Firing Line must reload quickly for Preakness

For the first time since he finished second to American Pharoah in the Kentucky Derby on Saturday, Firing Line got to run around the track at Churchill Downs. Firing Line merely jogged Wednesday, and he was scheduled to jog again Thursday after doing nothing more strenuous than walking Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. The routine coming out of a race will feel normal for Firing Line.

But things are about to change. Firing Line’s races have been conservatively spaced this year. On Feb. 7, he finished second to Dortmund in the Robert B. Lewis Stakes, his 3-year-old debut. Firing Line’s second run of the year came March 22, when he aired in the Sunland Derby, after which he was trained up to the Kentucky Derby. Trainer Simon Callaghan talked before the Kentucky Derby about Firing Line doing well with about six weeks between starts, but six weeks after the Derby, the Triple Crown is over, and this time around, Firing Line will have only two weeks between starts when he runs in the Preakness Stakes on May 16.

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The change in timing does not concern Callaghan, who said Wednesday from his home base in California that Firing Line had come out of the Derby a good-feeling, good-acting, good-doing horse.

“I think now, because of his schedule, he should be a fresher horse coming into the Preakness,” Callaghan said. “The spacing he had was not really by design in the sense we needed time between races, it was just the route we decided we needed to take. We decided to go to Sunland to make sure we got the [Derby qualifying] points, and he ran back three weeks after his maiden win. Two weeks is probably not ideal for any horse, but he takes his racing really well.”

One would be wise to trust Firing Line’s trainer when it comes to assessing his horse. Headstrong early in his career, Firing Line has been sculpted into a professional by the Callaghan barn, a colt who handled the chaotic pre-race Derby ordeal like an old pro and then rated patiently behind Dortmund under Gary Stevens.

“He’s definitely become a much more relaxed horse in his day-to-day gallops,” said Callaghan. “When he was a 2-year-old, he would go and breeze in 58, do things quicker than you want, but we worked on getting him to relax. He’s matured, come around, and that’s shown in his races.”

Firing Line will resume galloping Friday, and after the colt gets back into a training routine, Callaghan will decide whether to work him before the Preakness. Firing Line ships with other Churchill-based stock bound for Pimlico next Wednesday.

Firing Line is an intelligent horse, his trainer said, and by the time he gets to Baltimore, he’ll probably know something is up – that this time, there will be no long wait until the next race.

◗ Pimlico officials have confirmed Divining Rod, the Lexington Stakes winner, as an intended Preakness starter.

◗ Trainer Todd Pletcher said there was no news as of Wednesday regarding the possible participation of four Preakness possibles in his barn: Competitive Edge, Materiality, Carpe Diem, and Stanford.

◗ Trainer Dallas Stewart is considering two horses for the Preakness, Lemon Drop Title and Tale of Verve, who was scratched as an also-eligible for the Derby.

– additional reporting by Marty McGee