Three Alarm Fire targets Discovery Handicap
ELMONT, N.Y. – Three Alarm Fire, a good-looking first-level allowance winner at Belmont on Wednesday, will be pointed to the Grade 3, $200,000 Discovery Handicap at Aqueduct on Nov. 1, his connections said Friday.
A 3-year-old gelding by Pyro, Three Alarm Fire scored a 3 1/2-length victory in an allowance race, his second win in three career starts. Ridden by Joel Rosario, he ran 1 1/16 miles in 1:41.95 and earned a 103 Beyer Speed Figure.
“We still don’t know really what his ideal distance is at the moment,” said Tom Albertrani, who trains Three Alarm Fire for West Point Thoroughbreds and Michael Basone. “He certainly looks like he has a lot of speed, and Joel looked like he had a handful of horse going down the backside. I guess we’ll try stretching him out going two turns and see how he handles it. As keen as he was, you wonder if he has too much speed to go that far, but it’s all trial and error.”
Last year, Albertrani won the Discovery with Romansh, who rolled to a 9 1/4-length victory. Romansh is 1 for 6 this year, with a victory in the Grade 3 Excelsior. After finishing third in the Metropolitan Handicap, Romansh finished fifth in the Suburban, seventh in the Whitney, and eighth in the Woodward. Romansh is in training, with no race selected for his next start.