Pedigree Power: Fierceness, White Abarrio Top Field of Five for Stallion-Making Met Mile

[Wandering Eyes]

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – Led by Breeders' Cup winners Fierceness (City of Light) and White Abarrio (Race Day), a talented field of five will line up for Saturday's GI Metropolitan Handicap on the stacked GI Belmont Stakes program at Saratoga. TDN's Senior Racing Editor Steve Sherack takes a closer look at the pedigrees of all five of the runners entered in the stallion-making race.

#1 FIERCENESS (c, 4, City of Light–Nonna Bella, by Stay Thirsty)
Lifetime Record: Ch. 2yo Colt & MGISW, 10-6-1-1, $4,315,320.
O-Repole Stable, Derrick Smith, Michael B. Tabor & Mrs. John Magnier; B-Repole Stable, Inc. (KY); T-Todd A. Pletcher.

'TDN Rising Star' Fierceness is one of two Grade I winners for young Lane's End stallion City of Light, winner of the GI Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile and GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. City of Light's sire Quality Road won the 2010 Met Mile and is also the sire of the race's 2024 winner National Treasure.

Mike Repole paid $200,000 for Fierceness's second dam Nonna Mia (Empire Maker)–named in honor of his grandmother–at the 2008 Fasig-Tipton Saratoga Sale. She was a talented 2-year-old in her own right, breaking her maiden by 12 lengths at second asking at Belmont Park before finishing third to stablemate Devil May Care (Malibu Moon) in the 2009 GI Frizette Stakes.

Nonna Mia, a close relative of MGSW sire Cairo Prince (Pioneerof the Nile), was an immediate hit in the breeding shed, first producing the multiple stakes-placed Nonna's Boy (Distorted Humor) before a mating with Uncle Mo resulted in Outwork, the 2016 GI Wood Memorial S. hero.

Fierceness, the champion 2-year-old colt of 2023, was produced by her third foal, the 11-year-old mare Nonna Bella, a daughter of Repole's 2011 GI Travers S. hero Stay Thirsty. Nonna Bella has also produced last year's GIII Futurity S. winner Mentee (City of Light), who set a track record going five furlongs on debut at the Big A last spring. Her 2-year-old filly Nonna's Love (Caravaggio) was a debut third at Keeneland this spring. Nonna Bella is also responsible for a colt by Uncle Mo of 2024 and a filly by Curlin of this year.

Legendary 1994 Met Mile winner Holy Bull is the sire of Fierceness's third dam.

Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher saddled the aforementioned Quality Road to a win in the 2010 Met Mile as well as 2014 winner Palace Malice.

Fierceness's loaded resume includes wins in the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Juvenile, the 2024 GI Curlin Florida Derby and GI Travers S. and a track-record setting performance in the GII Alysheba S. in his 4-year-old debut on the Kentucky Oaks undercard. He was also a too-good-to-lose second in last year's GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Del Mar. Fierceness is a perfect three-for-three at the Spa.

#2 WHITE ABARRIO (h, 6, Race Day–Catching Diamonds, by Into Mischief)
Lifetime Record: MGISW, 21-10-2-3, $6,971,920.
O-C Two Racing Stable LLC, Gary Barber & La Milagrosa Stable LLC; B-Spendthrift Farm, LLC (KY); T-Saffie A. Joseph, Jr.
Sales History: $7,500 Ylg '20 OBSWIN; $40,000 2yo '21 OBSMAR.

White Abarrio, a $7,500 OBS Winter yearling turned $40,000 OBS March 2-year-old (:10 2/5), is the lone graded winner for Race Day, a MGSW son of Tapit. The mighty Tapit is the sire of Met Mile winners Flightline (2022) and Frosted (2016).

White Abarrio | Sarah Andrew

Race Day previously stood at Spendthrift Farm in Kentucky, but was exported to Korea prior to the 2021 season. The Spendthrift Farm-bred White Abarrio is one of 11 graded winners–two at the top level–for the all-conquering Into Mischief as a broodmare sire.

The unplaced Catching Diamonds, a $425,000 Keeneland September yearling purchase by Spendthrift, produced White Abarrio as her first foal. A half to MGSW-UAE and MSW-U.S. Cool Cowboy (Kodiak Kowboy) and to the dam of GSW & GISP Mutasaabeq (Into Mischief) and GSW Eclatant (Into Mischief), she is also responsible for a 2-year-old filly by Yaupon and a Taiba colt of this year.

Four-time Grade I winner White Abarrio, hero of the 2023 GI Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita, has lined up in this race two previous times, finishing third downstate at Belmont in 2023 and a well-beaten fifth over this course last year. The 2023 GI Whitney S. winner is perfect in two starts this term, winning Gulfstream's GI Pegasus World Cup Invitational S. Jan. 25 and GIII Ghostzapper S. Mar. 29.

