Poseidon’s Warrior is on fire

Saturday proved to be another red letter day for Pleasant Acres, with Poseidon’s Warrior getting two more stakes victories added to his ledger. Firenze Fire returned from a two-month layoff following the Kentucky Derby to capture the Gr. III Dwyer Stakes at Belmont Park by 9 lengths, and Navy Commander posted his first stakes score with a 3 1/4-length victory in the Long Branch Stakes at Monmouth Park.

Firenze Fire came from about four lengths off the pace under Irad Ortiz, looped the field with a powerful run on the turn, and galloped away to his decisive victory in the final sixteenth in a race previously won by such racing greats as Native Dancer, Assault, Nashua, Damascus, Conquistador Cielo and Holy Bull. His clocking of 1:33.74 for the mile is just 1 1/2 seconds off the track record, and is the best in the Dwyer in the four years since the race has been contested at that distance. 

Firenze Fire is owned by his breeder, Mr. Amore Stables, and earned $165,000 for his fourth stakes victory. He now has a total of $834,100, on a record of 5-1-0 in 11 starts. In another interesting note, the colt was 7-1 in the betting for a long while leading up to post time, and dropped to 6-1 as they were nearing the gate. As they headed down the backstretch, the last tote board change saw him fall to 5/2, which meant somebody somewhere sent in a ton of cash at the last second. He paid $7.50 and moved right back into the thick of the 3-year-old chase.

In New Jersey, Navy Commander was sent right to the lead by Angel Arroyo in the 1 1/16-mile Long Branch and was never headed en route to his easy wire-to-wire score. Owned by his breeder, Swilcan Stables, the Pennsylvania-bred gelding raised his record to 5-0-1 in 11 starts. He has won two straight and 4 of 7 this year, while raising his earnings to $186,663. 

With the two stakes victories, Poseidon’s Warrior jumped up to eighth on Florida’s leading sire list with earnings of $905,411.