Servis hoping Firenze Fire can keep momentum going

SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. – After experiencing a dream come true by getting to the Kentucky Derby earlier this year with Firenze Fire, owner Ron Lombardi and trainer Jason Servis focused on what would work best for the Grade 1 winner during the second half of his 3-year-old campaign. Thus far, that plan has worked out pretty well for the homebred son of Poseidon’s Warrior, who began his summer with an eye-catching victory in the Grade 3 Dwyer at Belmont Park.

Step two on Firenze Fire’s post-Derby itinerary comes here Saturday when he goes postward among the favorites in the Grade 1 Allen Jerkens.

Firenze Fire, who vaulted to the upper echelon of his division last fall with a victory in the Grade 1 Champagne, was a decided outsider in the Kentucky Derby. Sent off at odds of 59-1, he finished 11th, well behind soon-to-be Triple Crown winner Justify. Servis gave him the necessary time to recuperate from the Derby trail and ultimately was rewarded with a nine-length victory in the one-mile Dwyer. Firenze Fire earned far and away a career-best Beyer Speed Figure of 107 for the performance.

“It was very gratifying we had the opportunity to participate in the Kentucky Derby,” Servis said. “The owners had a blast, I had a blast. We knew we were in over our heads, but he didn’t run that badly finishing in the middle of the pack, and the good news was we still had a horse left after the race.”

Servis said he turned Firenze Fire out in the round pen for a couple of weeks after the Derby, then took his time getting him ready for his awesome effort in the Dwyer.

“I was able to back off, freshen him, and he really blossomed out between the Derby and the Dwyer,” Servis said. “I knew he was going to run big that day, although naturally we never expected anything like that. Coming off a 107 Beyer worries me a little heading into this race, but he’s had seven weeks, he’s in good flesh. Irad [Ortiz Jr.] breezed him Sunday and said everything is a go.”

Servis is in the midst of a terrific year. He’s already won 90 races for purses in excess of $4.3 million this season. He won 112 races for nearly $5 million in purse money in 2017.

“It’s been a career year thus far, there’s no way getting around it,” Servis said. “We were just shy of earning $5 million last year, and we’re not that far off surpassing that mark already this year.”

Servis credits a great stable of owners, including the addition of Michael Dubb to that list one year ago, for much of that success.

“Michael is a great owner, he puts live horses in your barn that’s for sure,” Servis said. “He’s a claiming owner and I’m a claiming trainer, so it works out perfectly. No matter who trains for him, they’re going to win, because he makes them win.”