Fire and Wine lobbies for Canadian 3-year-old title with Ontario Derby triumph
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ETOBICOKE, Ontario - Fire and Wine staked his claim for Canadian champion male 3-year-old honors with a front-running score under Jalon Samuel in Saturday’s Grade 3 Ontario Derby at Woodbine.
The towering Fire and Wine was coming off a victory Sept. 27 in the anchor leg of the Canadian Triple Crown, the 1 1/2-mile Breeders’ Stakes on the grass. He needed another stakes win to add to his resume to have a legitimate shot at the Sovereign Award.
Ontario Derby favorite Military Time had been idle since taking the Prince of Wales Stakes on the dirt at Fort Erie on Sept. 7 and was arguably the leader of the division heading into the nine-furlong Derby.
Fire and Wine was 8-1 when they were about to leave the gate but he went off at 4-1 when he made the early lead with longshot Teleport tracking him under Pietro Moran.
Fire and Wine opened up a clear lead entering the far turn and never looked back, coasting home on top by 2 1/2 lengths over Military Time, in time of 1:50.80.
Brachetto closed for third and Trevally checked in fourth in the nine-horse field of 3-year-olds.
“He relaxed and I got to give him a longer rein today,” Samuel said. “Through the turn, I saw Pietro and I thought he was going to push me a little bit more. He covers a lot of ground so that makes it much easier for him and much better for the rider. You just have to know how fast you’re going because he can trick you. If you let him go, he’ll travel.”
Winning trainer Zeljko Krcmar said Fire and Wine ($10.30) will run back against older rivals going 1 1/2 miles in the Grade 3 Valedictory here Dec. 5.
“Everything I try, he does it,” Krcmar said. “Every day, (he gets) better and better and better. He was just playing those horses.”
A son of Lexitonian, Fire and Wine banked $126,000 of the $203,500 purse for owner Paul Ryder.
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