HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Trainer Todd Pletcher said Sunday that Fierceness came out of his record-setting 13 1/2-length victory in Saturday’s $1 million Florida Derby in good order while continuing to marvel at the scope of the reigning juvenile champion male’s performance, which more than made amends for his disappointing third-place finish in the Grade 3 Holy Bull eight weeks earlier. “He came back really well, cooled out quickly, and seemed to recover very well from the race. He looked very good this morning,” Pletcher said. “And it seems the more times you watch it, the more impressive it looks.” Pletcher admitted he had fretted for the past eight weeks about how Fierceness would get away from the gate and fare in the crucial short run to the opening turn on Saturday after getting knocked around and taken out of his comfort zone during the early stages of the Holy Bull.  “We were really anxious that he got off to a good start and had a clean run into the first turn and felt really good about how he got away and the position he got and the comfortable rhythm he was in after the start yesterday,” Pletcher said Sunday. “At that point, I thought this is as good as we could hope for, and then he really blew it open in spectacular fashion on the far turn.” Fierceness was Pletcher’s eighth Florida Derby winner. Of those winners, only Always Dreaming was able to successfully pull off the Florida Derby-Kentucky Derby double in 2017. :: KENTUCKY DERBY 2024: Derby Watch, point standings, prep schedule, news, and more “All the wins are special in their own right,” Pletcher said. “Some were very close, and yesterday was clearly not. They’re all rewarding, but yesterday’s was the most visually impressive. This horse compares to Always Dreaming in that their running styles are similar and they both have high cruising speeds. Those are their strengths, although personality wise, the two are quite different.” Fierceness earned a 110 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance, highest by far of any 3-year-old this year, which both delights and worries Pletcher at the same time. “It’s great that he’s run that fast, and hopefully he didn’t deplete the tank before the Derby,” Pletcher said. “Although visually, watching how easily he did it and bounced back afterwards, it makes me optimistic it didn’t take too much out of him.” Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr said Sunday that Florida Derby runner-up Catalytic also came out of the race in good order and will be prepared in the coming weeks with the intention of running in the Kentucky Derby on May 4. Catalytic, who came into the Florida Derby as the least-experienced member of the field, with only two previous starts and none beyond six furlongs on his resume, raced forwardly from the outset and was easily second best while earning a 90 Beyer and more importantly 50 qualifying points that are almost certain to get him in the Kentucky Derby lineup. “It was a tall task to ask of him,” Joseph said. “At the quarter pole, it looked like he would run second, but I kept waiting for him to stop, considering he was giving up all that experience. But he just continued to run on. We’ll train him towards the Derby, and if he gives all the right signs, we will go.” :: Bet the races with a $200 First Deposit Match + FREE All Access PPs! Join DRF Bets. Grand Mo the First outlasted Conquest Warrior to finish third, picking up 25 Derby qualifying points, which gives him a total of 40 including the 15 he earned for also finishing third in the Grade 3 Tampa Bay Derby just three weeks earlier. He is currently in 17th place on the latest Derby points list released by Churchill Downs on Saturday night, a total that likely puts him on the bubble for the field of 20. Conquest Warrior and Hades were the two major disappointments in the Florida Derby, finishing fourth and fifth, respectively, while never serious factors at any point. Trainer Shug McGaughey said he thought Conquest Warrior got out of position a little bit after not breaking sharply, but at the end of the day conceded, “He’s still just a young horse and just needs to learn.” Hades never showed the early speed he displayed en route to his two-length victory over Domestic Product in the Holy Bull, taking up from tight quarters under jockey Paco Lopez inside Grand Mo the First in the run to the clubhouse turn before eventually dropping all the way back to last leaving the backstretch. To his credit, Hades came on again down the lane to finish fifth after swinging extremely wide around the second turn. “We’re blessed to have a sound horse this morning, considering everything that happened going to the first turn when he got banged around pretty good,” trainer Joe Orseno said. “I thought it was uncalled-for what [jockey Emisael] Jaramillo did going into the first turn putting Paco and my horse at risk of going over the rail. After that, Paco said he was getting hit with a lot of dirt, kept changing leads, and not taking to the racetrack or the position he was in.” Hades earned 10 qualifying points for his fifth-place finish to go along with the 20 he had already accumulated for winning the Holy Bull. That puts him two spots behind Grand Mo the First, in 19th place, on the points list. “What happens next weekend will give us an idea what our plans will be moving forward,” Orseno said. “We will not enter in the Derby if we’re going to be on the also-eligible list and have to wait for a scratch to get in. We have too many other races coming up for him, including the Long Branch, Pegasus, and Haskell, which are all at Monmouth Park where he will be training this summer.” :: Want to learn more about handicapping and wagering? Check out DRF's Handicapping 101 and Wagering 101 pages.