10 Pedigree fun facts: Fierceness

Jan 15, 2024 Kellie Reilly/Brisnet.com

Breeders’ Cup Juvenile (G1) star Fierceness is a third-generation colorbearer for Repole Stable, on his mother’s side, and Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher looms large on both halves of the pedigree.

Pletcher trained both of his grandsires, Quality Road (in the second half of his career) and Stay Thirsty, as well as his mother and maternal grandmother. Moreover, Pletcher’s protege-turned-trainer in his own right, Michael McCarthy, developed Fierceness’s sire, City of Light.

Let’s dive into this deep pedigree with 10 fun facts that are more like jumping-off points:

1. Fierceness joins sire City of Light as a Breeders’ Cup winner.

Fierceness is from the second crop of $5.6 million-earner City of Light, hero of four Grade 1 races including the 2018 Breeders’ Cup Dirt Mile (G1) and 2019 Pegasus World Cup (G1). City of Light finished in the top two in all but one start; the outlier was a third in the Gold Cup at Santa Anita (G1), his only try at the classic distance of 1 1/4 miles.

Now in the club of Breeders’ Cup winners to sire a winner at the Championships, City of Light was represented by a couple of high-profile fillies in his first crop. Chop Chop just missed in the 2022 Alcibiades (G1), and Mimi Kakushi, the 2023 UAE Oaks (G3) victress, competed in the Kentucky Oaks (G1). Along with Fierceness, City of Light has promising colts Conquest Warrior and Lightline on the trail in 2024.

2. City of Light’s sire, Quality Road, was the favorite for the 2009 Kentucky Derby.

Quality Road stamped himself as the early Derby favorite in 2009 after landing the Florida Derby (G1) and Fountain of Youth (G2), only to have foot problems force him out of the Run for the Roses. Transferred to Pletcher, he returned later that summer to set a track record at Saratoga. Quality Road added laurels to his resume at four in the 2010 Metropolitan H. (G1), Donn H. (G1) (breaking his own track record at Gulfstream Park), and Woodward (G1).

An outstanding sire of such champions as Abel Tasman (the 2017 Kentucky Oaks winner), Caledonia Road, and Corniche, Quality Road is also responsible for 2023 Preakness (G1) scorer National Treasure, who nearly upset Cody’s Wish in the Dirt Mile. Among his offspring to watch this season are budding turf star Integration and three-year-old prospects Track Phantom, Coach Prime, Air of Defiance, and the filly Impel.

3. Fierceness comes from the same immediate male line as Smarty Jones.

Quality Road shares the same sire as champion Smarty Jones, who came so agonizingly close to completing a Triple Crown sweep in 2004. Unbeaten through the Derby and Preakness, Smarty Jones was just caught in the final strides of Belmont (G1).

Smarty Jones and Quality Road are both by Elusive Quality, a world record-setting miler on turf. Elusive Quality is in turn by one of Mr. Prospector’s most influential sons, Gone West. This is the prepotent sire line of Hall of Famer Native Dancer, who suffered his only career loss when a troubled second in the 1953 Kentucky Derby.

4. City of Light’s pedigree duplicates Secretariat.

Although City of Light’s pedigree sports duplications of supersire Northern Dancer and Raise a Native, racing fans will especially appreciate his doubling-up of Secretariat. The all-time great Triple Crown conqueror of 1973 appears twice as the sire of a mare (i.e., a “broodmare sire” or “damsire”) in City of Light’s ancestry.

Secretariat sired the dam (mother) of the aforementioned Gone West as well as the dam of Dehere, the champion two-year-old colt of 1993. Dehere himself sired City of Light’s dam, Paris Notion.

But there’s a further Secretariat connection: Paris Notion is inbred to Secretariat’s own dam, Somethingroyal. In addition to descending from Somethingroyal via Secretariat, Paris Notion also descends from a lesser son of Somethingroyal, Somethingfabulous. He didn’t live up to that name on the track, but Somethingfabulous was a useful sire in California; Paris Notion is out of his Grade 1-winning daughter, Fabulous Notion.

