The Firing Line Gelding Does It Again: Nakatomi Wins the Phoenix for a Second Straight Year

Nakatomi won the Phoenix again on Friday, which makes him the defending champion two years running. The gelding is seven, an age when plenty of sprinters have long since left the track, and he did it the hard way. He sat at the very back of the field early and then passed every horse in the race, timing his run so that he hit the front when it counted. He is by Firing Line, out of the Flatter mare Applelicious, and on Friday he raced like a horse well suited to the job. Saratoga fans already know him from the summer of 2024, when he won the Grade I Alfred G. Vanderbilt Handicap there. Coming from last takes patience from the horse and nerve from the rider, and when it works it is one of the best things to watch in American racing. A seven-year-old who can still do it, and do it in a race he won the year before, has earned a second look.

With reporting from Thoroughbred Daily News.