Dortmund records gutsy Robert B. Lewis win over Firing Line

Dortmund (right) came back to take the Lewis over Firing Line (Benoit Photos) Kaleem Shah Inc.’s Dortmund (Big Brown) gutted out a head victory in Saturday’s $150,000 Robert B. Lewis S. (G3) at Santa Anita Park, coming back on Firing Line (Line of David) after appearing to give it up in the lane. “We thought it was a two-horse race going in and that’s what happened,” Kaleem Shah said. “Arnold Zetcher (owner of runner-up Firing Line) is a very good friend. It was very tough, but it’s the Red, White and Blue (stable colors) that got my horse through.” Though Shah said the $400,000 San Felipe S. (G2) going 1 1/16 miles on March 7 would probably be next for Dortmund, trainer Bob Baffert mentioned a different path on the Triple Crown Trail. “I had this race penciled in and I wanted him to run well so maybe I could skip other races and wait for the ($1 million) Santa Anita Derby ([G1] going 1 1/8 miles on April 4),” Baffert explained. “He was pretty sharp today. In the paddock, he was pretty sharp and I knew he was going to want to go.” Dortmund battled throughout the 1 1/16-mile contest, first with Tizcano in fractions of :23 and :46 4/5 for the half-mile, then hooking up with Firing Line on the backstretch when Tizcano faded. From that point forward it was nip/tuck between Dortmund on the rail and Firing Line just to his outside. The two colts carried their duel into the lane, where Firing Line began inching away while keeping Dortmund in tight on the rail. Firing Line looked the winner by a length in midstretch but Dortmund suddenly dug in and came back on his rival, just getting his head down on the wire to stop the clock in 1:42 1/5 over the fast main track.

“He’s a really good horse. He’s just a big baby; he’s still learning,” jockey
Martin Garcia said. “I broke sharp and I put myself in a good position. When I
asked him to go he started moving slowly. It looked like Firing Line went by me
but in the end, when I asked him, my horse started coming back. Firing Line gave
us pressure but my horse just took off again.”

“Turning for home when that horse (Firing Line) came up on
him, for an instant I felt like Bill Belichick of the Patriots. I thought, ‘Oh,
man, that’s too bad.’ It looked like that horse was going to go by him, but then
he’s such a fighter, he just kicked in,” Baffert said. “You really don’t know about these horses
until you put them in that scenario, and that’s twice now that he just fought
and came on to win like that. That was him. When they opened up on the field, I
said it was a match race now. Firing Line is a really nice horse.

“It was exciting, because I thought we were beat, and when
he came back like it made me really appreciate it a lot more. It makes it
sweeter because going in I thought he was the best horse, then that horse went
by him and I thought maybe he’s not as good as I thought. This was a point when
you find out, ‘Shall I stay on the bus or get off at the stop.’

Dortmund (right) and Firing Line are brewing up quite the rivalry (Benoit Photos) “It was a great horse race and I’m just fortunate I was on the winning end. Silver Charm, he was a fighter and fought really hard like that. It was good to win this race for Beverly Lewis (widow of the race’s namesake), who is here today.” Sent off the 3-5 favorite Dortmund paid $3.20 for the win, which awarded him 10 points toward a starting berth in the Kentucky Derby (G1) on May 2. Firing Line earned four points for second. The 9-5 second choice in the field, Firing Line was much the best of the rest while 21 1/2 lengths up on Rock Shandy (Lemon Drop Kid) in third. Hero Ten All (Rock Hard Ten) and Tizcano completed the order under the line after Sebastian’s Heart (Broken Vow) scratched. “I was disappointed,” admitted Firing Line’s jockey, Gary Stevens. “I saw that Martin was asking his horse and he wasn’t getting any response and I was sitting there with a lot of horse. I thought I would never say I moved too early at the eighth-pole in a dirt race, but I moved too early. “At the three-eighths, I saw Dortmund wasn’t responding and I was smiling. I said we’ll see what he does and we were opening up and (Dortmund) was idling. I thought we buried the one we had to beat, then I saw the shadow coming back at me.”

“It was Gary’s view that he moved a little early. All we know is he ran a
very good race,” Simon Callaghan said of his trainee Firing Line. “These things
are always easy after the event and the horse is still learning. I think one
thing for sure is he’s a very good horse and he got beat by a very good one.
These are two very good horses.”

Dortmund moved his career record to a perfect four-for-four with $449,400 in
career earnings by taking his sophomore debut in the Lewis. The chestnut broke
his maiden by 4 3/4 lengths on November 2 at Santa Anita and shipped
cross-country to romp in a Churchill Downs optional claimer 27 days later by 7
3/4 lengths.

The Lewis really shouldn’t have come as a surprise to any of Dortmund’s fans,
as the colt wrapped up his juvenile campaign with a head victory in the Los
Alamitos Futurity (G1) back in California. He battled with Firing Line in that
race as well, with Mr. Z (Malibu Moon) thrown in for some extra spice. It came
down to a three-horse photo, which showed Dortmund in front for a new track
record of 1:40.86 for 1 1/16 miles.

Bred in Kentucky by Emilie Gerlinde Fojan, Dortmund has passed through the
sales ring three times. In his first foray as a Keeneland November weanling, the
colt RNAed for $85,000. One year later at Fasig-Tipton’s July Sale, he brought
$90,000 from Breaking Point Farm, who turned around and sold him at the Fasig-Tipton
Midlantic Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale for $140,000.

Dortmund is out of Grade 3-placed stakes heroine Our Josephina (Tale of the
Cat) and counts as his third dam champion Lakeville Miss (Rainy Lake). That mare
would go on to produce Grade 1 victor Mogambo (Mr. Prospector) and Grade 1
runner-up Sea Breezer (Gulch). This female family is also responsible for 1942
Preakness second Requested.

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