Gulfstream: Will’s Wildcat keeping it short

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. - The distance experiment is over with Will’s Wildcat.

After finishing far back in both the Grade 1 Clark Handicap and Grade 3 Hal’s Hope, Will’s Wildcat is back to doing what he does best, sprinting. A stakes winner at 3, Will’s Wildcat will return to stakes company in the 6 1/2-furlong Sir Shackleton on next Saturday’s Florida Derby undercard.

Will’s Wildcat, who worked a half-mile in 47.31 seconds over an extremely fast racetrack here on Wednesday, rebounded from his two disappointing showings in the Clark and Hal’s Hope with a game 6 1/2-length allowance win over a sloppy track on Feb. 10.

“He actually broke his maiden going a mile and one sixteenth and won an allowance race going a mile, but that was last year,” said trainer James Baker. “We’re finally done trying to stretch him out. He’s just better sprinting than going long. He ran a big race winning the allowance last time, and this is the next logical spot before we head back to Kentucky. When we left Churchill last fall we set our sights on running in the Churchill Downs Handicap on Derby day, and that’s still our main goal for him at the moment.”