Getting ‘Fired’ Up for Next Season

Firing Line (Line of David)–a game runner-up to Triple Crown hero American Pharoah (Pioneerof the Nile) in the GI Kentucky Derby–is aiming for a spring return. The handsome bay was eased after stumbling at the start over a very sloppy going when last seen finishing seventh in the GI Preakness S. at Pimlico May 16. He’s currently enjoying some downtime at WinStar Farm in Kentucky, according to owner Arnold Zetcher.

“He came out of the Preakness not as good as we would’ve hoped,” Zetcher commented. [Trainer] Simon [Callaghan] felt that we had to give him some time off after that and he’s doing really well now. The plan is to bring him back to Simon [in California] in a month or so.”

A pair of painful second-place finishes to ‘TDN Rising Star’ Dortmund (Big Brown) in both the GI Los Alamitos Futurity and GIII Robert B. Lewis S., Firing Line finally broke through with a 14 1/4-length romp while establishing a new track record in the GIII Sunland Derby Mar. 22 (video).

“He should be ready to run in probably late March or April, that’s probably what we’re looking at,” Zetcher continued. “We’re very excited about him and expecting him to come back even better. I think he was the second best 3-year-old this year, and all of the signals are that he’s looking even better. If that’s the case, we’ll be looking at all the big races for older horses in 2016.”

Firing Line, bred in Kentucky by Clearsky Farms, was produced by 2003 GI Vanity H. runner-up Sister Girl Blues (Hold for Gold), a half-sister to GII Dwyer S. winner and GII Peter Pan S. runner-up Mint Lane (Maria’s Mon). He went through the auction ring three times–$65,000 KEENOV weanling; $150,000 FTKJUL yearling; and $240,000 KEEAPR 2-year-old (Click here for catalogue page), respectively.