Kentucky

Kentucky Derby 2024: What Front-Running Fierceness Has To Do To Beat Sierra Leone

Published

3 weeks ago

April 30, 2024

Kentucky Derby 2024: What Front-Running Fierceness Has To Do To Beat Sierra Leone

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY – APRIL 28: Fierceness runs on the track during the morning training for the … [+] Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on April 28, 2024 in Louisville, Kentucky. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)

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Fierceness is coming into the Kentucky Derby with a 110 Beyer speed figure and a dominant 13-and-a-half length win in the Florida Derby, which are the nominal reasons that the Kentucky-bred colt is the morning line favorite. He’s a homebred for charmingly outspoken owner Mike Repole. Like all Derby contenders, Fierceness has never run at a mile-and-a-quarter distance, much less in a Grade 1 contest at that length, nor, like all Derby contenders, has he run in a Grade 1 with the fanfare and chaos that a Kentucky Derby crowd brings to its day.

On the plus side, there is no doubt that Fierceness has the distance in him. Immediately after his Florida Derby romp, owner Repole famously asked jockey John Velasquez what Fierceness had left in him, a deceptively simple, smart horsemanly question about the front-runner’s stamina after such a Secretariat-style performance. Velasquez bluntly responded: “I don’t know, but I didn’t use it all.”

But before we dive into the minutia of Fierceness’ past performances and his likes and dislikes, here, a field-and-morning line refresher:

(Post Position, Trainer, Jockey, Morning Line)

1. Dornoch, Danny Gargan, Luis Saez, 20-1

2. Sierra Leone, Chad Brown, Tyler Gaffalione, 3-1

3. Mystik Dan, Kenny McPeek, Brian Hernandez Jr., 20-1

4. Catching Freedom, Brad Cox, Flavien Prat, 8-1

5. Catalytic, Saffie Joseph Jr., Jose Ortiz, 30-1

6. Just Steel, D. Wayne Lukas, Keith Asmussen, 20-1

7. Honor Marie, Whit Beckman, Ben Curtis, 20-1

8. Just a Touch, Brad Cox, Florent Geroux, 10-1

9. Encino, Brad Cox, Axel Concepcion, 20-1

10. T O Password, Daisuke Takayanagi, Kazushi Kimura, 30-1

11. Forever Young, Yoshito Yahagi, Ryusei Sakai, 10-1

12. Track Phantom, Steve Asmussen, Joel Rosario, 20-1

13. West Saratoga, Larry Demeritte, Jesus Castanon, 50-1

14. Endlessly, Michael McCarthy, Umberto Rispoli, 30-1

15. Domestic Product, Chad Brown, Irad Ortiz Jr., 30-1

16. Grand Mo the First, Victor Barboza Jr., Emisael Jaramillo, 50-1

17. Fierceness, Todd Pletcher, John Velazquez, 5-2

18. Stronghold, Phil D’Amato, Antonio Fresu, 20-1

19. Resilience, Bill Mott, Junior Alvarado, 20-1

20. Society Man, Danny Gargan, Frankie Dettori, 50-1

(Source: Churchill Downs)

Of his five career races, Fierceness has rung up three outright wins, one third place in the Holy Bull in February (that both Repole and Pletcher discount because Fierceness was bumped), and a dismal 7th place performance in the 2023 Champagne Stakes last October. This sort of hill-and-dale past performance record is not uncommon in young horses, and it’s dangerous to over-interpret certain losses as racehorses are in the very teeth of their occasionally rocky maturation.

Trainer Todd Pletcher, who has had Repole’s horses in his care for a decade, is sanguine about that process. Known for his dry wit, the trainer recently quite publicly joked about Fierceness’ uneven record in an interview that “Sixty per cent of the time, he wins every time.”

Which is to say that Fierceness’ closest connections understand their athlete and are content with letting the athlete be himself, while at the same time trying to coax a certain steadiness out of him. Repole is a strong, even outspoken believer in the health of his racehorses and regularly speaks at length on X and directly with the industry press on the thorniest issues facing the sport, such as over-medication and post-career care. He noted in one comprehensive interview with Bloodhorse that Fierceness, being a homebred, is one of the healthiest horses that he’s ever had.

All that noted, Fierceness still has a job of work to do come Saturday, and although the run will remain the run, certain features of the contest will be entirely new for every horse in it. Pletcher notes that Fiercness’ two career losses are quite similar in that he was bumped in the Champagne and had a particularly rough go in the Holy Bull — or put another way, both those races were difficult for the horse in working his way through the traffic.

