After Cigar Mile scratch, Firenze Fire reroutes to Mr. Prospector

After scratching last weekend from a Grade 1 race in New York, Firenze Fire will head to South Florida for a Grade 3 event.

Firenze Fire will contest the $100,000 Mr. Prospector Stakes (G3) on Dec. 19, trainer Kelly Breen said Friday. The Mr. Prospector goes seven furlongs over Gulfstream Park’s main track.

The 5-year-old son of Poseidon’s Warrior was entered last Saturday in the Cigar Mile Handicap (G1) at Aqueduct. The track came up sloppy and Breen scratched Firenze Fire the morning of the race, which True Timber won.

The Mr. Prospector will mark Firenze Fire’s first start since running third Nov. 7 at Keeneland in the Breeders’ Cup Sprint. He came from far off the pace to finish a neck shy of runner-up C Z Rocket, 3½ lengths behind upset winner Whitmore.

Firenze Fire moved to Breen’s barn this spring after the horse’s former trainer, Jason Servis, was indicted on federal doping charges. The Mr. Amore Stable homebred won the True North Stakes (G2) and Vosburgh Stakes (G2), both at Belmont Park, for his new trainer.

For his career, Firenze Fire is 30: 12-3-3 with more than $2.2 million in earnings. He is a Grade 1 winner dating to a victory as a 2-year-old in Belmont’s 2017 Champagne Stakes.

Firenze Fire has never raced at Gulfstream. In his only prior start in Florida, he was third in a Tampa Bay Downs stakes race in March 2019.