Private purchase Play the Wildcard debuts for Hollendorfer

HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Hall of Fame trainer Jerry Hollendorfer and partners went shopping recently and brought home a promising 3-year-old named Play the Wildcard. Now, it’s time for a test drive.

Play the Wildcard makes his first start for his new connections Sunday at Oaklawn Park, in an optional $80,000 claiming race for 3-year-olds that carries first-level allowance conditions. The race goes as the seventh at one mile and will end at the sixteenth pole. The field of 10 includes Jersey Cat Tale, an allowance winner at a mile last out at Delta Downs, and the Brad Cox-trained maiden winners Wells Bayou and Something Natural.

Play the Wildcard enters off a four-length maiden special weight win Nov. 10 at Woodbine. He broke on top, contested the pace, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 73 – the best last-race number in Sunday’s field.

“We bought him out of Canada,” said Hollendorfer, who has a division at Oaklawn. “I think he can run long. He debuted at seven furlongs.”

Play the Wildcard is by Grade 1 winner Jack Milton. On the female side of his family, his third dam is Caressing, a champion who has produced a champion, the $5.8 million earner West Coast.

Martin Garcia has the mount on Play the Wildcard from post 8. Hollendorfer owns the gelding with George Todaro, Richard Robertson, and All Schlaich Stables.

◗ The eighth race has brought a field of 12 together for an optional $50,000 claiming/allowance over six furlongs. The chief players appear to be K Choice, who returns to dirt following a race over Polytrack, and Boldor, who popped a Beyer of 92 last out when second in the $125,000 OBS Sprint at the Ocala Training Center. Principe Guilherme and Curate, both contenders, are on the also-eligible list

Oaklawn wraps up its first week of racing Sunday. Racing will resume Friday.