Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Firenze Fire works, being pointed to Runhappy Stakes
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – After a winter vacation in South Florida, Firenze Fire is back in New York, where on Friday the 11-time stakes winner worked five furlongs in 1:00.99 over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for his 6-year-old campaign.
Trainer Kelly Breen said Firenze Fire is pointing to the Grade 3, $150,000 Runhappy Stakes at Belmont Park on May 8. Firenze Fire won the Runhappy in 2019, one of five stakes victories Firenze Fire owns at Belmont Park. In 2017, Firenze Fire won the Grade 1 Champagne.
The year-end goal for Firenze Fire is the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Del Mar. Firenze Fire finished third in last year’s Sprint at Keeneland. If he makes the Breeders’ Cup, it will be the fifth consecutive year Firenze Fire will have run in a Breeders’ Cup race.
When last seen in New York, Firenze Fire was entered in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile last December at Aqueduct. When the track came up sloppy, Breen and owner Ron Lombardi scratched Firenze Fire and shipped him to South Florida where he finished second, beaten a half-length, by Sleepy Eyes Todd in the Grade 3 Mr. Prospector Handicap at Gulfstream Park on Dec. 19.
Following that race, it was decided to give Firenze Fire a freshening.
“This is the first time he’s had a break in a long time,” said Breen, who took over the training of Firenze Fire from Jason Servis last year. “He’s fresh, he looks great, he’s training great. I’m kind of energetic.”
Firenze Fire had four works at the Palm Meadows training center in South Florida before shipping to New York. In his Friday work, done by himself, Firenze Fire went in splits of 13.46 seconds, 25.59, 37.28, and got his last quarter in 23.69 seconds. His final time was the fastest of 17 works at the distance.
Abreu gearing up the ‘Beast’
As trainer Jorge Abreu watches Mystic Guide turn into the top older horse in training, he is getting excited for Liveyourbeastlife’s return to racing.
Last summer at 3, Liveyourbeastlife finished second to Mystic Guide in the Grade 2 Jim Dandy Stakes at Saratoga. Liveyourbeastlife came back to run last in the Preakness Stakes before being put away for the rest of the year. This year, Mystic Guide has won the Dubai World Cup and the Grade 3 Razorback.
Speaking of Liveyourbeastlife’s Preakness, Abreu said: “I thought he was going to run better than that. He’s a weird horse and Trevor [McCarthy] didn’t know him. He’s not going to take you there. Trevor had to ask him early and he didn’t fire. I gave him a little time off. He probably needed the break. He was going since he was 2.”
On Friday, Liveyourbeastlife worked five furlongs in 1:02 over Belmont Park’s main track. He went in company with Shawdyshawdyshawdy, who is scheduled to run in next Sunday’s $100,000 Woodlawn Stakes for 3-year-olds at Aqueduct.
Abreu is pointing Liveyourbeastlife to an allowance at Belmont Park on April 30 and will determine where to go after that race.
Meanwhile, Abreu has gotten the Aqueduct spring meet off to a terrific start. On Thursday, he won a maiden race with the 3-year-old first-time starter Star Devine, who overcame a slow start to win a sixfurlong grass race by 1 1/2 lengths. She covered six furlongs in 1:07.93 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 76.
Abreu said the daughter of Fastnet Rock had worked fast as a 2-year-old but that work took a toll on her and he told owner
Larry Goichman he wanted to turn the filly out.
“She didn’t eat for like three weeks,” Abreu said. “I talked to Larry and he let me send her to the farm for 60 days and she grew and she came back and I only gave her six breezes.”
Abreu believes Star Devine wants to run longer and plans to stretch her out to a mile or 1 1/16 miles for her next start.
On Friday, Abreu won with another firster, Supply and Demand, who took a sixfurlong dirt race by two lengths. Supply and Demand is a 3-year-old gelding by Exaggerator owned by Seth Klarman’s Klaravich Stables.
Saratoga backstretch to open
The Saratoga backstretch will open for horses on Thursday and the first day of training will take place Saturday.
Training will occur on the main track for the first month while the New York Racing Association continues its work expanding the Oklahoma training track, which typically opens before the main track.
The Oklahoma training track is being widened by 10 to 14 feet in most places. A new safety rail also is being installed. The Oklahoma training track is expected to open sometime in May.
The Saratoga meet begins July 15.