Unfortunately for Fierceness, precisely that traffic problem, in a Kentucky Derby, will be multiplied many times, since Derby fields are so huge — larger by an order of magnitude than any field that many of the runners have faced or will ever face. Put another way, this known, magnified difficulty of the Kentucky Derby’s meant for Repole and Pletcher that an outside post position was, to their thinking, critical for their colt’s ability to focus on his work by lessening the enormous Derby probability that he would get bumped, at least in the early stages of the chaos. When the Fierceness team drew the 17-hole on April 27 — a stall about as far to the outside as they could reasonably hope for, Mike Repole was immediately tracked down by a camera crew and noted, with more than a little relief etching his face, that stall 17’s poor record of Derby wins did not bother him because the greater positive was that the stall was so far outside.

Which very much does not mean that Fierceness’ traffic problems have been swept clear for him. In fact, traffic will remain a challenge, if not the challenge, for him as the race progresses. As a front-runner coming from far outside, he will, first, be wanting to have to have a brilliant, lightning quick start. Part of being a front-runner means that Fierceness doesn’t take back well or easily. He can be made to settle in a physical place-in-the-race sense, but the question for Fierceness is whether he can be settled enough mentally to not let the physical fact of settling, and then having to work up through traffic, dispirit him or otherwise disturb the great outpouring of energy a long horse race requires.

Second: Every front-runner from the Triple Crown winner Justify to the lowliest allowance runner confronts the conundrum presented by that outpouring of energy, namely, to pour as much energy as you can to stay where you want to be with, simultaneously, saving enough for a daunting stretch challenge in the last two furlongs, if you’ve not pulled far enough away by then to render that impossible. In the Florida Derby, Fierceness accomplished exactly that, but with a far smaller and far less talented field.

Finally, there’s this ominous detail to the many challenges the Kentucky Derby presents Fierceness: The Derby’s closer expert, Sierra Leone, didn’t come to the Derby through the Florida Derby. If Sierra Leone holds to his form in the ferocious maw of the going on Saturday, Fierceness will never have seen anything like a stretch challenge from a horse of Sierra Leone’s quality. If that comes to be in the last hundred yards of the 150th Kentucky Derby, Fierceness will have to find something extra in himself.

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Kentucky

First Down Kentucky: Power Ranking the SEC

Published

7 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

First Down Kentucky: Power Ranking the SEC

If recruiting is the lifeblood of a college football program, power rankings are the lifeblood of Talking Season. It’s not the best tool to figure out exactly where your favorite program stands. As the standings shake out near the end of the year, programs will be clumped together in tiers. “Tiering the SEC” doesn’t slap the same as “Power Ranking the SEC,” which is why we’ll save where Kentucky stands in the former until later in Talking Season.

As for today, On3’s Jesse Simonton gave us a snippet of what’s to come later this summer when the league converges upon Dallas for SEC Media Days. Oklahoma and Texas will take up a ton of oxygen in the division-less, 16-team SEC, while Kentucky flies under the radar near the bottom of a group of teams who enter the year with plenty of uncertainties. Simonton ranks Kentucky No. 11, sandwiched in between Florida and Auburn.

“The Wildcats have fully leaned into passing the QB baton to the latest transfer addition, going from Will Levis to Devin Leary and now Brock Vandagriff in as many seasons. Mark Stoops continues to turn over the OC position, too, with Bush Hamdan ideally around for more than just 12 games come the fall. The ‘Cats did pick up a key piece in the secondary this spring (DJ Waller from Michigan) and Vandagriff reportedly meshed quickly with wideouts Dane Key and Barion Brown.”
Jesse Simonton, On3

One could argue easily fair or foul from Kentucky’s standpoint, but one thing is clear when scrolling through the teams, wins will come at a premium in the new-look SEC.

One-Time Kentucky Target to Louisville

Kentucky kicked the tires on a few defensive linemen in the spring transfer portal without producing any dice. Brandon Lane was one of those players. For a time it looked like the FCS product would end up at Michigan State. Instead, Lane made the move from Stephen F. Austin to Louisville. The Cards are big fans of using that portal to pick up players. Time will tell what sort of impact he can make in their defensive line rotation.

Kentucky Transfer to the MAC?

WR Ardell Banks made the move to the MAC this spring when the wide receiver transferred from Kentucky to Kent State. A former foe from the practice fields may join him in the state of Ohio. Former Louisville PRP three-star prospect Elijah Reed entered the portal in December. We had not heard much from the cornerback until Monday morning when he shared that he is officially visiting Akron this week.

NFL OTAs are Underway

There’s no spring practice in the NFL. Instead, they stagger organized team activities (OTAs) through various parts of the calendar to keep the guys in shape. Voluntary workouts began on Monday for 21 different teams and Wan’Dale Robinson looks ready to roll.

