As the build-up continues for the $1 million Group 1 Florida Derby March 29, Honors Stable's Wildcat Red is acting like he can't wait.
"He has been full of himself," Jose Garoffalo, Wildcat Red's trainer, said March 19 at his barn at Gulfstream Park.
Garoffalo has been seeing that high level of confidence and energy since Wildcat Red beat J. Armando Rodriguez's General a Rod by ahead after a classic race-long duel in the Besilu Stables Fountain of Youth Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Feb. 22.
"He's flying (on the track) and he's up on his toes," Garoffalo said shortly after Wildcat Red had his morning gallop. "We just have to wait for the race."
Minutes earlier, the D'wildcat colt appeared full of energy but easy to handle as assistant trainer Nick Galati led him back to his stall.
Wildcat Red is to have a four-furlong workout March 22 and will gallop other mornings prior to the Florida Derby. He was timed in :47 4/5 for a four-furlong workout March 15; it was the 10th fastest of 87 at that distance at Gulfstream that day.
He will be one of the favorites along with General a Rod and Cairo Prince, winner of the Holy Bull Stakes (gr. II) at Gulfstream Jan. 25. There is a chance Rontos Racing Stable's Social Inclusion also will be in the 1 1/8 mile Florida Derby—whether or not Rontos principal Ronald Sanchez accepts one of several multimillion-dollar offers for the colt.
Social Inclusion set a Gulfstream 1 1/16-mile record of 1:40.97 March 12 in an allowance race. In just his second career start, Social Inclusion led the entire way and defeated prominent 3-year-old Honor Code by 10 lengths in a field of five horses.
Social Inclusion is scheduled for a three-furlong workout March 22 at Gulfstream. Trainer Manny Azpurua said March 19 he and Sanchez will decide later that day whether to run Social Inclusion in the Florida Derby or in the Wood Memorial Stakes (gr. I) at Aqueduct Racetrack April 5.
Azpurua declined to comment on the prospect of a sale of Social Inclusion, a Pioneerof the Nile colt.
Sanchez, Azpurua, Rodriguez, Garoffalo, and Wildcat Red's co-owner, Salvatore Delfino, are natives of Venezuela. Josie Martino Delfino, Salvatore Delfino's wife and co-owner of Wildcat Red, is a native of Canada.
The success of their horses at Gulfstream has led to "Venezuela having an interest in (United States) horse racing that we haven't seen in years," Garoffalo said.
For several decades thousands of Venezuelans have owned homes and businesses in the Miami-Fort Lauderdale area, often spending part of each year in Venezuela and part in Florida. In recent years that investment flow has picked up amid concerns about policies of Venezuela's left-wing government, and one result is that more Venezuelans are buying Thoroughbreds for racing at Gulfstream and Calder Casino & Race Course.
"We are seeing new owners, a lot of good professionals," Garoffalo said.
The Delfinos, who have homes in Caracas and southeast Florida, own a wine distribution company in Florida and the La Montanara restaurant in Aventura, near Gulfstream. Wildcat Red is their second horse in the U.S.; their first, the retired filly Trippi Honor, also was trained by Garoffalo and is the basis for their stable name.
"They will be back here from Venezuela (March 24)," Garoffalo said. "They call every day about the horse."
