Fireball Birdie checked in seventh in his debut Saturday at Oaklawn Park.
Our son of Uncle Mo broke on top, but soon found himself taking plenty of pace pressure and had to work very hard to keep up with the 2-5 favorite to his inside and another rival to his outside. They zipped through an opening quarter in :21.88, and into the turn Fireball Birdie seemed to start spinning his wheels. He continued to try into the lane, but was empty at that point and steadily dropped back.
Rider Keith Asmussen ultimately felt that Fireball Birdie simply found the competition too tough, but thought he’d benefit from the experience.
It’s worth noting that the pace basically came apart—the winner was dead-last early and the third finisher was second last, and the huge favorite who looked nearly unbeatable on paper faded to fourth after attending pace.
We'll post any other follow up information that we receive.
Post Race Follow-Up
Fireball Birdie exited his debut no worse for the wear. He returned in good physical order and scoped clean out of the race. As expected, his Beyer Speed Figure returned low, a 43. Trainer Steve Asmussen noted our son of Uncle Mo was pretty tired after the debut which was a bit of a surprise to him as he thought he had enough foundation into him.
We’ll draw a line through this effort and see how our colt looks once returning to a regular training routine.
Video of the coverage from Oaklawn Park, set to start at his race -- Race 6:
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