More NCAA Settlement Talks

The settlement that will redefine college athletics is far from being settled. As the NCAA negotiates with attorneys on an agreed-upon dollar figure and restructured institution, some of its members are pushing back. A letter from Big East commissioner Val Ackerman was obtained by every newsbreaker in college athletics, essentially stating, “We aren’t paying for the sins of Power Five football.”

In the original proposed settlement, the new Power Four conference members would fit 40% of the settlement bill, while the rest of Division I would handle 60%. She believes it should be flipped, and she has a good point. The Power Four are making the most money and are the primary culprits behind these significant changes to college athletics. Why wouldn’t they take on the brunt of the payments? Ross Dellenger has all of the details.

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Kentucky

Kentucky volleyball heads to Japan for competition and culture

Published

14 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Kentucky volleyball heads to Japan for competition and culture

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The Kentucky volleyball team has begun their 11-day trip to Japan, where they have five games scheduled against Japanese Universities ahead of the 2024 season.

The ‘Cats are confident this experience ahead of the preseason will not only allow a smoother transition into college ball for the incoming freshman, but also allow for once-in-a-lifetime team bonding experiences. They’re hopeful that the extra reps before the regular season begins will set them up for success this upcoming fall.

“I think the biggest thing for us volleyball-wise is that this will allow us to get into preseason and be a week ahead,” head coach Craig Skinner said, per UK Athletics. “Typically in preseason, you have about two or two and a half weeks to get ready to play a match. This will give us an extra week ahead of preseason so we can iron out little things. It’s a huge advantage time-wise when you get to preseason.”

This extra time is valuable for the seven-time defending Southeastern Conference champions. Kentucky knows that these extra reps will help to enrich team chemistry on and off the court.

Senior setter and 2022 SEC Player of the Year Emma Grome says the trip will give the ‘Cats a great head start for the fall. She also thinks there will be lots to learn from the matches in Japan.

“I think it will be an interesting experience in general because they do a little bit of a different ballgame than us,” Grome said. “There’s some differences in the rules and I think that will be a good challenge for us. It will be cool to see how a different country plays. For me as a setter, it will be cool to watch their setters and see if they do anything different and maybe take some things from that.”

They will not only bring back new techniques regarding the game, but they’ll experience a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to immerse themselves in a different culture. A lot of the team feels like they wouldn’t have had an opportunity to go to Japan otherwise, so this is a trip that they’ll remember forever.

“I love going to places like Japan, Brazil, China because the culture is so much different than what we know and they would never probably get this opportunity to go on their own,” Skinner said. “So, for us to get a life experience that we can all share together and bond as a team, but also, they will be talking about this trip for the rest of their lives. All of us will be. What a great opportunity that our administration and boosters have given us to be able to fund a trip like this. It’s just an unbelievable life adventure.”

Kentucky will play five games over their adventure abroad against Senri Kinran University, Ryokoku University, NNS University, and Nihon University.

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Kentucky

Here's what will be on Northern Kentucky ballots Tuesday

Published

21 hours ago

May 20, 2024

Press Room

Here's what will be on Northern Kentucky ballots Tuesday

Kentucky voters will go to the polls Tuesday, May 21, to weigh in on the nation’s presidential primaries and a number of other local elections.

Northern Kentucky voters will also consider the primary election of the state’s 4th Congressional District, currently held by Republican Rep. Thomas Massie. He’s facing two other Republican challengers, Eric Deters and Michael McGinnis, in the primary.

Boone County

Voters in Boone County will also consider primaries for the 60th, 61st, 66th and 69th Statehouse districts, as well as the 11th state Senate district. Three Boone County Board of Education candidates will also be on the ballot. Residents of Walton and Florence will also weigh in on city government primaries there.

You can find more information at the Boone County Clerk’s Office.

2024 Kentucky Voter Guide: Primary Edition

Campbell County

Campbell County voters will vote in a primary election for Kentucky’s 67th Statehouse district. Residents of Newport will also cast ballots for the city’s mayoral and commission primaries, and residents of other cities like Dayton, Bellevue and Fort Thomas will vote on city commissions. Find out more at the Campbell County Clerk’s Office.

Kenton County

Residents of Kenton County will consider nominees for Kentucky’s 61st, 64th and 69th Statehouse districts. They’ll also weigh in on county commission candidates. Covington residents will see primary elections for mayor and city commission, and residents in other Kenton County municipalities will vote for city council or city commission candidates. More information is available at the Kenton County Clerk’s Office.

Polls open at 6 a.m. and close at 6 p.m. local time. You’ll need government-issued ID to vote.

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