Kelly Breen

Sponsored by Alex Nichols Agency 1st-BEL, $75K, MSW, 2yo, 5 1/2f, 1:00 p.m. ANDIAMO A FIRENZE (Speightstown), a half-brother to Grade I-winning sprinter Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior), debuts in this spot for trainer Kelly Breen. His older brother won a total of 13 black-type events for Breen and earned over $2.7 million. He is also a half-brother to stakes-placed Firenze Freedom (Istan). The Mr Amore Stable homebred has posted back-to-back bullet works at Belmont, going four furlongs from the gate May 12 in :47 3/5 (1/44) and five furlongs May...

The GIII Stonestreet Lexington S. offers the last round of qualifying points for the GI Kentucky Derby on May 7 and the connections of GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth runner-up In Due Time (Not This Time) are still Derby dreaming. Their 3-year-old chestnut colt has never been off the board in his four career starts and has already earned 20 qualifying points from his second-place finish in the Fountain of Youth. He would still need the 20 points awarded to the Lexington S. winner in order to get a chance...

Tami Bobo's Simplification (Not This Time) came out of his victory in Saturday's GII Fasig-Tipton Fountain of Youth S. in fine shape and will now be aimed at the Apr. 2 GI Curlin Florida Derby. "Yesterday, good break, a little problem in traffic, and when the jockey took him outside, the horse ran well," trainer Antonio Sano said Sunday morning. "I am proud of my horse. I'm happy for all the support the people give to me. I'm happy for another chance to win the GI Kentucky Derby." Simplification earned...

9th-Gulfstream, $54,000, Alw (NW1$X)/Opt. Clm ($75,000), 2-4, 3yo, 1m, 1:35.97, ft, 5 3/4 lengths. IN DUE TIME (c, 3, Not This Time--Sweet Sweet Annie, by Curlin), a debut winner in the Monmouth mud July 18, returned from the bench to finish third, beaten 4 1/2 lengths, behind the two-for-two Dean's List (Speightstown) going six furlongs at Gulfstream Jan. 8. In Due Time fired a five-furlong bullet in 1:00 1/5 (1/19) at Palm Meadows Jan. 28 and meant business at an overlooked 10-1 here. Drawn on the rail, he traveled nicely...

Courvoisier (Tapit), last-out winner of the Jan. 1 Jerome S., tuned up for Saturday's GIII Withers S. with a five-furlong work in 1:02.41 (2/15) over the Belmont training track Friday. "He's doing well," trainer Kelly Breen said. "He breezed Friday by himself. It was a maintenance workout and he's good to go." Owned by Hill 'n' Dale Equine Holdings and James Spry, Courvoisier is a son of 2014 champion 2-year-old filly Take Charge Brandi (Giant's Causeway). Jerome fourth-place finisher Unbridled Bomber (Upstart) was declared ready for the Withers following a...

The well-bred Courvoisier (Tapit), a narrow maiden winner at fourth asking at the Big A last time Dec. 2, picked up 10 points for the GI Kentucky Derby while securing his second straight win in Saturday's sloppy $150,000 Jerome S. His third and second-place finishes in his first two starts respectively set the colt up for a move forward with the addition of blinkers Oct. 27 at Delaware Park, where he was caught late going a mile and lost by a nose. Stretching out to 1 1/8 miles for his...

Firenze Fire (Poseidon's Warrior--My Every Wish, by Langfuhr), whose many accomplishments include a win in the GI Champagne S., will be retired after his upcoming start in the GI Breeders' Cup Sprint and head to Japan, where he will stand stud at Arrow Stud. Owner Ron Lombardi said the offer from Arrow Stud was just one of many he fielded. "I had offers from California, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Florida and Japan," he said . "I would have liked to have kept him in the U.S., but the Japanese made...

He has spread nine graded stakes wins across five seasons, and banked over $2.6 million. And he's a homebred, don't forget: out of a mare claimed for $16,000, topped up by the $6,500 fee for a Poseidon's Warrior cover. An absolute model, you would say, for the kind of blue-collar honesty and hardiness that gives everyone in this business a chance of competing even with those who could afford to do their recruitment in Book I at Keeneland this week. And yet here is Firenze Fire, suddenly notorious the world...

With the connections of would-be favorite Miss Alacrity (Munnings) electing to keep their charge in Kentucky, speedster November Rein proved best of the rest at odds-on to kick off the New York-bred stakes action Friday. Beaten a neck when second on debut downstate June 18, the dark bay broke through emphatically by 5 1/2 lengths going a furlong shorter here July 16. Falling forward at the start, November Rein was pursued by pricey FTFMAR buy Velvet Sister through splits of :22.47 and :45.98 and turned for home glued to the...

Trainer Kelly Breen celebrated a milestone Saturday at Monmouth, sending out his 900th winner when Act of Valor (American Freedom) won the day's sixth race. The 2-year-old maiden went off the 6-5 choice and was claimed out of the race by Anthony Margotta. A native of Perth Amboy, New Jersey, Breen operated a small stable in the early 90s before going to work as Ben Perkins's assistant, and went back out on his own in 2003. He won the 2011 GI Belmont S. with Ruler on Ice. "It's a great...

Heavily favored to score a fifth consecutive victory and his sixth from eight starts overall, Edge Racing's Yes This Time (Not This Time) had some work to turning into the stretch of Saturday's GIII Kent S. over rain-affected turf at Delaware Park, but he rallied through an opening at the rail and outfinished pacesetting Like the King (Palace Malice) for an ultimately comfortable success. Allowed to amble along as the pacesetter had things very much his own way on the engine, Yes This Time was shuffled back to last and...

A year that began with the loss of two of the most lavish, Prince Khaled Abdullah and Sheikh Hamdan al Maktoum, is aptly measuring the reinvigoration of the breed achieved by modern investors from the same deserts where it first took root. Godolphin owes Derby wins at both Epsom and the Curragh to colts by Prince Khaled's greatest bequest, Frankel (GB); while its U.S. division laid down a marker of continuity and vitality when Mystic Guide (Ghostzapper) won the G1 Dubai World Cup just three days after its founder's brother...