Stevens Feels Firing Line Still Improving

For Gary Stevens, the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) at Churchill Downs was within his grasp. He knew he had the horse under him, but wasn't quite so sure that Victor Espinoza aboard favorite American Pharoah and Martin Garcia on Dortmund could say the same thing.



Firing Line had been giving Stevens all the right signs since he hopped aboard the son of Line of David  . The energy was there and it was controlled perfectly to get him through the 1 1/4 miles of the Derby. The trip had gone according to plan, and as they approached the quarter pole, it was Stevens and Firing Line against the two Bob Baffert favorites, and no one else in the hunt. American Pharoah was moving outside of him and Dortmund, who twice had out-gamed Firing Line in stakes, was to his inside. That's when Stevens saw and heard something that made him smile.



"I could see Martin asking Dortmund and I hadn't even asked my horse yet," Stevens said on a national teleconference May 7. "Then I could hear Victor vocally encouraging American Pharoah, and I'm thinking. 'Man, he's already asking him and I haven't even moved.' I knew all three horses were going to have to dig deep. I got away from Dortmund, so it was one down. Now it was between American Pharoah and us."



But American Pharoah, who had taken the final turn very wide, was going slightly better of the two, and as much as Stevens and Firing Line, who never changed leads, kept fighting, they could not outrun their opponent.



"Why he didn't switch leads, I don't know," Stevens said.



As Stevens was pulling up after the race, his disappointment of running second quickly turned to optimism for the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico Race Course.



"I couldn't believe his energy level pulling up after the Derby," Stevens said. "He's the first horse I've ever ridden in the Derby who was still a fresh horse after the race. I think the Derby actually did him even more good. The question is, what toll did it take on the others, including Bob's two?



"He's grown with each race. A lot of people thought he hung in those two defeats to Dortmund. But he put that and the distance question to rest. He's been in three battles now, and believe me, that was not an easy race on either of the first three. It's been like Affirmed and Alydar, except we're facing two Affirmeds."



Looking ahead two weeks to the Preakness, Stevens said, "This was the first time American Pharoah has been tested and Dortmund has had two hard races against us and has had a pretty busy schedule all year. He won the Santa Anita Derby (gr. I) comfortably, but how much of a toll did that race take on him? And did the Kentucky Derby take some of the heart out of him?"



These are the questions that keep one hopeful in the Triple Crown races. Between Stevens' questions regarding American Pharoah and Dortmund and that feeling of energy Firing Line gave him pulling up after the Derby slugfest, Stevens and trainer Simon Callaghan have at least some hope as they try once again to crack the Baffert wall that has so far prevented them from attaining the top spot in the 3-year-old division.