Firing Line Returns in Santa Anita Allowance

It may not be the splashy return to racing that was expected from Arnold Zetcher's Firing Line, but trainer Simon Callaghan is hoping a July 9 allowance race at Santa Anita Park will set the colt up for a big summer.

Although Callaghan had been pointing the 4-year-old Line of David   colt to the San Diego Handicap (gr. II) July 23 at Del Mar, where he would have likely encounted the likes of California Chrome   and Dortmund, the trainer instead has opted to run in a conditional optional-claiming allowance race at a mile Saturday.

Off a nearly 14-month layoff, following a troubled run in the sloppy Preakness (gr. I) and a second-place finish in the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (gr. I), Firing Line still has only two wins—his 2-year-old maiden victory and the 2015 Sunland Derby (gr. III)—and qualifies for the "which have never won three races" condition.

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"It's definitely in our minds to give him an easier race, rather than coming back in the San Diego with some horses who are on top of their game," Callaghan said. "We haven't tightened the screws on him yet and this race is going to put him where he needs to be with these late-summer goals and the bigger targets later in the year."

Those late-summer goals, Callaghan said, could include either the Pacific Classic (gr. I) at Del Mar Aug. 20 or the Aug. 6 Whitney (gr. I) at Saratoga Race Course.

"He's been doing really, really good," Callaghan said. "The last few works, we've been really, really happy with him. Getting this race in leaves more options for us, one of them being the Whitney."

Surgery to remove ankle chips derailed Firing Line's 3-year-old campaign after his Triple Crown races, but the Kentucky-bred colt still has $974,800 in earnings from seven starts, including some notable, hard-earned seconds—to American Pharoah   in the Derby and to Dortmund in the 2014 Los Alamitos Futurity (gr. I) and the 2015 Robert B. Lewis (gr. III).