Fierce and Strong not to be taken lightly in Listed $150K Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship

Ultra Championship Racing’s Pennsylvania-bred Fierce and Strong brings solid form into Saturday’s Listed $150,000 Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship, a six-furlong outer turf sprint for 3-year-olds and up, at Belmont at the Big A.

The Aqueduct Turf Sprint Championship is slated as Race 9 on Saturday’s 10-race card, which also features the Listed $150,000 Nashua in Race 4. First post is 12:05 p.m. Eastern.

The Big A will be open to the public from 10:30 a.m. until 9 p.m. on Saturday so racing fans can watch and wager on the simulcast of the Breeders’ Cup from Del Mar. Saturday’s Breeders’ Cup program is headlined by the Grade 1, $7 million Breeders’ Cup Classic.

Fierce and Strong [post 4, Jaime Rodriguez] will look to build upon an ultra-consistent turf record of 15-8-4-1 for trainer Michael Salvaggio, Jr.

The 5-year-old Hoppertunity gelding exits a troubled third in the six-furlong Laurel Dash on September 13 at its namesake track. There, Fierce and Strong exited post 5-of-10 under Jaime Torres and was steadied inside the first sixteenth before settling into seventh position as Fore Harp marked the opening quarter-mile in 22.61 over the firm footing.

Fierce and Strong was taken up while in tight into the turn as Had to Have Him blew by to his outside to attack the leaders. Fierce and Strong saved ground into the stretch run before tipping out and launching a strong late bid to earn show honors, a head back of the prominent runner-up Mischievous Angel and two lengths in arrears of the victorious Had to Have Him, who exited that event to win the Maryland Million Turf Sprint.

“I think he was much the best in that race - that one hurt,” Salvaggio, Jr. said. “If he would have got a clean trip, I think he would have won. He got steadied coming out of the gate, so he was probably a little farther back than he should have been. The winner came back and won, so that's encouraging.”

Fierce and Strong put together a three-race win streak earlier this year, taking a five-furlong optional-claimer over good going in May at Pimlico Race Course ahead of a nose win over yielding going when stretched out to 1 1/16-miles against fellow state-breds in the Alphabet Soup Handicap on June 27 at Penn National. He completed the triple at 12-1 odds by cutting back to 5 1/2-furlongs to win the Wolf Hill over firm going on July 19 at Monmouth Park when 1 3/4-lengths better than favored returning rival Nothing Better.

The Wolf Hill proved to be a strong race as fourth-place finisher Buccherino exited that event to win a pair of dirt sprints at Parx; fifth-place Silver Slugger also enjoyed subsequent dirt success with scores in the Rumson at Monmouth and Wilmington at Delaware; and last-of-7 Fore Harp, who stumbled at the break, was a next-out winner of the Marshall Jenney on firm Penn National turf.

Salvaggio, Jr. said he expects another big effort from Fierce and Strong.

“It won't be an easy spot, but I think we'll be in the mix,” Salvaggio, Jr. said. “He can run long or short. He can go up to a mile and a sixteenth, but I think six furlongs might be his best distance. He'll handle softer turf too.”

Fierce and Strong is a winner of 10-of-28 outings, including a victory in the 1 1/16-mile state-bred With Anticipation last year at Penn National that capped another three-race win streak.

Salvaggio said the aptly-named Fierce and Strong likes to compete.

“It's his temperament. He's a pretty aggressive type horse. When he has the tack on, he wants to go,” Salvaggio said.

Colts Neck Stables’ Nothing Better [post 6, Jose Lezcano] enjoys an 8-3-2-0 record over the Big A turf, including back-to-back wins in this event in 2022-23.

Trained by Jorge Duarte, Jr., the 8-year-old Munnings gelding, who was a prominent second in the aforementioned Wolf Hill in July at Monmouth when pressed by a keen favorite in Isivunguvungu, was last seen finishing last-of-8 in the Listed Van Clief on August 9 at Colonial Downs.

The talented turf sprinter, who boasts a 34-11-9-3 ledger for purse earnings of $876,282, earned a graded placing here when a 1 1/4-length second to Senbei in the Grade 3 Belmont Turf Sprint last October.

Bred in Kentucky by Don Alberto Corporation, the classy Nothing Better is out of the Irish-bred Duke of Marmalade mare One True Love – a half-sister to Grade 1-winner Folk Opera. He was a $230,000 purchase at the 2019 OBS April Sale.

Trainer George Weaver will send out R. A. Hill Stable and SGV Thoroughbreds’ Grade 3-placed Outlaw Kid [post 3, Ricardo Santana, Jr.].

Outlaw Kid finished fifth in this event last year and arrives from a 1 3/4-length sixth in the Grade 2 Woodford on October 4 at Keeneland. The 6-year-old Ontario-bred Violence gelding boasts a 4-2-0-1 record over course and distance and seeks his first win since taking the Vice Regent versus fellow Ontario-breds last August at Woodbine.

A competitive field includes local graded stakes-winner Dancing Buck [post 7, Luis Rivera, Jr.], who is entered back on short rest from a fourth-place finish in the New York Turf Sprint Championship here Saturday for trainer Michelle Nevin; multiple stakes-winner Big Everest [post 2, Kendrick Carmouche] for conditioner Miguel Clement; Niagara Skyline [post 8, Dylan Davis], who was claimed by trainer Fernando Abreu for $50,000 out of a winning effort over course and distance last out on October 16; six-time winner Incinerator [post 5, Ismerio Villalobos], who landed fourth last out in the Da Hoss for conditioner Jose Magana; and three-time winner Knockanara [post 1, Jorge Ruiz], who has finished first or second in each of his last six outings for trainer Sarah Nagle. Damon’s Mound, Gatsby, Bouncer, Over and Ollie and Barksdale are entered from the main-track only.

America’s Day at the Races will present live coverage and analysis of the Belmont at the Big A fall meet on the networks of FOX Sports. For the broadcast schedule and channel finder, visit https://www.nyra.com/aqueduct/racing/tv-schedule/.

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