#3 CASTLE CHAOS (g, 7, Palace Malice–Queen Victoria, by Flatter)
Lifetime Record: MGSP, 22-3-6-5, $476,277.
O-Sanford J. Goldfarb, Nice Guys Stables, Robert N. Falcone, Jr., John D. Fielding & Beast Mode Racing LLC; B-Dragon Slayer Stable (KY); T-Robert N. Falcone, Jr.

We won't take too deep of a dive on the gelded Castle Chaos, a son of the race's previously mentioned 2014 winner Palace Malice, who is responsible for six graded/group winners worldwide. A longshot fourth in this race last year, Castle Chaos will be a huge price once again this weekend following a fourth-place finish in the Knicks Go Overnight S. at Churchill Downs May 3. He's been a fantastic claim by trainer Rob Falcone and owner Sandy Goldfarb, who dropped a $75,000 slip on him out of a runner-up effort on debut at Saratoga back in 2021.

#4 JUST A TOUCH (c, 4, Justify–Touching Beauty, by Tapit)
Lifetime Record: GISP, 7-3-3-0, $440,778.
O-Qatar Racing LLC, Resolute Racing & Marc Detampel; B-Don Alberto Corporation (KY); T-Brad H. Cox.
Sales History: $170,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $125,000 Ylg '22 FTKOCT; $300,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR.

Just a Touch is a son of 2018 Triple Crown winner Justify, already the sire of eight top-level winners worldwide.

He was produced by the Tapit mare Touching Beauty, winner of the 2010 GIII Comely Stakes at Aqueduct and an $800,000 Keeneland November purchase by Don Alberto in 2014. Her first foal was the stakes-placed gelding Corps of Discovery (Unbridled's Song). She has a 2024 Mandaloun colt and a 2025 Justify filly in the pipeline.

Leading sire Tapit has also achieved a tremendous amount of success as a broodmare sire, led by Horse of the Year and 2023 Met Mile winner Cody's Wish (Curlin) and 2023 GI Belmont Stakes winner Arcangelo (Arrogate). The Justify x Tapit cross has also produced Champions Dream, one of 24 graded/group winners for Justify.

After RNA'ing for $170,000 as a Keeneland September yearling, the Don Alberto-bred Just a Touch brought $125,000 from Scanlon Training & Sales as a Fasig-Tipton Kentucky Fall yearling, then $300,000 from Hunter Valley Farm's Fergus Galvin, who serves as an U.S. advisor to co-owner Qatar Racing's Sheikh Fahad, after breezing in a bullet :9 4/5 as an OBS April 2-year-old.

Just a Touch, a fantastic second behind subsequent Breeders' Cup Classic winner and 'TDN Rising Star' Sierra Leone (Gun Runner) in last year's GI Blue Grass S., kicked off his 4-year-old campaign with a pair of jaw-dropping allowance wins at Fair Grounds Mar. 1 and Keeneland Apr. 19.

#5 RAGING TORRENT (c, 4, Maximus Mischief–Violent Wave, by Violence)
Lifetime Record: GISW-US & GSW-UAE, 13-6-1-2, $1,247,400.
O-Yuesheng Zhang & Craig Dado; B-Rodney J. Winkler & Alfonso Mazzetti (KY); T-Chief Stipe F. O'Neill.
Sales History: $27,000 RNA Ylg '22 KEESEP; $75,000 2yo '23 OBSAPR.

Raging Torrent, winner of the GI Malibu S. at Santa Anita Dec. 26 and G2 Godolphin Mile at Meydan Apr. 5, is one of three graded winners and the first top-level winner for Maximus Mischief, a Spendthrift-based son of Into Mischief. He is the lone starter from his winning dam Violent Wave (Violence), who was claimed by Equinox, Inc. for just $6,250 out of her career finale at Gulfstream Park in 2018.

Raging Torrent | Sarah Andrew

Violent Wave, a $150,000 KEESEP yearling and a half-sister to GSW The Nth Degree (Distorted Humor), was offered with Raging Torrent in utero at the 2021 Keeneland January Sale, but was led out unsold on a bid of $27,000. Raging Torrent was himself bought back for the same price by breeders Rodney Winkler and Alfonso Mazzetti at Keeneland September in 2022, and it was Mark Davis's name (Steve Rothblum, agent) on the ticket when he fetched $75,000 at the 2023 OBS April Sale (:10).

The first daughter of Violence to produce a Grade I winner, Violent Wave is also the dam of the unraced 3-year-old colt Contra Mundum (Honor A.P.), a $55,000 RNA at KEESEP in 2023, and the 2-year-old filly Layan (Collected), a $47,000 KEENOV weanling.

Violent Wave was bought back for $575,000 in foal to Up to the Mark at the 2024 KEENOV sale.

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