5. Fierceness is bred along the same lines as Emblem Road and Dunbar Road.

Emblem Road, who stunned the $20 million Saudi Cup (G1) in 2022, and Grade 1-winning millionaire Dunbar Road are both bred on the same pattern. They’re by Quality Road and out of mares by Bernardini, a champion son of Hall of Famer A.P. Indy.

Fierceness carries that idea into the next generation. His sire is by Quality Road and his dam, Nonna Bella, is by a son of Bernardini – Stay Thirsty.

6. Nonna Bella’s parents, Stay Thirsty and Nonna Mia, were notable Repole runners.

Stay Thirsty was among the prominent three-year-olds of 2011. Just missing in the Belmont, he scored in the Travers (G1) and concluded his career on another high note in the 2012 Cigar Mile (G1).

Nonna Mia didn’t quite attain the same level, but she demonstrated her class in good company. Third in the 2009 Frizette (G1) and Tempted (G3) as a juvenile, she was stakes-placed at Saratoga the following season.

7. Fierceness’s close maternal relatives include Derby trail veterans Cairo Prince and Outwork.

Nonna Mia has proven to have a greater influence as a broodmare. Aside from producing Nonna Bella, Nonna Mia foaled 2016 Wood Memorial (G1) victor and Kentucky Derby competitor Outwork. Now Outwork is a solid young sire, getting the past two winners of the Spinaway (G1) (Leave No Trace and Brightwork).

Moreover, Nonna Mia is herself a half-sister to Cairo Prince, who made a splash early on the 2014 trail. Unfortunately, Cairo Prince’s career was derailed by injury, but like Outwork, he’s become a successful sire.

8. Nonna Mia is the daughter and granddaughter of beaten Derby favorites.

Nonna Mia’s sire, Empire Maker, was favored to emulate his own Kentucky Derby-winning sire, Unbridled (1990). Empire Maker was famously upset by popular gelding Funny Cide in that 2003 Derby, but he gained revenge in the Belmont – and at stud. Empire Maker’s paternal grandsons include American Pharoah (the 2015 Triple Crown champion) and Always Dreaming (2017 Derby scorer), and Mandaloun (2021) is out of an Empire Maker mare.

Nonna Mia is out of the multiple stakes-winning Holy Bubbette, by Holy Bull, who threw in a clunker as the favorite in the 1994 Derby. Back in form right after that blip, Holy Bull rattled off a winning streak to reign as Horse of the Year and ultimately merit the Hall of Fame. He also gained Derby consolation through his son Giacomo, who pulled a 50-1 surprise in 2005.

9. Fierceness traces to a daughter of English Triple Crown legend *Bahram.

Tracing the female line further back, one finds Now and Again, not a significant mare in her own right, but interesting for her parents. Her sire is *Bahram, the unbeaten winner of England’s Triple Crown in 1935. That ancient treble comprises classics ranging from a mile (the 2000 Guineas at Newmarket), to 1 1/2 miles (the original Derby at Epsom), and finally an extended 1 3/4 miles in the world’s oldest classic (the St Leger at Doncaster). So difficult is it to achieve in the modern era that *Bahram has had only one successor – Nijinsky II (1970), who appears deep in Quality Road’s ancestry.

10. Fierceness shares the same “plow mare” ancestress as the great miler Miesque.

Now and Again is out of Now What, the champion two-year-old filly of 1939. Now What’s dam, That’s That, is herself a full sister to Hall of Famer Sarazen. Their dam, Rush Box, was disparagingly regarded as a “plow mare” before Sarazen put her on the map, and Now What admirably continued her matrilineal legacy.

Now What produced a two-time champion herself in Next Move. Another daughter of Now What, Sea-Change, would become the ancestress of Hall of Famer Miesque, the two-time Breeders’ Cup Mile (G1) queen, dam of Kingmambo, and all-around influential matron.

Digging much further, this is the family labeled No. 20 that claims Derby winners Meridian (1911) and Alysheba (1987). Fierceness has a more solid connection to Meridian, both descending from an American mare named Mary Bedford (foaled 1816).