Wildcat Brief should have easier time
OCEANPORT, N.J. - No one was catching Custom for Carlos, the dominant pacesetting winner of the Grade 3 Jersey Shore Stakes July 5. Wildcat Brief might have had a chance to finish higher than fourth, if not for a mishap before the start and an unfavorable trip.
Ben Perkins Jr., who trains Wildcat Brief, is hoping for a cleaner break in a softer spot Sunday at Monmouth Park in the $70,000 Select Stakes for 3-year-olds. The six-furlong race attracted a field of seven.
"We thought he ran well last time," Perkins said. "The winner ran such a freaky race. Take him out, and we've got a chance to be right there. He stayed down on the inside where he hesitated a little bit. If had he swung wide, he might have gotten up for second."
Wildcat Brief broke through the gate and knocked out a tooth. Perkins isn't sure how much the prerace incident cost Wildcat Brief.
"He came back after the race and his mouth was bloody," Perkins said. "He's a pretty tough horse. I don't know that it affected him in the race. He still ran hard, so I can't blame that."
Wildcat Brief, a first-level allowance winner here on the opening weekend, is 2 for 7. He was second in February in the Fred Capossela Stakes at Aqueduct.
The colt tuned up for the Select with a bullet work on Tuesday, four furlongs in 48 seconds.
"We tried to put a little more zip in him," Perkins said. "He tends to be a laid-back, relaxed horse. We wanted to get him on his toes for the race."
Trainer Eddie Plesa Jr. would also like to see Bee Cee Cee more on his toes.
Plesa had high hopes earlier in the year when Bee Cee Cee ran third in the Grade 2 Hutcheson Stakes at Gulfstream Park. The expectations faded when he ran a distant sixth to Quality Road in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth.
Since then, Bee Cee Cee has won a statebred stakes at Tampa Bay Downs and was a non-factor in a pair of stakes here: the Rumson and the off-the-turf Anderson Fowler.
"He's a disappointment," Plesa said. "Hopefully, he can make amends. He's been training good, doing good."
Beacon Hill Road is entered in the Select as well as in the My Frenchman Stakes against older grass sprinters n Saturday.
Rocketing Returns, Southern Exchange, Mighty Score, and Prince Joshua complete the field.