Wildcat Red returns home seeking to regain form

HALLANDALE BEACH, Fla. – Wildcat Red will try to use some good old-fashioned home cooking to get his confidence back and jump-start the second half of his 3-year-old campaign when he goes postward as the heavy favorite in Saturday’s $75,000 Quality Road Stakes at Gulfstream Park.

The 1 1/16-mile Quality Road will be Wildcat Red’s first start since his disappointing 18th-place finish in the Kentucky Derby. The Gulfstream-based Wildcat Red had made all seven of his previous starts over his home course, winning four of those races and finishing second on the other three occasions. His most important victories came in the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth, where he defeated General a Rod by a head following a race-long duel, and the Grade 3 Hutcheson, which he dominated by nearly five widening lengths.

Wildcat Red, a son of D’wildcat owned by Honors Stable Corp. and trained by Jose Garoffalo, suffered his toughest setback when beaten a neck by Constitution after a gut-wrenching battle through the stretch in the Grade 1 Florida Derby. He dropped the one-mile Gulfstream Park Derby to arch rival General a Rod by a similar margin in his 3-year-old debut.

“He’s ready to go back to the races,” said Garoffalo. “I gave him three weeks off after the Derby, and the time off helped him a lot. He’s a bigger horse; he’s really grown since he was in Kentucky. I want to get a prep into him before the Haskell, which is our next goal, and I thought keeping him home, over a track he really likes, and finding an easy spot to get his confidence back would be the best idea.”

Wildcat Red will have to carry 122 pounds under the allowance conditions of the Quality Road, conceding four to six pounds to his six rivals. Luis Saez, who guided Wildcat Red to victory in the Fountain of Youth and was aboard in the Kentucky Derby, will return to Florida for the day to handle the assignment.

Wildcat Red will break from post 4 in a field that includes, from the rail out, East Hall, Shiva Curlin, Real Steel, Purchango, Notyouraveragejoe, and Best Plan Yet.

East Hall and Best Plan Yet have already tested Wildcat Red on several occasions without much luck. East Hall finished third, beaten 2 1/4 lengths, in the Gulfstream Park Derby; fourth, 6 1/2 lengths behind that nemesis, in the Fountain of Youth; and fifth, 8 3/4 lengths back, in the Florida Derby. He has not started since finishing second, beaten three-quarters of a length by C. Zee, in the one-mile Sir Bear here May 3.

Best Plan Yet finished a distant ninth in both the Gulfstream Park Derby and Fountain of Youth and is winless since closing out his 2-year-old campaign with a victory in Calder’s In Reality Stakes, the final leg of the 2013 Florida Stallion Series.

Real Steel and Shiva Curlin ship over from Calder, where they both won entry-level allowance races in their most recent starts. Both horses have registered two victories in three starts this year but will be taking a giant leap in class going up against multiple graded stakes winner Wildcat Red.

Notyouraveragejoe showed much promise here at the end of his 2-year-old season, winning the Juvenile Turf and finishing second in the Pulpit overnight stakes for trainer Steve DiMauro, although he will be making his first start in almost seven months when making his 3-year-old debut in the Quality Road.

“I’m more worried about fitness than who I’m running against,” said DiMauro. “I think he is better on turf than dirt, but I didn’t have anywhere else to run him at the time, it came up a short field, and I’m hoping this is a race I can build off.”