Off to a strong start this year, Fearless looks to kick it up a notch in Pimlico Special

Though it was only late June in a year when many horses had their campaign interrupted due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Fearless was sent to the sidelines following a sixth-place finish in the Grade 2 Stephen Foster Stakes at Churchill Downs.

The break seemed to do the 5-year-old gelding by Ghostzapper a world of good, as he’s come back with two strong efforts, winning the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Mile and running a good second in the Grade 2 Oaklawn Handicap.

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Friday, his connections will hope the third start off the bench is his best when Fearless takes on 10 opponents in a seemingly wide-open renewal of the Grade 3, $250,000 Pimlico Special for 3-year-olds and up going 1 3/16 miles.

The Pimlico Special is the co-feature on a 14-race card along with the Grade 2, $250,000 Black-Eyed Susan Stakes for 3-year-old fillies. There are four other stakes on the card, which begins at 11:30 a.m.

When Fearless ran in last June’s Stephen Foster, it was his sixth race in six months. In his last three races of 2020, he became a one-run closer. He had stalked the early pace winning his first two starts.

“He kind of tailed off on us at the end of his season last year,” said trainer Todd Pletcher. “He was falling hopelessly back in the early part of his races. It seems like he’s been a little more tactical since he’s come back.”

Pletcher expressed confidence in the gelding’s ability to stretch out to 1 3/16 miles from the 1 1/8 miles of the Oaklawn Handicap.

“It should be no problem,” he said.

Fearless has worked twice since the Oaklawn Handicap and was quite sharp last Saturday at Belmont Park, outworking Preakness hopeful Unbridled Honor in a half-mile move in 49.85 seconds with a sharp gallop-out.

Irad Ortiz Jr. rides Fearless from post 2.

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Modernist, like Fearless, has returned off a lengthy layoff with two solid performances to begin his 2021 campaign. After finishing second to lone speed Last Judgment in the Grade 3 Challenger Stakes at Tampa on March 6, Modernist won a mediocre renewal of the Grade 3 Excelsior at Aqueduct, which lost its favorite and speed horse Mr. Buff the morning of the race.

“I guess we were closer to the pace than we would have been,” trainer Bill Mott said of Modernist’s pace-pressing victory in the Excelsior. “He closed well at Tampa to be second going a mile and a sixteenth. We think [this] distance suits him.”

Junior Alvarado rides Modernist from the rail.

The speed in the Pimlico Special figures to come from the outside runners, Alwaysmining in post 10 and Last Judgment in post 11.

Harpers First Ride won this race last year from a forward position and figures to be in a stalking spot under David Cohen on Friday.

Harpers First Ride has made his last two starts for trainer Robertino Diodoro after having been trained by Claudio Gonzalez. Diodoro said Harpers First Ride had foot issues when he got him following his last-place finish in the Pegasus World Cup in January.

“This is the best he’s trained since we’ve had him,” Diodoro said. “We’re excited to run him.”

Five years ago, trainer Mark Casse won the Pimlico Special with Noble Bird, a horse who had spotty form coming into the race. Enforceable, who like Noble Bird is owned by John Oxley, has similar form, with an allowance victory three starts back that would definitely make him a contender here. In his most recent start, Enforceable finished third, beaten a half-length, in the Grade 2 New Orleans Classic at Fair Grounds.

“He looked like he was backing up and started running again and barely missed,” Casse said. “He’s just unpredictable.”

Casse said he skipped the Alysheba at Churchill Downs two weeks ago for this spot “to get an extra eighth of a mile.”

John Velazquez rides Enforceable for the first time from post 4.

Cordmaker has finished third in the last two runnings of the Pimlico Special. He is coming off a victory in the Harrison Johnson Memorial at Laurel in March.

Completing the field are Prioritize, third in last year’s Grade 1 Woodward; Max Player, fifth in last year’s Preakness; Forewarned, fifth in last year’s Pimlico Special; and Treasure Trove, fifth, beaten less than a length, in last month’s Grade 3 Ben Ali.