Fireball Birdie breezed five furlongs in 1:01.40 this morning at Lone Star Park. Your 3-year-old colt breezed on the inside of his stablemate Tejas, always keeping his nose in front to the wire and galloping out nicely together.
We shouldn’t be far away from another race with Fireball Birdie and will let Steve finalize a spot.
Fireball Birdie had his first work back this morning at Louisiana Downs, covering three furlongs in :39.40. As we recently noted, we have been a little set back due to weather and track conditions but this was just a first step for the son of Uncle Mo who will continue to pick up the pace at Louisiana Downs for the short term. For his first official breeze since August 2023, the Asmussen barn was not looking for anything more. As some of you may have experienced in the past, every trainer has their own method of training and Steve is not one to come with quick times especially in the early stages off of a layoff.
Fireball Birdie continues to progress steadily and has remained in good order while galloping daily at Louisana Downs. The Asmussen team is pleased with our son of Uncle Mo and we expect him to pick up the pace in the coming weeks.
Following a few days at Churchill Downs, Fireball Birdie shipped to Louisiana Downs and settled in nicely in his new digs with trainer Steve Asmussen. Steve reported that our son of Uncle Mo was moving forward in his training while currently galloping as you can see in the video above. Pending a few additional weeks of galloping, we could see Fireball Birdie have his first speed work towards mid-January. We will continue to report on his progress and follow up with any news from the barn.
Unfortunately, Fireball Birdie exited his first work at Churchill Downs with a small ankle chip which will require surgery. The good news is that this is an extremely routine occurrence/surgery and almost always has an excellent prognosis and no impact on future racing ability/viability.
He is scheduled to have surgery on Friday by top veterinarian Larry Bramlage and will rehab at Becky Maker’s farm in Versailles. We’ll get a clearer picture of rehab timing from the surgeon, but typically this sets a horse back 60 days before they can return to light training.
Fireball Birdie had his first official breeze this morning at Churchill Downs, covering a half-mile in :53.60. Working in company on the outside of a $550,000 son of Gun Runner Holster, who also just shipped in from Laredo, Texas with your colt. This was a typical first work in the Asmussen barn, having the riders up in the saddle throughout the early stages and only asking our son of Uncle Mo the final sixteenth to the wire and on the gallop out.
The work times will never be flashy with new 2-year-olds in the Asmussen barn, but following a couple of easy breezes Steve will begin to ask him for a bit more. The good sign is that our son of Uncle Mo was able to start back his training where he left off.
We are pleased to report that Fireball Birdie is scheduled to ship into one of Steve Asmussen’s strings on Wednesday. Farm trainer Keith Asmussen feels your colt is ready to transition to full training and we’re excited to see him progress in the coming weeks. Keith reported he was able to get some speed work into him at the farm and does not believe it will take him long at all to be ready to officially breeze once he settles in. Fireball Birdie will likely start his training at Churchill Downs and we’ll follow up when your 2-year-old arrives in Steve’s barn.