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Firenze Fire Back On Favorite Track, Wins Vosburgh Easily

Second, beaten a nose by Imperial Hint in the 2019 renewal, Mr. Amore Stable's Firenze Fire came from off the pace under jockey Jose Lezcano to win the Grade 2 Vosburgh Stakes by 2 3/4 lengths on Saturday at Belmont Park in Elmont, N.Y. In so doing, the 5-year-old Florida-bred by Poseidon's Voyage, trained by Kelly Breen, earned an automatic, fees-paid berth in the Breeders' Cup Sprint as part of the Breeders' Cup Challenge Series.

The 2020 Breeders' Cup Sprint will be run at Keeneland Nov. 7 as part of the two-day world championships program.

Racing over his favorite surface, where he won the G1 Champagne at 2, the G3 Dwyer at 3 and the G2 True North Stakes earlier this year, Firenze Fire covered six furlongs on a fast track in 1:09.74. He paid $7.20 to win the Vosburgh, his 12th victory in 29 lifetime starts.

Funny Guy finished second, with pacesetter Share the Ride third, True Timber fourth and Engage last in the field of five after the scratch of Stan the Man.

Firenze Fire was transferred to Breen earlier this year after his former trainer, Jason Servis, was indicted on drug misbranding charges that are part of a federal probe in racehorse doping.

After a fourth-place finish in the G1 Carter Handicap in his first start for Breen, Firenze Fire won the True North and then finished fourth behind Volatile in the G1 Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap at Saratoga. He came off an 11th-place finish in the slop at Saratoga in the G1 Forego won by Win Win Win.

Share the Ride set the pace in the Vosburgh, going :22.33 for the opening quarter mile and :45.53 for the half. Firenze Fire tracked the leader in second, taking command in the stretch after a five-furlong fraction of :57.36.

“Today, it was a small field, so I wanted to break good and he was in the bridle the whole way,” said Lezcano. “When I asked him at the quarter pole, he took off.”

“I can say he doesn't like the mud [following a last-place effort in G1 Forego],” said Breen. “You can put a line through his last race and he really performed today. He loves Belmont. We'll have to get him as used to Keeneland as he is to Belmont. I'll bring a couple of buckets from here and put it down the Keeneland stretch and bring our track to Keeneland. He's doing great. He looked great today and we're on to the Breeders' Cup [Sprint].”

Ron Lombardi of Mr. Amore Stable said: “I think he's right there [with the best sprinters in the country]. There's no question about it. Kelly has done a fantastic job with him. It's our second win after everything [trainer change] and he's a solid horse. He always delivers and he recovers well. We'll decide after the Breeders' Cup what we're going to do, there's a lot of options but I love racing. If he does well there, it will be a tough decision [to send him to stud].”

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No Nay Never Filly Beats Boys in Speakeasy

Amanzi Yimpilo bested the boys and secured a spot in the gate for the GII Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf Sprint S. A debut winner sprinting on the lawn at Gulfstream June 10 and was third in Saratoga’s Bolton Landing S. Aug. 19. Shedding blinkers for this one, the chestnut pressed the pace from second through a swift opening quarter in :21.89. Keeping the pressure on through a half in :44.66, the $300,000 KEESEP buy swept to the front in the final sixteenth and held off a late run from Wyfire to secure her first black-type victory.

“She was pretty nervous behind the gate, we had a little trouble, but I knew she was ready,” said rider Luis Saez. “I could feel the power. She just broke very well and sat in a great spot which was the spot I was thinking to be in. When we came down the stretch she fought, she was a fighter and we got there. I had a feeling we would get it.”

The winner’s dam produced a No Nay Never filly last year and a Caravaggio filly this spring. Click for the Equibase.com chart or VIDEO, sponsored by Fasig-Tipton.

