Callaghan: Two-Week Rest Fine for Firing Line

Trainer Simon Callaghan isn't particularly keen on any horse running a race on two-week's rest, but feels second-place Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I) finisher Firing Line should be as well-suited as any to tackle the Xpressbet.com Preakness Stakes (gr. I).

"It's probably not ideal for any horse, but if any horse can do it, it's this horse," Callaghan said the morning of May 7 at his Santa Anita Park home base. "He's got great constitution, a great mind, and he seems to have even come out of that race really good. Even that night, he ate everything up. He has the qualities that suggest he can handle the turn-back pretty quick."

The Arnold Zetcher-owned Line of David   colt has never ran consecutive races with less than three weeks of a layoff and took six weeks off before the Kentucky Derby and his race prior, the Sunland Derby (gr. III).

"In the two races before, we had pretty good spacing—six weeks," Callaghan said. "We felt we could get enough points (in the Sunland Derby) and it was an easier route than running against Dortmund again."

Regardless of prior experience, the decision came down to whether Firing Line showed he could handle the test—not only of the quick turnaround, but of the hubbub surrounding the Triple Crown races.

"The horse did everything right," Callaghan said. "I liked the way he relaxed through all the preliminaries and he ran an incredibly-good race. We wanted him peaking from the Derby onward and hopefully that is the case."