Firing Line makes big jump after Sunland victory

New York, NY (SportsNetwork.com) – Firing Line, owned by Arnold Zetcher, thoroughly dominated the competition Sunday in the $800,000 Sunland Derby and climbed four places in week 3 of the 2015 NTRA 3-year-old poll.

Trained by Simon Callaghan and ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Gary Stevens, Firing Line registered a 14 1/4-length win at Sunland Park and set a new stakes record of 1:47.39 in the process.

“The best thing he’s got going for him is his mind, he’s way beyond his only four race career right now, as far as where he is mentally,” Stevens said following the win. “He was battled tested in his last race against Dortmund, so it was kind of nice to get an easy one into him today.”

Firing Line was rewarded with 212 points to advance from ninth to fifth in the rankings.

Dortmund, trained by Bob Baffert, remains first with 21 first-place votes and 382 points followed by Eclipse Award winner American Pharoah (13, 355), Carpe Diem (5, 298), Upstart (298), Firing Line (212), El Kabeir (172), International Star (1, 167), Far From Over (1, 132), Itsaknockout (92) and Prospect Park (58).

Shared Belief, winner of the Santa Anita Handicap, remains the unanimous pick in the National Poll with 41 top votes for 410 points. Turf runner Main Sequence is second with 351 points followed by reigning Horse of the Year California Chrome (288), Honor Code (224), Constitution (204), Bayern (124), Lea (124), Dortmund (84), Salutos Amigos (61) and Wise Dan (55).

California Chrome and Lea will both be running in Saturday’s Dubai World Cup.

Categorized in: Horses