SPEAKEASY S., $102,000, Santa Anita, 9-26, 2yo, 5 1/2fT, 1:02.77, fm.
1–AMANZI YIMPILO (IRE), 117, f, 2, by No Nay Never
                1st Dam: Honourably (Ire), by Galileo (Ire)
                2nd Dam: Honour Bright (Ire), by Danehill
                3rd Dam: Dabiliya (Ire), by Vayrann (Ire)
($300,000 Ylg ’19 KEESEP). 1ST BLACK TYPE WIN. O-Moulton,
Susan, Detampel, Marc and CJ Thoroughbreds; B-Longueville
Bloodstock & Matrix Bloodstock (IRE); T-Wesley A. Ward; J-Luis
Saez. $60,000. Lifetime Record: 3-2-0-1, $94,200.
2–Wyfire, 120, c, 2, Dominus–Summertime, by Siberian
Summer. ($55,000 Ylg ’19 FTKOCT; $47,000 RNA 2yo ’20
OBSMAR). O-Gary Barber; B-Richard Wira & Yvette Wira (KY);
T-Peter Miller. $20,000.
3–Windy City Red, 122, c, 2, Chitu–Gator Hall, by Graeme Hall.
($54,000 2yo ’20 OBSAPR). O-Ritt, Ryan C. and Spinazze, Mark;
B-James Gamble (FL); T-Jonathan Wong. $12,000.
Margins: HD, HF, NK. Odds: 2.60, 3.70, 16.40.
Also Ran: Commander Khai, No Pedigree, The Great One, Basque Man, Feathers (Ire), Fury Kap.

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Boca Boy Takes To Slop, Upsets Breeze On By In Florida Sire Stakes In Reality

Breeze On By had dead aim on Boca Boy and a historic sweep Saturday of the FTBOA Florida Sire Stakes for male 2-year-olds at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla.

With a furlong to the wire, he had pulled to within two lengths of the frontrunner.

But Boca Boy refused to allow the 1-5 favorite to blow on by and held on for the two-length victory in the $400,000 In Reality Division of the annual series for offspring of registered Florida sires, springing the upset at odds of 12-1.

Ridden by jockey Edgard Zayas, Boca Boy – who was coming out of a mile-long turf stakes – took well to the sloppy going, assumed early command of the 1 1/16-mile stakes, and maintained his lead to the wire, defeating the heavy favorite in the process.

Boca Boy, trained by Cheryl Winebaugh for owner Kenneth E. Fishbein, is a 2-year-old son of Prospective. He was making his fourth career start on Saturday, and the victory was his first since breaking his maiden over a sloppy track at Gulfstream on July 17.

The two geldings met in the first leg of the series, the six-furlong Dr. Fager Division, back on Aug. 1, with Boca Boy finishing more than nine lengths back in third.

But he was a new horse Saturday, and both the slop and added distance of the In Reality proved to his liking.

“I came into the race planning to make the best out of my horse and, at the same time, find a way to beat Breeze on By,” Zayas said. “I was trying to get the trip I wanted and put him in the spot to control the race from there. My horse kept on fighting and relaxed very well on the lead, which helped him a lot in the stretch.”

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Record $319.80 Winner Triggers Closing-Day Pick 5 Carryover At Monmouth Park

It was just around noon that jockey Tomas Mejia learned he'd picked up a mount on what looked like a hopeless longshot in Saturday's 13th race at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J.

A little more than six hours later he'd etched his name in the track's record book.

Andrez Conquist, a 158-1 shot ridden by Mejia, returned the biggest win price in Monmouth Park's 75-year history when he paid $319.80 in a shockingly easy four-length victory that erased a 69-year-old mark.

The former record for the highest win payoff in Monmouth history was $229.20, set on July 15, 1951.

Melvin Ovando owns and trains Andrez Conquist.

The stunning victory resulted in a Pick 5 carryover of $34,067 that will be part of a mandatory payout on closing day on Sunday. The carryover applies to the Pick 5 that starts in the first race on the 13-race card.

There is also a Jersey Shore Pick 6 carryover of $3,766 that will be part of a mandatory payout as well.

“I don't know what to say. Wow,” Mejia said after learning of the record-setting win. “They told me all the other jockeys that have ridden this horse have wanted to come from behind. The trainer said `get him close to the lead this time.' So I was able to sit behind (The Mormon Mauler) for most of the race and then he just finished strong. I don't know what else to say.”

Andrez Conquist tracked The Mormon Mauler for most of the mile and a sixteenth turf race before pulling away in the stretch.

Mejia only picked up the mount because Jorge Gonzalez opted to ride Storm Afleet, who came off the alternate list because of a scratch. Gonzalez had listed Andrez Conquist as his second choice in the race.

“My agent called me and told me I picked up a mount in the 13^th race and I said `okay, that sounds good,' ” said Mejia. “Then I looked and saw it was a longshot. But it was okay because I have ridden for Ovando before.”

In fact, the only three wins of Ovando's two-year training career have come with Mejia riding. Mejia booted home Reina La Kelsey for a $79.20 win mutual for Ovando's first career victory on July 24. Those same connections hooked up for a win on Sept. 6 at a win mutual of $24.20.

Andrez Conquist had been 0-for-6 lifetime entering the race, never finishing better than sixth.

First race post time for Sunday is 12:50 p.m.

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