Wildcat Red getting ready for return

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red, who hasn’t run since finishing seventh in the Fred Hooper Stakes on Feb. 6, returned to the work tab Friday, breezing a half-mile in 52.44 seconds at Gulfstream.

“Just an easy breeze coming off a short layoff,” trainer Jose Garoffalo said. “He came back pretty good. I don’t have any plans with him right now. As soon as we get him ready, 100 percent, we’ll find a race.”

Garoffalo said he hasn’t decided whether Wildcat Red – the 2014 Fountain of Youth winner – would stay in south Florida or ship to Monmouth Park later this month.

◗ Joseph Prior, a former trainer and the father of Stacy Prior, who has worked as an assistant trainer and exercise rider for several top outfits, died this week from cancer. He was 78.

According to Equibase, Joseph Prior won 16 races from 224 starters in his career. Stacy was a jockey before working as an assistant and exercise rider for trainers Nick Zito, D. Wayne Lukas, and Joe Orseno.