Contenders

William Kaplan

Kaplan, 61, is a native of Brooklyn, New York, but now resides in Plantation, Florida, where he moved in 1970. In New York, he was an accountant, but went to work in flight school as an instructor after moving south. He later owned a charter service between Miami and Key West. During that time, he also bought a few horses, but was not training them. Eventually, in 1979, he sold his airline company and took out his training license. His best horses have included Seacliff, who swept the 1995 Florida Stallion Series, Fortune Pending, Ells Once Again, who raced with three screws in her leg, Ravensmoor, Southern Velvet and Golden Bimmer.

Mark Guidry

Guidry, 46, is a native of Lafayette, La. and now resides in Louisville. A winner of over 4,900 races in his career, he is a perennial figure in the top 40 national jockeys' rankings. He began his riding career at age nine in his home state, competing at bush tracks and then moving on to regulated tracks at 16, winning his first race at Delta Downs. He moved his tack to Illinois in 1986, and became the dominant rider on that circuit, topping the rider's standings at Hawthorne seven times, Sportsman's Park nine times and also twice at Arlington. In recent years, he has ridden in southern California as well as Kentucky. He earned the prestigious George Woolf Memorial Award in March. The award is given annually to the jockey who demonstrates high standards of personal and professional conduct, on and off the racetrack. Guidry has ridden in four Kentucky Derbies, with his best finish being a fifth in 2005 aboard Buzzards Bay.

Lewis Pell and Michael Eigner

Ward & Geraldine Theisen (FL)

Imawildandcrazyguy is by Wild Event, who began his stud career in Florida and now resides to Haras Santa María de Araras in Brazil. Wild Event broke his maiden at two, but didn’t race at three. The next three seasons, he was one of the leading turf horses in the mid-1990s. He scored wins in the Arlington Handicap (GII), W.L. McKnight Handicap (GII), River City Handicap (GIII), Fourstardave Handicap (GIII) and the Early Times Turf Classic (GI), all on the grass. His success on the green shouldn’t be a surprise, since he is a half-brother to grass champion Paradise Creek and $1.6 million earner Forbidden Apple, all out of the daughter of Theatrical North of Eden.

Imawildandcrazyguy is out of the unraced Top Account mare Frosty Cupcake. Our subject colt is her only runner from three foals to date. Frosty Cupcake’s dam is a half-sister to the sire Din’s Dancer and Ak-sar-ben Oaks winner Ten Bid. Top Account was probably at his best a mile or under, but he did win the Rushaway as a 3-year-old.

Imawildandcrazyguy is inbred to a couple of very interesting horses: Shenanigans (4x5), the dam of the immortal Ruffian; and Hoist the Flag (4x4 on his female side), the favorite for the 1971 Derby before injury ended his career. Dosage Index: 6.00 – by Mark Hoard

IMAWILDANDCRAZYGUY was a fast-closing 2^nd in the Risen Star at Fair Grounds, and ran a respectable 4^th in the Louisiana Derby before failing to fire at all in the Florida Derby when 6^th behind Scat Daddy and others. He registered a 10-length win at the end of his two-year-old campaign at Calder against four foes, and he was competitive in a few of the other Florida juvenile stakes last year. But he really has not been much of a threat against top company this year, and it will take a very big step up for him to give this group a run for it’s money. He should be near the back of the pack early, and unless he has turned into a completely new horse in the last five weeks, he’ll probably stay there.