Wildman Jack relished a return to the main track Jan. 23 at Santa Anita Park, where he drew off to an emphatic 4 1/4-length win in the $200,000 Palos Verdes Stakes (G3).
Ridden by Abel Cedillo, the 5-year-old gelded son of Goldencents raced six furlongs in a scintillating 1:08.98.
Breaking from post 2, Cedillo was content to let last year's Palos Verdes winner, Captain Scotty, clear him early, and then Wildman Jack tracked the pacesetter into the far turn through opening fractions of :22.01 and :44.52. Leaving the quarter pole, Wildman Jack put a head in front and won comfortably, providing Cedillo his third win on the day and Doug O'Neill with a training double.
A disappointing sixth as the 2-1 favorite in the Jan. 1 Joe Hernandez Stakes (G2T) at 6 1/2 furlongs on turf, W C Racing's Wildman Jack was sent off at odds of 5-1 in a field of eight older horses Saturday and paid $13.20 for a $2 win bet.
"Last time I was sitting perfect, but he lost his shoes," said Cedillo. "He lost his shoes, that's why he stopped. (The way) he ran today, I think he's better on the dirt."
"He's been on the grass, but we loved his dirt race at Del Mar," said O'Neillassistant Leandro Mora, referring to a fourth in the Aug. Bing Crosby Stakes (G1). "We've been thinking about getting him back on the dirt since then and Doug and the owners decided this race would be good. This is a huge win for him."
Bred in Kentucky by his owner, Glenn Sorgenstein of W C Racing, Wildman Jack added the Palos Verdes to the 2020 Nad Al Sheba Turf Sprint Sponsored By Arabian Adventures (G3) in Dubai last March and the May 23 Daytona Stakes (G3T) going 5 1/2 furlongs on the Santa Anita lawn. The win improved his record to 5-3-1 from 14 starts, with earnings of $559,505.
Unhurried early, Shashashakemeup was a close third after the first half-mile and proved second best, finishing 1 3/4 lengths in front of late-running Pyron, who edged 3-1 favorite Ax Man by a neck for third. The order of finish was completed by Captain Scotty, Take the One O One, Shooters Shoot, and Kneedeepinsnow.
Wildman Jack is out of the winning Orientate mare Orientatious, and is her only winner from three starters. The mare has an unraced 2019 English Channel colt named Stability, and was bred back to Goldencents for 2020.
O'Neill and W C Racing also raced Goldencents, a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile (G1).
