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| Sumita Pawar |
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Trainer Todd Pletcher and jockey John Velazquez started their partnership by winning a maiden claiming race at Aqueduct Racetrack in April 1996. Since then, they have won a total of 1,865 races together, including the 2017 Kentucky Derby with Always Dreaming. Now, after 28 years of their first pairing, the duo will attempt to win another Derby with Fierceness in Churchill Downs paddock before the 4th May Derby.
Although Pletcher and Velazquez have the most respective Derby starters and rides of any of the Derby's participants, this will mark just the first time since 2018 that they have paired in the classic.
For a period of years, Velazquez also shifted his winter base to Southern California, where Baffert stables his horses—though he returned to Florida this winter, citing family issues and, understandably, a desire to stay close to a coveted mount in Fierceness.
Reflecting these shifts, Velazquez has teamed up with other jockeys like Irad Ortiz Jr., Jose Ortiz, and Luis Saez. They have teamed for 19 wins over the 85-mount five-year stretch, a tiny fraction of their overall 7,251-ride association.
Fierceness, the reigning 2YO male champion, and winner of the Florida Derby and 2023 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, is likely to be favored, just as Always Dreaming was in 2017. Velazquez has already won three times in the first leg of the Triple Crown, and he could join fellow Hall of Famer Mike Smith in winning the race as a 52YO.
Many observers believe Fierceness is Repole's best hope in the Derby, and his owner said that his family and friends, including his business partner Tom Brady, will be in attendance on Derby day. However, his most valuable athlete at the Derby—Velazquez—will not be alongside Repole in the stands, but aboard Fierceness.