Pedigree

Superior racehorses are capable of outrunning their pedigrees, but El Gato Malo will have to earn his way into that category if he has any pretensions of staying 1 1/4 miles on the first Saturday in May. His sire, the brilliantly fast El Corredor, never ran past a mile. He scored his most notable victories at that distance, in the Cigar Mile H. (G1) and consecutive runnings of the Del Mar H. (G2), but also captured the seven-furlong Pat O'Brien H. (G2) in a blazing 1:20 2/5 at Del Mar. An exponent of the Mr. Prospector male line, El Corredor is a young sire with just four crops to his credit, compiling an Average Winning Distance of 6.9 furlongs. The key to how far his progeny want to go, however, appears to rest with his mares. Two of his top performers -- Frizette S. (G1) heroine Adieu and Puerto Rican champion El Viento -- had distance limitations. El Corredor's other Grade 1 winner, Dominican, inherited a bit more stamina from his dam. Dominican stayed 1 1/8 miles well enough to deny subsequent Kentucky Derby (G1) hero Street Sense in last year's Blue Grass S. (G1), but was a well-beaten 11th when trying 1 1/4 miles in the Run for the Roses.

El Gato Malo's dam, One Bad Cat, is just contributing additional speed to his makeup. Both of her wins came at sprint distances, and she failed badly in her only attempt at a mile. Moreover, El Gato Malo's full sister, the stakes-placed Cotton Bay, has raced exclusively in sprints over her four-race career so far. One Bad Cat is by the Storm Cat stallion Mountain Cat, a speedy, precocious juvenile himself. Not blessed with the same success at stud as others of his tribe, Mountain Cat has sired progeny with an Average Winning Distance of 6.7 furlongs.

One Bad Cat's family is likewise characterized by speed. Her dam, the Native Royalty mare Stedes Wonder, was primarily a sprinter who lasted a mile to win the Audubon Oaks. Stedes Wonder also produced Grade 2 winner Jamies First Punch, who didn't often tackle distances greater than a mile. By the top handicap horse Fit to Fight, Jamies First Punch managed to navigate 1 1/8 miles successfully just one time in his career to take the Peter Pan S. (G2), but wound up a remote eighth in the 1 1/2-mile Belmont S. (G1) in 1996. Stedes Wonder hails from a rather undistinguished offshoot of the family of Sweet Catomine, the champion juvenile filly of 2004.