Report: Fierceness is out of next weekend’s Belmont Stakes

Eclipse
Award winner Fierceness, who finished 15th as the 3-1 favorite in the Kentucky
Derby, has been ruled out of next weekend’s Belmont Stakes, according to
a Daily Racing Form report.

Trainer
Todd Pletcher told DRF’s David Grening the 2023 champion juvenile
male “needs more time” to recover from his effort at Churchill Downs on May 4.
A scheduled breeze Saturday was postponed until next week.

Pletcher
told DRF on Thursday afternoon that the 3-year-old City of
Light colt owned by Mike Repole would be re-aimed to the Grade 1, $1 million
Haskell Stakes on July 20 at Monmouth Park.

DRF
said Pletcher would run Peter Pan (G3) winner Antiquarian, 2-for-2 allowance
victor Mindframe and the maiden Protective in the 1 1/4-mile Belmont at
Saratoga on June 8. Antiquarian is owned by Don Little’s Centennial Farms.
Mindframe belongs to Repole and Vinnie Viola’s St. Elias
Stable. Protective is owned by Repole.

Pletcher
and Repole have had a star-crossed history recently with Eclipse Award winners.
Forte, also co-owned with Viola, missed last year’s Kentucky Derby because of a
hoof injury that forced him to be scratched on race day. He did come back to
finish second to eventual 3-year-old male champion Arcangelo in the Belmont.

The
draw for the last race in the 2024 Triple Crown series will be Monday at 5 p.m.
EDT. The race has been cut from 1 1/2 to 1 1/4 miles this year to accommodate
the track configuration at Saratoga. The classic will be run upstate until the
grandstand at Belmont Park on Long Island, N.Y., is rebuilt and reopened as
soon as 2026.