Illness derails plan to run Firing Line in Whitney

ARCADIA, Calif.- Firing Line, second in the 2015 Kentucky Derby, has been taken out of training after being diagnosed with an illness following a fifth-place finish in an optional claimer on Saturday at Santa Anita.

The optional claimer was the first start in more than a year for Firing Line, who underwent surgery to have a bone chip removed from an ankle last summer after a seventh-place finish in the Preakness Stakes in May 2015.

Trainer Simon Callaghan said on Sunday that Firing Line was found to have a considerable amount of mucus in a post-race examination on Saturday.

“He had a lot of mucus down there and that seems why he ran a dull race,” Callaghan said. “He’s on some antibiotics. We’ll make sure we get that cleared up before we do anything.”

Firing Line was considered a candidate for the $1.25 million Whitney Stakes at Saratoga on Aug. 6 before Saturday’s race, a plan now abandoned.

“We want to get him 100 percent and we’ll go from there,” Callaghan said. “He’s sound. The legs look fine.”

Owned by Arnold Zetcher, Firing Line has won 2 of 8 starts and earned $976,000.