DEL MAR — For a horse with a record of bad starts and a history of disappointment at Del Mar, the Pacific Classic on Saturday started out like a hard-to-watch rerun.

Fierceness came out of the inside stall in the starting gate and soon took a left turn, looking as if he was going to jump over or crash through the temporary rail with jockey John Velazquez.

“Yeah, he had us a little worried there,” said Sophie Green, the assistant trainer who traveled with the New York-based Fierceness for the $1 million, Grade I Pacific Classic.

“I wasn’t very happy,” said trainer Todd Pletcher, who’d watched the race on TV at owner Mike Repole’s house in Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

If Green and Pletcher seemed to be speaking in understatements, maybe it’s because they knew how the drama turned out.

Fiercen

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