Firing Line entering Preakness 'as well as he was going into the Derby'
Firing Line entering Preakness 'as well as he was going
into the Derby'
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Arnold Zetcher's Firing Line (Line of David) galloped 1 1/4 miles over Pimlico track Friday morning to the satisfaction of trainer Simon Callaghan, one day before he takes part in the 140th Preakness S. (G1). "Everything's good. I really liked the way he galloped. He hit his leads perfectly. It was a good morning," Callaghan said after watching his Kentucky Derby (G1) runner-up's preparation for the middle jewel of the Triple Crown. "He's training equally as well as he was going into the Derby. We're seeing all the same things, so I couldn't be happier." Rated third on the Preakness morning-line at 4-1, Firing Line has finished no worse than second in six races contested over five racetracks, including a victory over Del Mar's old synthetic surface and a 14 1/4-length romp in the Sunland Park Derby (G3) on dirt. "He runs equally as well on every racetrack. I think it's because he's such an athlete. He's a good-moving, fluent-moving horse. He's such an athletic horse," Callaghan asserted. Firing Line has shown high early speed, as well as the ability to rate off the early pace. "That's the one thing about him -- he's a horse that doesn't need the lead; he can adapt to any circumstances. We'll just see how the race unfolds," Callaghan said. "You never really know until the gates open. You can presume there's going to be a lot of speed, but when you predict there's going to be speed, it doesn't happen."
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See an interview with Callaghan at the following link:
Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens has the return mount
aboard the bay colt.
In addition to the two early favorites, Derby winner American Pharoah (Pioneerof
the Nile) and Derby third-placer Dortmund (Big Brown), Firing Line will face two
other runners from the May 2 Run for the Roses.
One of those is Danzig Moon (Malibu Moon), whom trainer Mark Casse got to see on the track at Pimlico for the first time Friday morning when he took
the Ontario-bred out for a routine gallop at around 7:45 a.m. (EDT).
"Normally the day before (a big race) we go
straight out and have an easy mile or mile and a quarter," explained Casse, who
arrived at Pimlico on Thursday to join his son/assistant Norman at the Preakness
Stakes Barn. "That's what he did today. He likes it here."
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Danzig Moon finished 6 1/2 lengths behind winner American Pharoah as a troubled fifth in the Kentucky Derby field of 18. When asked how he planned to turn the tables on trainer Bob Baffert's colt, Casse answered quickly. "Well, I've already started praying," he said. "Norman called me yesterday and he goes, 'I've got some good news and I've got some bad news. The good news is our horse trained great. The bad news is so did the others (Baffert's duo of American Pharoah and Dortmund).'" Casse admits, however, that it was all pretty much good news when he watched the post-position draw on Wednesday from his home base in Canada. His colt, an off-the-pace type, drew post 4 in the field. "To me, post position for us meant nothing," he said. "But boy, I have to admit I smiled a little when American Pharoah went to No. 1, because to me, what does Martin Garcia (Dortmund, post No. 2) do? If he runs head-and-head with Bob's other horse (American Pharoah) -- I understand they're different owners -- but he rides for Bob Baffert. If those two hook up...I don't see that happening. "Does that mean that American Pharoah goes or Dortmund goes? If Dortmund goes, you're going to have Gary Stevens (on Firing Line) licking his chops because he's going to keep American Pharoah down in there. If Victor Espinoza (on American Pharoah) yells to Martin Garcia 'I'm here,' will Martin Garcia come off the rail and let American Pharoah go? And us, we just sit back and hope it all happens."
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And Casse expects a different kind of trip than
Danzig Moon had at Churchill Downs two weeks ago.
"In the Derby, (jockey) Julien (Leparoux)
needed to hustle Danzig Moon away from there to get position, and when he did he
really put him on the bridle and that's why he ran into that trouble going into
the first turn," the horseman explained. "I think tomorrow we just fall out of there, and I
think if he does that, he'll be a little bit more relaxed. We've just got to
hope for a battle royale up front and save ground and come with a run. We look
like we're one of the few horses that can come with some type of a run."
Danzig Moon will be Casse's second Preakness
starter. The seven-time Sovereign Award winner as Canada's top trainer finished
seventh with Dynamic Impact (Tiznow) last year.
"We love it here," Casse said of racing's middle jewel of the Triple Crown.
"It's so much less stressful than the Derby."
Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) would probably agree following his 13th-place finish in
the Run for the Roses. On Friday morning, the newly purchased Calumet Farm
colorbearer toured Pimlico's track at 5:55 a.m., paid a visit to the paddock and then galloped 1
1/2 miles under
exercise rider Edvin Vargas for trainer D. Wayne Lukas.
"He was good in the paddock and he was
breathing fire when he came out of there, because he knew he was going to get to
do something," Lukas said.
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Mr. Z was the first Preakness entrant to arrive at Pimlico for Saturday's race, getting to Baltimore on Tuesday after vanning from Churchill Downs. "He is better than I have ever seen him. He is really doing well here," Lukas said. With a possibility of rain in the forecast for Saturday, Lukas was asked about the colt's ability to handle an off track. "He trained on one practically all winter at Oaklawn Park," Lukas said. "He likes an off track. I never have seen this track as deep as it is now and if it gets some water on it, it would help it." In Saturday's Preakness, Mr. Z will be reunited with jockey Corey Nakatani, who rode him to a third-place finish on a sealed, sloppy track at Oaklawn in the Southwest S. (G3) three months ago. In that race, Mr. Z set the pace in the two-turn, 1 1/16-mile race from the outside No. 11 post. "There is no way to choreograph or script the way you want a race to run," Lukas said. "There are five horses in there that have similar styles. I just want him to break clean and get a chance to run."
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Listed at 20-1 on the morning line, Mr. Z would
be in line to possibly produce the biggest Lukas payoff should he provide the
Hall of Fame trainer with a record-tying seventh Preakness victory. Oxbow, at
15-1 in 2013, was the longest Lukas shot to win the Preakness.
"If we are on the board, I will be very happy,"
Lukas said.
Lukas said that he considers one of his Preakness winners
to be his best training job.
"That would be Tabasco Cat," Lukas said of the 1994 Preakness and Belmont
winner. "It took three Texas cowboys to get a saddle on him."
See an interview with Lukas at the following link:
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