When Wildcat Red takes his place in the starting gate
The Florida-bred son of D’wildcat was purchased for just
Moreau previously experienced success as a breeder with
“She was exceptional,” Moreau said. “I buy some mares for
Bushfire, who earned more than $800,000 on the track for owners
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Wildcat Red has been nearly perfect in his six career
starts to date, and has rewarded Moreau’s perseverance in the bloodstock
business.
“It’s a great story because there are a lot of wealthy
people in the sport that buy horses for millions of dollars, but here you have a
small breeder like me who has modest horses,” Moreau noted. “It gives the smaller
people a chance to think that they have a chance to win the big races, too.”
Under the tutelage of trainer Jose Garoffalo, Wildcat Red
dashed across the finish line first in his initial three starts. He was
disqualified from victory in Gulfstream’s Juvenile Sprint on
November 9 and missed by a head to General a Rod in the Gulfstream Park
Derby on New Year’s Day.
Though forced to miss an intended class with Florida Derby favorite Cairo
Prince in the Holy Bull, the bay colt made amends by drawing off in the Hutcheson on
February 1, and turned the tables on General a Rod when they battled every step
in the Fountain of Youth at Gulfstream three weeks
later.
Moreau and his daughter Natalie gave Wildcat Red his early
education before turning him over to Danzel Brendemuehl of Classic Bloodstock
just before his date in the auction ring nine months ago. The colt’s temperament
has served him well in his career thus far.
“He was not mean, but during the whole time that we were
breaking him, he was always trying to bite us,” Moreau recalled. “He did not
like anyone going into his stall and could corner you in there — he was that kind
of colt. He was very playful and always had something in mind, but he was never
a problem to us. He was a very easy horse to train. He was very la-di-da.”
Wildcat Red’s sire D’wildcat was a talented sprinter whose
best offspring to date was D’ Funnybone, whose five stakes victories included
the 2010 editions of the Hutcheson and Swale. The Florida Derby
hopeful was produced by the mare Racene, a daughter of Miner’s Mark whose
career-best effort came when third in the 11-furlong Yerba Buena Handicap on the turf
in 2002.
“The mother is a very sweet mare, very easy-going, and
well-balanced,” Moreau explained. “I like mares that have shown performance, and
she was a good racemare on the West Coast. She was stocky and well-muscled.
(Wildcat Red) is stocky himself; he’s not small. I’m not sure how much he’s
grown since last year, but I’m sure he’s much bigger now. I thought he would
become 16 hands or so.”
Moreau purchased Racene for $30,000 in 2004 when the mare
was carrying her first foal. Moreau sold all of her subsequent offspring as
yearlings, but opted to hang onto Wildcat Red until his juvenile season.
“Because of the way the commercial market is, he wasn’t
correct enough to sell as a yearling, and I thought it would be better to just
sell him as a two-year-old,” Moreau explained. “So my partner and I decided to
wait, because even though he was offset when he was young, he was strong and had
good bone. Sometimes I buy weanlings to sell them as yearlings, but they have to
be very correct because you won’t be able to sell them if they’re not — that is
the way the commercial market is. We tried to combine the balance of the mare
with the height of the stallion.”
Wildcat Red had some delays ahead of his auction date. The
colt recorded a
one-furlong breeze in :10 2/5
at the Ocala, Florida, complex, and Moreau and partners were satisfied with the
$30,000 final price.
“A few weeks before the sale he came back from the track
with a big ankle,” Moreau explained. “We worked on it before the auction, so he
only had time to breeze once before he went to OBS.
“People sometimes made fun of the horse because he was so
la-di-da and calm at the sale,” the Frenchman added. “He was a little offset in
the knees, but as his chest got bigger, I think his conformation got better.
They change a lot when they grow.
“He toed out a little and with his knees, and I
thought he was not going to be the best mover at the sale. But the more we asked
him to do, the more we did with him, his action got better and better. At first
it was not obvious, but the way he gallops and, when he really extends himself,
it’s quite different. He’s very strong and gallant.”
Moreau will finally get a chance to see how his star
graduate has progressed next weekend.
“I really wanted to come to Miami for his last race, the
Fountain of Youth, but I couldn’t make it,” the horseman said. “So I am very
excited to go see him in the Florida Derby.”
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