Multiple grade-1 placed Ferocious is off the Kentucky Derby (G1) trail with a muscle tear injury possibly sustained during the Feb. 1 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park. The son of Flatter, fourth in the Holy Bull, has not worked since the race.
"It's a difficult diagnosis due to the location of the muscle tear. ... it had to have happened during top exertion and that was last in the Holy Bull," co-owner Ramiro Restrepo told BloodHorse Feb. 28. "He got a cellulitis infection of his leg which when cleared up showed the tear. So it's tough to pinpoint the timing (of when the injury happened) but based on the timetable it was during the Holy Bull."
Restrepo, who races under the moniker of Marquee Bloodstock and signed the ticket for Ferocious at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' Sale March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training, said Ferocious will receive 60-90 days off to allow the muscle injury to heal.
Ferocious stood in 19th on the Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard with 12 points. The colt, a $1.3 million purchase, gained notoriety last year as he hailed from some of the same connections as 2023 Kentucky Derby winner Mage . Trained by Gustavo Delgado, Ferocious opened his account with a glittering debut score in August 2024 at Saratoga Race Course before turning in back-to-back runner-up efforts in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) and Breeders' Futurity (G1). He culminated his juvenile campaign with a hard-luck fifth-place finish in the Breeder's Cup Juvenile (G1) for owners JR Ranch, Marquee Bloodstock, High Step Racing, and OGMA Investments.
