Wildcat Red finishes preparations for Smile Sprint

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Aside from the Kentucky Derby and Haskell Invitational, Wildcat Red has been among the favorites in just about every race he’s competed in. But the multiple graded stakes winner will be among the outsiders when he returns from a layoff of almost six months in Sunday’s Grade 2 Smile Sprint Handicap.

Wildcat Red, who won the Grade 3 Hutcheson and Grade 2 Fountain of Youth here at 3, injured his right hind leg during the Sunshine Millions Classic on Jan. 17 when finishing a distant fifth as the 8-5 second choice. He has worked steadily for his return over the past month, completing preparations for the Smile Sprint by blowing out three furlongs in 36.04 seconds, with heavy rain falling, after the renovation break Thursday.

“The rain was actually good because it helped refresh the track a little,” said trainer Jose Garoffalo. “I worked him out of the gate because he’s been off a while and had been running long before he got hurt. Now he’s going short, and I wanted to give him a little bit of a spark. All I was looking for this morning was a good break because in this race, especially from an inside post, he’s going to need to break on or near the lead.”

Wildcat Red will break from post 2 in the Smile Sprint while being reunited with jockey Javier Castellano, who guided him to a 4 3/4-length victory going seven furlongs in the 2014 Hutcheson.

“This is going to be a tough race, but he loves this track and couldn’t be training better,” said Garoffalo. “I think he has two horses to beat, Work All Week and the other horse from Kentucky [Alsvid]. Obviously, we want to win the Smile, but it’s also the start of the second half of the year for him, so he’s going to need the race to move forward, and we really didn’t have many other options.”

Work All Week will be favored over Wildcat Red, Alsvid, and six other rivals in the Smile Sprint, a Win and You’re In race for the Breeders’ Cup Sprint.