Dortmund outduels Firing Line in Robert Lewis

ARCADIA, Calif. - Dortmund remained unbeaten after four starts with a hard-fought win in Saturday’s $150,000 Robert Lewis Stakes for 3-year-olds at Santa Anita.

Dormund ($3.20) led on the backstretch, lost the lead to 9-5 Firing Line in early stretch, and fought back on the inside to win by a head. Dortmund ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:42.20.

Firing Line finished 21 1/2 lengths clear of Rock Shandy in third, who was followed by Hero Ten All and Tizcano.

Dortmund, by Big Brown, races for Kaleem Shah and trainer Bob Baffert. The Grade 3 Lewis Stakes was Dortmund’s second stakes win. He finished a head in front of Firing Line in winning the Grade 1 Los Alamitos Futurity on Dec. 20.

Tizcano set an early pace of 23.18 seconds for the opening quarter-mile and 46.80 seconds for a half-mile, closely followed by Dortmund. Firing Line was third on the backstretch, about two lengths off the lead.

Dortmund took the lead after a half-mile, but was quickly challenged by Firing Line and jockey Gary Stevens at the end of the backstretch. On the turn, Firing Line was alongside Dortmund, and he took the lead in the stretch. Dortmund responded to vigorous urging by jockey Martin Garcia, and came back for the victory.