Wildcat Red, General a Rod exit Fountain of Youth duel in
good order
Wildcat Red and General a Rod, the one-two finishers in
Saturday’s Grade 2 Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream
Park, will likely take their nascent rivalry to the next level in the Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby on March 29.
Awaiting them in that marquee
event at 1 1/8 miles will be Cairo Prince, who sat out the Fountain of Youth
following his romp in the Holy Bull at
Gulfstream on January 25. General a Rod had edged Wildcat Red by a head in the Gulfstream
Park Derby on New Year’s Day, but the latter colt turned the tables in their
virtual match race in the Fountain of Youth.
“He doesn’t have to go to the lead, and he’s got a lot of
gas if he needs to,” Nick Galati, assistant to trainer Jose Garoffalo, said this
morning. “Yesterday he was pinned down on the inside and he did have a little
disadvantage, but he fought every step of the way. It was a very exciting race.
He never gave up. It was a test, and I think he passed with flying colors.
“I couldn’t stop watching the replay,” Galati added. “How
many dozen times? I was doing it at dinner. I was showing anybody that walked
by. It was very exciting. That’s why we get up in the morning, for something
like him. He’s like a dream come true.”
Owned by Honors Stable Corp., Wildcat Red has made all six of his
career starts at Gulfstream. He drew off stylishly in the Hutcheson three weeks ago
to score by 4 3/4 lengths, and the Fountain of Youth marked his first attempt around two
turns.
“He ate up and everything was fine,” Galati continued. “He
came out perfect. He was full of himself and very, very happy. He’ll be laying
down today. He relaxes. There’s just something about him, he does everything
right. We’re very happy with the way he came out of the race.”
A son of D’wildcat,
Wildcat Red will attempt to stretch his speed in the Florida Derby in five
weeks’ time. He and General a Rod were separated by a head at the wire, with
stretch-running favorite Top Billing winding up two lengths behind them in
third.
“(Jose is) going to make the inevitable decision, but today
I don’t see any reason to have anything other than positives about the way he
ran and the way he came out of his race,” Galati said. “We are all very, very
happy.
“(Top Billing), I guess the track bias was his excuse, but he ran his
race. The other horse (General a Rod), he’s legit. He was one of the
better-looking ones in the race and I thought he was the one to watch anyway. He
was a fresh horse. (Trainer Todd) Pletcher’s horse (Commissioner) just didn’t fire, but he
looked great, too. It was a legit bunch. Like we said, it was a test.”
General a Rod cooled out well after the Fountain of Youth,
according to trainer Mike Maker.
“He came out of the race just fine,” Maker said.
“Everything was great, he just came out of it on the losing end. He didn’t show
us anything that he didn’t show us before; he just came out of it on the losing
end. We’re still undecided (about his next start). There’s a lot of races out
there, so we’re just going to take our time and make a decision.”
The Fountain of Youth offered Kentucky Derby qualifying
points of 50-20-10-5 to the first four finishers. East Hall, previously third in
the Gulfstream Park Derby, outran his 72-1 odds to round out the superfecta in
the Fountain of Youth and could get another crack at the winner in the Florida
Derby.
“East Hall is officially on the Derby trail because he got
five points,” trainer Bill Kaplan confirmed. “I’m very proud of his performance.
He gained a length on even Top Billing in the stretch, and he got the jump on us
a little earlier. But he ran a superstar race, and he was still running at the
end. He came back fresh, and he’s doing fine. There was a discussion of maybe
scratching from the 13 hole, but we decided to hang in there and it worked out
good.
“The top two horses ran all the way up front, and Top
Billing and he came from last and next-to-last against a speed-favoring track,”
Kaplan continued. “I was very pleased with my horse’s performance. Everything in
our mind is looking toward the mile and a quarter in May. This sets up nice for
it.”
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