Breeders' Cup Sprint gives stakes runners-up another chance

Imperial Hint, Engage, and Omaha Beach earned themselves berths into the Breeders’ Cup Sprint for winning the Vosburgh, Phoenix, and Santa Anita Sprint Championship, respectively, over the past two weeks. Their respective wins came at the direct expense of Firenze Fire, Whitmore, and Shancelot, all of whom ran too good to lose while coming within a nose, a half-length, and a head of winning one of the final three Breeders’ Cup Challenge races for the Sprint.

The good news for the connections of Firenze Fire, Whitmore, and Shancelot is that all three ran well enough to earn a chance to compete in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint on Nov. 2 at Santa Anita.

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Firenze Fire turned in arguably the best race of his career when beaten a nose by odds-on favorite Imperial Hint in the Grade 1 Vosburgh on Sept. 28 at Belmont. Firenze Fire put his head in front near the eighth pole and gave Imperial Hint all he could handle.

“Obviously, it was disappointing to get beat like that in the Vosburgh,” said Jason Servis, who trains Firenze Fire for Mr. Amore Stable. “It’s always good to get all your expenses paid for the Breeders’ Cup, and winning a race like that would have been great for his résumé, for breeding and stuff, because it would have been his second Grade 1 win. But at the same time, it was gratifying to see him run his ass off against a killer horse like Imperial Hint.”

Servis said that Firenze Fire, who won the Grade 1 Champagne at 2, would likely be considered for the Sprint or the Dirt Mile. Servis said he’d prefer to run Firenze Fire in the Sprint, but wants to first see where Catalina Cruiser and Omaha Beach are running.

“So if the Dirt Mile were to come up with a seven-horse field or something like that, we could end up there,” he said.

Firenze Fire finished a distant fourth in the 2018 Dirt Mile.