Three Alarm Fire could kick-start turnaround for Albertrani
RACE REPLAY IS NOT AVAILABLE
For someone who trained a great racehorse named Bernardini and has more than 40 graded stakes wins to his credit, this has been a tough stretch for Tom Albertrani. The 56-year-old trainer enters this new five-day week at Gulfstream Park winless in 54 starts at the championship meet, a slate that includes nine seconds.
The most recent runner-up for Albertrani was Twilight Eclipse, who took command at the eighth pole in the Grade 2 Mac Diarmida on Saturday, only to be passed by Main Sequence.
“It has been frustrating,” said Albertrani. “A lot of the horses have been running well, so we’ve just got to wait until it’s our turn again. We did have one horse win that got disqualified [Tradesman on Jan. 8], so we haven’t had the best of luck. We’ve just got to be patient and know that eventually this thing will turn back around.”
The Albertrani skein might well come to an end Wednesday when he sends out Three Alarm Fire as a top contender in the $50,000 feature, a second-level allowance that drew a field of 10 older horses. Carded as the 10th of 11 races, the seven-furlong race also carries a $62,500 claiming option.
Three Alarm Fire had a very useful tune-up when second following a 2 1/2-month layoff in a Jan. 14 race under these same conditions. Albertrani is optimistic.
“We’ve taken our time with him,” he said. “He ran well first time here and was a little farther back than you might’ve wanted, but he did come with a nice late run. I expect to see him make a move forward.”
Three Alarm Fire is the 3-1 second choice on the Gulfstream morning line behind Goodtimehadbyall (2-1).
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 7 Three Alarm Fire. Trainer Tom Albertrani is 36-1-8-4 with a $0.35 ROI over the past two years in dirt sprints at Gulfstream Park. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
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The feature is part of a Rainbow 6 sequence (races 6-11) that offers a carryover of almost $250,000. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern, with race 10 set for 5:30.
KEY CONTENDERS
Three Alarm Fire (Last 3 Beyers: 90-56-103)
◗ Back-to-back victories in New York last year were followed by a poor effort in the Nov. 1 Discovery, after which he was away 2 1/2 months before returning with a solid effort in his latest.
◗ Albertrani on the Discovery: “I could give him a few excuses for that race. It was his first time around two turns, it was in the slop, and he was a little too keen and got caught in a couple of switches.”
Goodtimehadbyall (Last 3 Beyers: 92-88-88)
◗ The 7-year-old romped in his last start Jan. 31 for these same conditions and remains eligible by being entered for the optional tag.
◗ Trainer Jorge Navarro continues to excel in allowance and claiming races and is second in wins at the meet to Todd Pletcher by a 36-27 margin.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 3 Goodtimehadbyall. Trainer Jorge Navarro is 19-7-3-3 with a $2.52 ROI over the past five years going route to sprint on dirt with last-out winners. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan
Sam Sparkle (Last 3 Beyers: 88-88-87)
◗ This Florida-bred stands to benefit from his Sunshine Millions effort and would threaten here by reverting to some of his better races from last summer in New York.
DRF FORMULATOR FACT: No. 4 Sam Sparkle. Trainer David Cannizzo is 32-1-3-4 with a $0.35 ROI over the past 90 days. Click for more details. – Mike Hogan