Teddy Drone S.
( 6f ,)
WILDCAT HEIR
(B h,
116
lb) $60,000
Forest Wildcat —Penniless Heiress , by
Pentelicus
B—New Farm,
FL.;
O—New Farm;
T—Benjamin W. Perkins, Jr.
Forest Park
(DK B/ g,
120
lb) $20,000
Forest Wildcat —Delicacy , by
Pleasant Colony
B—Fred Seitz,
KY.;
O—Daniel M. Ryan;
T—Michael V. Pino
Judiths Wild Rush
(GR/RO h,
123
lb) $11,000
Wild Rush —Tie Talk , by
Black Tie Affair (IRE)
B—Sez Who Thoroughbreds,
KY.;
O—Tenenbaum Racing Stables;
T—Reade Baker
Margins: 5¾, head, 6¼. Others: Frisky Spider 116($5,000) , Gadace's Khamseh 120($1,000) , Toscani 116($1,000) , War's Prospect 120($1,000) , Salt Silence 116($1,000) . Winning Jockey, Stewart Elliott.
Wildcat Heir proved he is as quick as ever. In his first start since winning the Frank J. De Francis Memorial Dash Stakes (gr. I) at Pimlico last November, Wildcat Heir captured the Aug. 7 Teddy Drone Stakes at six furlongs at Monmouth Park and came close to the track record. Third during the early going, Wildcat Heir led at the eighth pole in :56.01 and got to the wire in 1:08.59 to win by 53/4 lengths as the 2-1 favorite.
“It was a nice surprise, but I never figured he would finish that strongly. It was awesome,” said Eb Novak, who races Wildcat Heir in the name of his New Jersey farm, New Farm.
Wildcat Heir’s absence from racing earlier this year was due to what Novak called “minor incidents” rather than major injuries. “We sent him to Florida for the winter, but there was always something,” Novak said.
Novak raced Wildcat Heir’s sire, Forest Wildcat, first alone, then with Fred Seitz, owner of Brookdale Farm near Versailles, Ky. A son of Storm Cat, Forest Wildcat won four stakes, two of which were graded.
Wildcat Heir, who is a full brother to stakes winners Forest Heir and Forest Heiress, is out of the Pentelicus mare Penniless Heiress. Her two youngest foals, a yearling filly and a filly foaled this year, are by Forest Wildcat.
Novak decided to send Penniless Heiress this year to prominent young sire, Giant’s Causeway, to replicate the Storm Cat cross. Giant’s Causeway also is a son of Storm Cat. Penniless Heiress, who currently is in foal to Giant’s Causeway and is kept at New Farm, produced an earlier Giant’s Causeway offspring, a filly in 2003, but the filly died in a paddock accident. “She was a gorgeous filly,” Novak said.
Wildcat Heir is trained by Ben Perkins Jr., whose father once trained for Novak and is now an adviser. “There probably isn’t a day that we don’t talk,” Novak said.
One of Novak’s earlier stakes winners, Delaware Township, ranks 15th on the first-crop sire list by progeny earnings. Delaware Township stands at Padua Stables near Summerfield, Fla., as the property of New Farm and Padua.
Forest Wildcat is represented by 27 stakes winners. Among his six added-money winners this year is D’ Wildcat Speed (gr. II). He stands at Brookdale and his 2005 fee was $35,000.—D.S.
