Biting drama: Yaupon withstands Firenze Fire's chomps in Forego

Firenze Fire tried using his four legs to get by Yaupon down the stretch Saturday of the Grade 1, $600,000 Forego.

When that did not work, he turned to his teeth.

Firenze Fire craned his neck over to Yaupon in the final furlong of the Forego, taking six bites at the leader and getting his teeth around the bridle at one point. But Yaupon held sway from that savaging effort under jockey Ricardo Santana Jr. and won the Saratoga sprint by a head.

Steve Asmussen trains Yaupon, a 4-year-old Uncle Mo colt who improved to 8: 6-0-0 lifetime for owners William and Corinne Heiligbrodt. The seven-furlong Forego marked his first career Grade 1 score and second victory in three starts this season.

"I will watch that replay many times in my future," Asmussen said. "For that to happen in a Grade 1 at Saratoga with two horses on the lead, that will be memorable.

“Honestly I watched it from the apron down the stretch. I was worried he was going to bite Ricardo. We’ve had some not ideal finishes this year and you’re not there until you get to the wire."

The Forego set up as a race where five of the eight starters entered with Grade 1 wins to their names, but it was the Grade 2 winner Yaupon who went off a 2-1 favorite. He broke sharply and covered the first panel in 23.09 seconds.

Firenze Fire, who went off at 8-1 odds, pulled alongside Yaupon coming around the turn, and they went in tandem through a half-mile in 45.7. They entered the stretch side by side, and that is where things got interesting.

Yaupon stubbornly held a lead along the rail. Firenze Fire suddenly leaned over and started biting at Yaupon, while his jockey Jose Ortiz tugged on the reins.

Both Ortiz and Santana kept their mounts moving forward despite Firenze Fire’s savaging. Yaupon hit the wire first, covering seven furlongs in 1:21.74 and returning $6.

“That was kind of scary," Santana said. "That never happened to me before and the only thing I can think is don't stop riding."

The hard-knocking Firenze Fire now sports a 36: 14-6-3 record. He has appeared in four Breeders' Cups, finishing third in the 2020 Sprint, and will target that event once again this November, trainer Kelly Breen said.

 "Jose told me that if he had just done that (savaging Yaupon) in one little instance he could have corrected him, but he was strong and he couldn't get him off the other horse," Breen said. "He said that if he does it for one stride, I think we win the race."

Rounding out the Forego superfecta behind the top two were Chance It and Mind Control.

Whitmore, the 2020 Breeders’ Cup Sprint hero and Eclipse Award champion, pulled up under jockey Joel Rosario. He was examined after the race for a front-left leg injury that is not life-threatening, Michelle Yu of “Saratoga Live” reported.

UPDATE: Owner-trainer Ron Moquett announced that Whitmore has been retired.