give Pierce plenty of options for next season. Pierce noted that It’s Fate is a half-brother to three-time Grade 3 Singspiel Stakes winner Aldous Snow, and that he has been working well recently on the main track, which could make the Queen’s Plate a possibility next season.

“He had a big work on the Tapeta about a week before the race here,” Pierce said. “We’ll have to try that option next spring with him, and I don’t think distance is going to be a problem for him. We’ll just have to see how well he handles the Tapeta under racing conditions next year.”