Free Drop Billy, Firenze Fire top field of nine Kentucky Derby hopefuls in G3 Gotham

By Anthony Affrunti —-

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – This Saturday, the 70th winner in the history of the Grade 3, $300,000, Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack will try to become just the second horse since the mighty Secretariat to use the race towards a successful path before etching his name among the winners of the coveted Kentucky Derby. A field of nine will go to the post with the hopes of not only embarking on a successful journey through the one-turn mile, but making it to the gate for this year’s Run for the Roses on May 5.

One of the main contenders is the Albaugh Family Stable’s multiple Grade 1 winner Free Drop Billy, who was among three entered to run in last Saturday’s Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream Park until trainer Dale Romans called a late audible and withdrew the Union Rags colt from the race that morning to instead ship up to New York and use the Gotham, a race both Romans and the Albaugh Stable won last year with J Boy’s Echo, as the next step in his Derby preparation.

The Gotham offers the same 50-20-10-5 Derby point system as the Fountain of Youth, allowing Free Drop Billy’s connections to separate two of their runners, which worked to Romans’ benefit as his other entrant, Promises Fulfilled, wired the competition to upset the field of nine at 18-1, giving Romans his first Fountain of Youth victory. The Gotham is next on his Derby campaign calendar.

“I think it’s a wide-open race,” Romans said. “For most of the 3-year-old preps at this time of the year, they’re all wide open, everybody is starting to come together, but he’s doing great, so we’ll see how it goes.”

Turning back to the mile instead of the mile and a sixteenth he was scheduled to run last Saturday won’t pose a problem for Free Drop Billy, and going longer shouldn’t be a problem either, according to Romans.

“The distance doesn’t matter for him,” he said. “Even though it’s a different distance, and a different racetrack, it doesn’t matter. He’s a versatile horse. He’s a push button horse. He won a grade one at seven-eighths, and he won a grade one at a mile and a sixteenth, so the distance for him isn’t really a concern at all.”

Free Drop Billy began his 3-year-old season with a second place finish in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream after ending his 2-year-old year with a disappointing ninth place finish in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Del Mar. It was the first time the $200,000 Keeneland purchase was worse than second in his career, after he debuted with a three-length victory in his first outing at Churchill Downs. He then rattled off two second-place finishes in the Grade 3 Sanford and Grade 1 Hopeful at Saratoga before he returned to the winners’ circle in the Grade 1 Breeders’ Cup Futurity at Keeneland.

The earner of $495,220 will be joined by stablemate Cove Blue, a colt by Ghostzapper who broke his maiden in his fourth start before finishing third behind the Romans-trained winner Storm Runner in a $75 000, non-winners of one lifetime open claiming contest.

“He’s a real fast horse, Romans said. “He’s real fast. He’ll be out there rambling.”

Free Drop Billy will break from post 6 and will be joined by Dylan Davis for the first time. Cove Blue will start from post 2 and will have Chris Landeros in the saddle.

Mr. Amore Stable’s Firenze Fire, a multiple graded stakes winner, will make his third start in 2018. The Poseidon’s Warrior colt kicked off his sophomore year with a half-length victory in the muddy Jerome before a runner-up finish in the Grade 3 Withers. Trainer Jason Servis said his seemingly under-the-radar Derby prospect is stronger than his billing among the others.

“We’ll see how it goes. I guess he doesn’t get a lot of respect, but his form is good. I don’t know if it’s because he’s not a high-priced yearling, but if you look, at one point he was four-for-six. He won the Sanford up at Saratoga, he won the Champagne, then the Jerome,” Servis said. “He’ll always give you a run, he always tries.”

After winning his career debut at Monmouth Park, Firenze Fire returned to win the Sanford a length over Free Drop Billy at Saratoga, but then tired late for fourth in the Hopeful. A victory in the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont led him to Del Mar that fall where he failed to menace and finished seventh in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile to close out his 2-year-old season.

“In the Breeders’ Cup, he had a low-grade temp,” said Servis. “Not enough to call it a temperature. It was elevated for him. The blood work checked out, but if his white blood cell count was high then we wouldn’t have run him. His temperature was high for him the whole time in California.”

While the Derby trail continues along, the question of getting the Classic distance of 1 ¼ miles in the Derby becomes the focal point. For his part, Servis believes his colt shouldn’t have a problem.

“The mile and a quarter, from what I’ve seen it’s all about the ride,” he said. “If he’s ridden right he can get it. He can’t get an early middle move or a three-wide trip and then run. He needs to be ridden right.”

Servis will also pack a one-two punch in the mile-long affair with New Farm’s Dial Operator, who is making only his third career start, but does so undefeated. The Gotham will be a tough test for the Dialed In colt, but Servis likes his lightly raced runner.

“He’s alright,” said Servis. “He’s an okay horse. He’s lightly raced and a little immature, and he’s under the radar. He’s a big horse, a very big horse. I’ll leave it to the trip.”

Firenze Fire draws post 5 and will be ridden by jockey Manuel Franco. Dial Operator draws the rail with Trevor McCarthy aboard.

Godolphin’s colt Enticed will make his second start of the year after he fading to a fourth-place finish in the Grade 2 Holy Bull at Gulfstream on February 3. The Medaglia d’Oro colt owns two victories from four starts beginning with his career debut in the mud at Saratoga. A victory by a head in the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club at Churchill Downs bookended a third-place finish in the Champagne. The Kiaran McLaughlin trainee will benefit from drawing the outside post on Saturday.

“It’s a good post for him, we’ll see how it goes,” McLaughlin said. “He just has to break well, and we’ll see what goes on inside of us. We’ll watch what happens and be in the clear. He’s doing real well. We have Junior [Alvarado] back aboard him, so all is well.”

Enticed will run from post 9, and will be reunited with Junior Alvarado, aboard for all but his last start.

Calumet Farm’s Beautiful Shot is another in the field who is lightly raced but enters with a chance to make an impact. The California shipper makes his fourth start, and first of the year after a third-place finish in the Grade 3 Bob Hope at Del Mar on November 11. With a maiden win and a stakes victory in his first two starts, the competition will be tougher in the Gotham, and the Trappe Shot ridgling will be going farther than his career longest of seven furlongs, but is bred to handle the added ground.

Beautiful Shot drew post 3 and will be ridden by Angel Arroyo.

Black Cloud Stable’s two-time stakes winner Whereshetoldmetogo will bring the most experience by making his ninth start for trainer Anthony Pecoraro; Jacks or Better Farm’s Old Time Revival will make the trip from Maryland for trainer Kenneth Decker as he looks to score his biggest victory yet while owning a maiden win from five starts; and August Dawn Farm’s Nine Route is perfect through three starts at Aqueduct and looks to extend his streak after winning the one-mile Gander Stakes by three lengths in the slop for the Jeremiah Englehart barn.