Ferocious Attempts Two Turns in Breeders' Futurity

Chancer McPatrick and Ferocious, 1-2 in the seven-furlong Hopeful Stakes (G1) at Saratoga Race Course Sept. 2, return to action Oct. 5, though in races hundreds of miles apart. Flanagan Racing's Chancer McPatrick heads the one-mile Champagne Stakes (G1) at Aqueduct Racetrack, while Ferocious leads an 11-horse field in the 1 1/16-mile Breeders' Futurity (G1) at Keeneland. Both races are part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series: Win and You're In, providing paid, automatic entry into the Nov. 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar. The $600,000 Breeders' Futurity has the advantage of being at the same distance as the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, plus with a two-turn configuration. Ferocious is likely to be favored in his first route. A debut winner by 7 3/4 lengths Aug. 3 in the mud at Saratoga going six furlongs, he stretched out an eighth of a mile for the Hopeful, this time losing by a half-length. Inexperience, as well as an outstanding performance from Chancer McPatrick, contributed to his defeat. Well positioned in third early, Ferocious fell back to fourth in early stretch while losing focus before re-engaging to finish just behind the winner. Ferocious lost his left front shoe during the race. "When that horse (got) outside of me, he turned his engine on," rider Irad Ortiz Jr. said after the Hopeful. "He was fighting back and he ran a really good race. I have a good trip. I got run down by that one, but he was fighting back, so I'm happy with him." Javier Castellano, who piloted Ferocious to his debut victory, was scheduled to ride him Saturday and in the Hopeful, but with the Hall of Famer still recovering from injury, the mount in the Breeders' Futurity goes to Luis Saez. Ferocious trained in Saratoga after the Hopeful before arriving at Keeneland near Lexington this week. Gustavo Delgado trains the $1.3 million Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training purchase for owners JR Ranch, Ramiro Restrepo, High Step Racing, and Delgado's OGMA Investments. Delgado was pleased with what he could see of his Flatter colt as he trained in thick fog Oct. 1 at Keeneland. The trainer, who saddled Mage to victory in the 2023 Kentucky Derby (G1), opted to bypass the Champagne for the Breeders' Futurity. "He's a baby; he needs to learn," Delgado said. "The Champagne (is) at a mile; that's like going seven furlongs at Saratoga. It's the same thing. Here he gets two turns." A win in the Futurity could land Delgado on the Triple Crown trail again, as the race offers points on a 10-5-3-2-1 scale to the top five finishers as part of the Road to the Kentucky Derby. The rail-drawn juvenile is one of two graded-placed runners in the field, the other being Spendthrift Farm and Repole Stable's Tenacious Leader, a close second to subsequent Pilgrim Stakes (G2T) winner Zulu Kingdom (IRE) in the Aug. 29 With Anticipation Stakes (G3T) at Saratoga. Tenacious Leader, a son of Not This Time, is a versatile performer who won an off-the-turf race on dirt in his second career outing. Florent Geroux picks up the mount on the Todd Pletcher trainee. Pletcher has won the Breeders' Futurity four times, including the past two years with Locked (2023) and Forte (2022). The latter repeated in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile during his championship juvenile season. Other promising 2-year-olds in the Breeders' Futurity are Handsome Pants, a debut winner at 1 1/16 miles Sept. 14 at Churchill Downs for trainer Kenny McPeek; East Avenue, an eight-length victor of his only start Aug. 24 when sprinting six furlongs at Ellis Park; and Dapper Moon, a five-length, second-out winner Aug. 31 at Saratoga going seven furlongs.