God love the geldings. Honestly, if he was a colt, El Gato Malo probably wouldn’t be stepping foot onto another race track in his lifetime. Injured in his last start back in May, the bay gelding has been out of commission since. He spent a few months recovering from a leg injury at Winner’s Circle Ranch, out of sight and mind from the hysteria of the Triple Crown and the road to the Breeders’ Cup. Now he’s back in training, and trainer Craig Dollase says he’ll be ready for his next race in a couple weeks, with the Strub Stakes in February the ultimate goal in sight.
El Gato Malo proved to be one of the three year old crop’s rising stars, but didn’t have enough earnings to make it into the Kentucky Derby. He won his maiden at Hollywood Park and followed it with a streak of victories in the Gold Rush and San Rafael Stakes. His run in the San Rafael remains one of the most impressive moves of this year, when he waited patiently for the three frontrunners to tire themselves out, then came rushing with a sweeping move to close a gap of 7 ½ lengths and win by seven more. He came up short in his next race, the Sham Stakes, where he lost to Colonel John by a neck. In the Santa Anita Derby, El Gato Malo went off as the 9-5 favorite, but never fired and finished a career-worst fifth. Colonel John won the Santa Anita Derby and came back to win the Travers in the fall. As both horses call California home and will be racing next season, will we be seeing a rematch come next year?
The downside to this horse is his graded stakes record. He’s won two Grade III’s and the Santa Anita was his only entry in a Grade I. Granted, El Gato Malo has only raced six times so far, so he’s got time to get there. If he does make it to the Strub Stakes in February, he will be entering his first Grade II race. If he’s going to be making a name for himself, he needs to do better than “Grade III winner.” Obviously, I believe he’s better than that. To tell the truth, I always carried a bit of a grudge against Colonel John since the two horses met up and my boy got the bad end of the deal. And I’m still not convinced that Mambo in Seattle was beaten in the Travers.
The intrigue with El Gato Malo is his malleability. Though he has trained and raced primarily on synthetics, he also won on dirt in the Lone Star Derby in Texas before he was sidelined with an injury. He is a come-from-behind horse, as well as a stalker. You will never be bored watching a race with this guy, and his future looks bright. One can only hope he returns to racing with the same flare as he entered it. If “The Bad Cat” makes his comeback, we will have years of fun following this horse; in a game where promising 2-year-olds can be retired to stud, this is truly a gift worth cherishing.
You can watch for El Gato Malo’s (or any other horse’s) next race and see his workout times by signing up for a Virtual Stable at Equibase.com.