Wild Dude scores upset in Bing Crosby

DEL MAR, Calif. – Wild Dude showed erratic form in the first six months of the year, winning once in five starts, all in graded stakes in California and New York. In Sunday’s $300,000 Bing Crosby Stakes at Del Mar, Wild Dude delivered his best performance of the year at a key moment.

Wild Dude closed from fourth in a field of five to win his first Grade 1 race in the Bing Crosby, earning a fees-paid berth to the Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland on Oct. 31 through the Breeders’ Cup Win and You’re In program.

To start in that race, Wild Dude must be nominated to the Breeders’ Cup program for $100,000 before pre-entries are due in October. Sunday’s win financed that expense.

Wild Dude ($24.60) won the six-furlong race by 1 1/4 lengths over Masochistic, the 2-5 favorite. Kobe’s Back, who broke slowly, closed well to finish third, followed by Caminetto and Distinctiv Passion. Appealing Tale was scratched after finishing second in Saturday’s Grade 2 San Diego Handicap.

Wild Dude was ridden by Flavien Prat, who was aboard the 5-year-old horse for the first time for a third-place finish behind Masochistic in the Grade 1 Triple Bend Stakes at Santa Anita on June 27. Prat said that loss gave him clues on how to ride Wild Dude on Sunday.

“Last time, I was too quiet the first part,” Prat said.

On Sunday, Prat had Wild Dude six lengths behind pacesetter Distinctiv Passion through an opening quarter-mile in 22.01 seconds. Wild Dude closed steadily to be within 3 1/2 lengths of the lead with a quarter-mile remaining. Wild Dude was still fourth with a furlong to go but closed with a rush to go past Tyler Baze and Masochistic and reach the front in the final sixteenth.

Wild Dude was timed in 1:09.51.

“I was pretty confident,” Prat said. “I knew the horse of Tyler’s was a tough horse. I think you can come from off the pace on this track. Everything was better. Everything went for us.”

The Bing Crosby was Prat’s first Grade 1 race in the United States. He won the Group 1 Prix Marcel Boussac at Longchamp in 2013 in his native France.

Co-owned by Green Smith and trainer Jerry Hollendorfer, Wild Dude earned $180,000 in the Bing Crosby. By Wildcat Heir, Wild Dude has won 6 of 16 starts and earned $724,887.

Wild Dude has won three stakes, including two Grade 2 stakes at Santa Anita – the Palos Verdes Stakes in January 2014 and the San Carlos Stakes this past March.