Daily Racing Form National Digital Edition
Firenze Fire targets Gotham
Firenze Fire, the half-length winner of Saturday’s $150,000 Jerome Stakes at Aqueduct, will most likely make his next start in the Grade 3, $300,000 Gotham Stakes on March 10 at Aqueduct, trainer Jason Servis said Sunday.
Servis said Firenze Fire would be nominated to the Grade 3, $250,000 Withers Stakes on Feb. 3, but he would only consider running the horse “if he’s coming over the webbing,” Servis said. “It’s safe to say we’ll do the Gotham.”
On a track that played kindly to front-runners, Firenze Fire was last of six, but only three lengths off the pace early under Manny Franco. He rallied four wide in the stretch and was eventually able to get by the pacesetting Seven Trumpets. Though the final time of 1:42.88 for one mile was pedestrian, Firenze Fire earned a respectable 90 Beyer Speed Figure.
“I thought he had a lot to do, but Manny got the job done,” Servis said by phone from Florida, where he watched the race via simulcast. “He ran against the bias and was hung way out there.”
Based on his victories in the Jerome and last October’s Grade 1 Champagne, Firenze Fire has 20 qualifying points toward the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Ron Lombardi, Firenze Fire’s owner, said it is his dream to run in the Derby. Firenze Fire would likely need only a second-place finish in the Gotham to secure a spot in the Derby.
The Gotham, like the Jerome and last year’s Grade 1 Champagne which Firenze Fire also won, is a one-turn mile. That race offers 85 qualifying points to the top four finishers (50-2010-5) toward the Kentucky Derby. That would mean the earliest Firenze Fire would attempt 1 1/8 miles would be the Wood Memorial on April 7 at Aqueduct.
“The way he runs, it looks like he’ll get it,” Servis said.
Though the weather has been harsh in New York this winter, Servis, who also has horses stabled at Palm Meadows in south Florida, is content to leave Firenze Fire at Belmont Park to train even though he won’t run again for eight weeks. Servis said he left Sunny Ridge in New York in 2016 and that horse won the Withers and ran fourth in the Gotham before a setback prevented him from running in the Wood.
“I don’t have any problem with staying in New York,” Servis said.
Meanwhile, Seven Trumpets, the Jerome runner-up, will likely return to trainer Dale Romans’s Gulfstream Park barn this week while his connections plot that colt’s next move. He did well to finish a clear second, five lengths ahead of third-place finisher Colt and mississippi, in the Jerome and then did gallop out past Firenze Fire after the race. Jockey Paco Lopez said he didn’t feel Seven Trumpets liked the muddy surface.
“We definitely loved the way he galloped out,” said Terry Finley, president of West Point Thoroughbreds. “We always knew he was a nice horse.”
Finley said that Seven Trumpets “undeniably” earned a shot at another Kentucky Derby prep race. Finley mentioned races such as the Withers (Feb. 3 at Aqueduct), the Sam F. Davis (Feb. 10 at Tampa), and the Fountain of Youth (March 3 at Gulfstream) among the options.
English Soul likely for Busher
English Soul, the 2 3/4-length winner of Sunday’s East View Stakes for New Yorkbred fillies, will likely make her next start in the $200,000 Busher Stakes on March 3, trainer Ray Handal said.
The Busher, like the East View and the two previous dirt races English Soul has won, is a one-turn mile. Handal was originally planning to run English Soul around two turns in next Sunday’s Busanda Stakes, at 1 1/8 miles, but the three-week delay in the East View spoiled those plans. The East View had originally been scheduled for Dec. 28, but was delayed due to weather-related cancellations.
“When she goes two turns, she’ll have even more of a lethal punch,” Handal said. “She has an unlimited supply of energy, is the way I describe it.”
English Soul, who was ridden to victory by Manny Franco, gave Handal, 28, his first stakes victory as a trainer since going out on his own three years ago.
English Soul, a daughter of English Channel owned by Zilla Racing, was assigned a 68 Beyer Speed Figure for her East View victory.
My Boy Tate, the threelength winner of Saturday’s Say Florida Sandy Stakes for New York-bred sprinters, will likely step into open company for his next start. His options include the Grade 3, $250,000 General George Stakes going seven furlongs Feb. 17 at Laurel Park or the Grade 3, $200,000 Tom Fool Handicap on March 10 at Aqueduct. The Tom Fool is run at six furlongs.
My Boy Tate, a 4-year-old gelding by Boys At Tosconova, won his fourth straight race in the Say Florida Sandy. He earned a 97 Beyer for the effort.