‘Dude’ Looks for Two Straight in O’Brien

Fresh off an 11-1 upset in this track’s GI Bing Crosby S. July 26, Wild Dude (Wildcat Heir) will look to put them back-to-back in Saturday’s GII Pat O’Brien S. at Del Mar, a ‘Win and You’re In’ qualifier for the GI Breeders’ Cup Sprint at Keeneland Oct. 31.

Winner of the GII Palos Verdes S. in 2014, the Florida-bred held off a late bid from Kobe’s Back (Flatter) in the GII San Carlos S. this past March, but dropped three straight thereafter. The bay rounded out the triple in the GIII Los Angeles S. May 27 and in the June 27 GI Triple Bend S. June 27, but rallied nicely to best long odds-on Masochistic (Sought After) and Kobe’s Back in the Bing Crosby last time.

Appealing Tale (Tale of the Cat) was entered for the Bing Crosby, but was somewhat audaciously scratched from that spot in favor of the 8 1/2-furlong GII San Diego H. the previous afternoon.　Exiting a runner-up effort in the Triple Bend, Appealing Tale alternated on the lead with Bayern in the San Diego and was able to put him away before just failing to hold off the longer-winded Catch a Flight (Arg) (Giant’s Causeway). The narrow morning-line favorite has both disputed the pace and has laid off it in his other tries at this abbreviated distance and that versatility could serve him well in this spot.

The rail-drawn Turnover (Big Brown) and Indexical (Latent Heat) appear to be the ones that will set things up for the late-runners. The latter was frequently ambitiously spotted during his 3-year-old season and placed in a couple downhill sprints over the winter, but most recently earned a career-best 101 Beyer in winning a sloppy second-level allowance July 19. Martin Garcia will probably have to hit the gas from the one hole with Turnover, who couldn’t keep pace with Indexical and finished a distant third to that one last time out.