Honors Stable Corp.'s Wildcat Red has recovered from a cold and will be entered in the $200,000 Hutcheson Stakes (gr. II), to be run at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Fla., on Feb. 1, his trainer Jose Garoffalo said Jan. 27.
"He's looking good and he breezed yesterday morning (Jan. 26)," Garoffalo said. "We plan to enter him on Wednesday (Jan. 29)."
With Javier Castellano riding, Wildcat Red breezed three furlongs in :36 1/5 over Gulfstream's main track that was listed as fast.
Garoffalo said he expects that Castellano will ride Wildcat Red in the seven-furlong Hutcheson. It would be his first time on that colt in a race.
Garoffalo held Wildcat Red out of the 1 1/16 mile Miller Lite Holy Bull (gr. II) at Gulfstream on Jan. 25 after the son of D'wildcat developed cold symptoms. That race would have been Wildcat Red's first around two turns.
"He has gotten over the illness," Garoffalo said. "I think this distance (seven furlongs) suits him best. But our goal is still to try him around two turns, maybe the Fountain of Youth."
The 1 1/16 mile Fountain of Youth (gr. II) will be at Gulfstream on Feb. 22.
Wildcat Red last raced Jan. 1 in the Gulfstream Park Derby, a one-turn mile, finishing second by a head to General a Rod after a lengthy stretch duel.
Wildcat Red crossed the finish line first in three of his four starts, but he sports a 4-2-2 record.
On Nov. 9, he beat Bolita Boyz by 1 1/4 lengths in the Sunshine Millions Juvenile Sprint at Gulfstream. But he was disqualified and placed second for interference in the stretch.
Wildcat Red showed early speed in all of his races.
"I think he could be the horse to beat," Garoffalo said.
Cool Cowboy, Mighty Brown and the Todd Pletcher-trained duo of Corfu and Trail Blaze also are probable for the Hutcheson.
Wildcat Red is out of the Miner's Mark mare Recene. He was bred in Florida by Moreau Bloodstock International and by Winter Racing Enterprises, and was a $30,000 purchase at the Ocala Breeders' Sales Co.'s June 2013 sale.
