Multiple grade-1 placed colt Ferocious died April 7 as a result of laminitis. Co-owner Ramiro Restrepo said it had been a downward slide for the son of Flatter since running in the Feb. 1 Holy Bull Stakes (G3) at Gulfstream Park.
Restrepo said he and his partners have lost their "flag bearer."
"You read about these things and especially laminitis," Restrepo told BloodHorse. "It's such a tough, difficult thing to overcome. And it's just one thing after another. So it's crazy how we got here, but it's a tough one for the whole team to digest."
Ferocious sustained a muscle tear in the Holy Bull, but it was difficult to pinpoint the injury. Initially, the thought was he would need 30-90 days off. But the colt developed a cellulitis infection in that same foreleg two weeks later. As a result, Ferocious spent the next two weeks at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Wellington, Fla., where the connections were able to get a clearer picture and knew the colt would need an extended break from training.
While rehabbing, Ferocious developed laminitis in the injured leg. Restrepo said Ferocious struggled to put weight on the injured leg, but the other foreleg developed laminitis as well, and the colt then tried to put weight on the originally injured leg.
"It was just a snowball of things from the race on through, it's like we never caught a break. … Like a prize fighter, he was getting back from one thing, he got punched with another. So it was just unbelievable," Restrepo said.
He said the last week has been "pretty rough" because the onset of issues caused by laminitis was already in play.
"You're fighting it with all the benefits of modern medicine," he said. "But he had a really rough seven to 10 days and then the last three days have been really bad. Today was just the worst thing."
Ferocious won his debut Aug. 3, 2024, at Saratoga Race Course, besting his nearest competitor by nearly eight lengths. He followed that with a pair of seconds in the Hopeful Stakes (G1) and the Breeders' Futurity (G1) before finishing fifth in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) at Del Mar.
Exactly three months later, Ferocious made his much-anticipated 2025 debut in the Holy Bull, in which he finished fourth.
Owned by JR Ranch, Restrepo's Marquee Bloodstock, High Step Racing, and OGMA Investments, Ferocious was 1-2-0 from five starts and $299,750 in earnings. Gustavo Delgado served as the colt's trainer.
Restrepo purchased the colt for $1.3 million at the 2024 Ocala Breeders' March Sale of 2-Year-Olds in Training out of the Sequel Bloodstock consignment.
"Just an awesome, supremely talented animal," Restrepo said of how he will remember Ferocious. "His talent and intelligence were amazing. ... What a specimen of a physical. He was an Adonis of a racehorse, and it's very rare to be around a horse like that."
