Trust But Verify
Another speedy filly to join the Saffie Joseph, Jr. barn when snatching up hip 81, a member of the first crop of fast-starting Leinster, at the OBS June Two-Year-Olds in Training Sale.
Out of the Wildcat Heir mare Wildcat Gaze, the Florida-bred breezed in a bullet :9 ⅘ during her under-tack preview before galloping out in a very swift :20 ⅗ and :33 ⅗. In addition to her serious speed, she displayed excellent response to the rider’s encouragement and gave the impression of one who will possess that competitive drive needed for success at the races.
Back at the barn, she looked exactly how you’d expect given what she did on the track–she’s a straightforward, smaller, precocious-looking type built for speed. The Mar. 24 foal is correct up front and has a particularly strong hip.
Leinster was a four-time graded stakes-winning turf sprinter who finished a close third in the 2020 G1 Breeders’ Cup Turf Sprint. Based in Florida, he has gotten off to an impressive start with first runners.
His first starter–and winner–was the filly Lennilu, who scored on the Keeneland dirt in early April before taking Gulfstream Park’s Royal Palm Juvenile Fillies S. on the turf and earning her way to Royal Ascot for a start in the prestigious G2 Queen Mary S. Lennilu was a game third in that extremely competitive event.
Leinster’s second winner Squire was a close second in the Royal Palm Juvenile. Another colt, Monster, looked like exactly that when romping by nine lengths on the Gulfstream grass in late May.
In addition to Florida-bred incentives, Wildcat Gaze ‘23 is also eligible for the lucrative Florida Sire Stakes series later this season at Gulfstream.
The filly is out of a hard-knocking five-time winner who is half to four stakes horses. She is bred on a version of the potent A.P. Indy over Storm Cat cross.
Wildcat Gaze ‘23 has joined the Palm Meadows barn of leading conditioner Saffie Joseph, Jr., who also trains MyRacehorse’s multiple winner Here’s the Kicker and fellow promising juvenile fillies Mystical Belle and Just Like Lucy ‘23–all of which are also OBS graduates. He has won the training title for an incredible 12 consecutive meets at Gulfstream Park and guided the careers of such standouts as champion female sprinter Soul of an Angel and this year’s G1 Pegasus World Cup hero White Abarrio.
