Purchased for $600,000 at the 2000 Ocala Breeders' Sales Company March sale of 2-year-olds in training, D'wildcat raced for Fog City before Windfields bought a half-interest in the horse's racing and breeding career this year prior to his 2003 debut. D'wildcat, who was trained by Bob Hess Jr., is from the same female family as leading sires Deputy Minister and Exclusive Native. A fee will be announced at a later date.
Grade I winner D'wildcat has been retired to Windfields Farm near Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, where he will enter stud in 2004 as the property of Windfields and David Shimmon and William Bianco's Fog City Stables. The 5-year-old son of Forest Wildcat out of the D'Accord mare D'Enough retires with five wins from 18 starts and $570,444 in earnings.D'wildcat, who finished unplaced in all four starts this year, scored his big win in the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (gr. I) at Laurel last fall. He also won last year's Churchill Downs Handicap (gr. II) and the Live the Dream Handicap on grass, both times after he was moved up to first because of a disqualification, plus the 2001 Swale Stakes (gr. III) by 10 1/2 lengths."He has everything we could hope for in a sire prospect," said Windfields vice president Noreen Taylor. "He was precocious at two, a brilliant seven-furlong graded stakes winner at three, and a grade I winner at four, facing the best in North America."