Firenze Fire not fully cranked for Jerome Stakes

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The road to the Kentucky Derby is full of potholes. In the Northeast, those potholes can be filled with ice and snow.

New York’s road to the May 5 Kentucky Derby is scheduled to open Monday with the $150,000 Jerome Stakes, which offers 10 Derby qualifying points to the winner. However, the forecast calls for frigid conditions that could prompt the cancellation of Monday’s eight-race card, likely postponing the Jerome until next weekend.

If the Jerome is run Monday, Firenze Fire figures to go off a solid favorite in what likely will be a field of seven with the scratch of Diamond King, who won Saturday’s Heft Stakes at Laurel Park.

Firenze Fire is 3 for 5, with a win in the Grade 1 Champagne, beating Good Magic, who came back to win the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile as a maiden. In the Breeders’ Cup, Firenze Fire finished seventh, with a temperature incurred upon shipping to California likely impacting his performance.

“My father used to say denial is a river in Egypt,” trainer Jason Servis said. “When I got out there, I knew right away we were in trouble. If he had an elevated blood count, it would have been a no-brainer [to scratch], but everything was checking out.”

Henry Argueta, the longtime assistant to Servis, said Firenze Fire had a temperature for a day after the Breeders’ Cup. When he shipped back to New York, Firenze Fire had a fairly easy November before resuming serious training in December.

Firenze Fire has had two workouts leading into the Jerome, but Argueta said Firenze Fire probably is not 100 percent tight.

“He’s not 100 percent, but sometimes you don’t have to be 100 percent,” Argueta said.

If Firenze Fire is to be upset, the most likely candidate is Seven Trumpets, who shipped in from south Florida for trainer Dale Romans, who last year won the Gotham Stakes with the Gulfstream shipper J Boys Echo.

Seven Trumpets, a son of Morning Line, won two 6 1/2-furlong races during the Churchill Downs fall meet after a very poor debut at Ellis Park in July.

Romans said in his first race, Seven Trumpets “seemed to be intimidated around horses. We regrouped, schooled him a little more, and he came and ran like we expected. When you beat a field of winners at Churchill, you beat a good bunch of horses.”

Honor Up, Smooth B, Regalian, Old Time Revival, and Millionaire Runner complete the field.

KEY CONTENDERS

Firenze Fire, by Poseidon’s Warrior
Last 3 Beyers: 67-90-77

◗ The only stakes winner in the field, having taken the Grade 3 Sanford at Saratoga in July and the Champagne at Belmont in October.

Seven Trumpets, by Morning Line
Last 3 Beyers: 79-76-19

◗ In beating maidens Oct. 29 at Churchill, he raced in between horses, waited patiently before finding room to tip out turning for home, and finished nicely, beating two horses who came back to win their next outs in maiden special weight company.

◗ Had the benefit of uninterrupted training in south Florida before shipping here in late December.

Honor Up, by To Honor and Serve
Last 3 Beyers: 75-76-67

◗ Though it took him five tries to win a maiden race, he did so authoritatively as one of three horses from a Nov. 15 maiden race to win their next outs.

◗ Gets six pounds from the likely odds-on favorite, Firenze Fire.