Wayne Catalano has the best kind of problem on his hands.
Anytime the trainer gets a promising 2-year-old filly in his barn, he knows people will try and make comparisons to Dreaming of Anna, the champion filly he trained to a win in the 2006 Breeders' Cup.
Should his latest prospect She Be Wild do what is expected in Friday's Grade I Darley Alcibiades at Keeneland, Catalano knows such comparisons won't let up anytime soon.
She may not have championship credentials yet, but She Be Wild will try to take the first step toward emulating her accomplished predecessor when she faces 11 fellow 2-year-olds in the 11⁄16-mile Alcibiades over the Polytrack.
With three wins in as many career starts — all of them at Arlington Park — She Be Wild has not only won every race, but she has yet to encounter a serious challenge.
Nancy Mazzoni's homebred daughter of Offlee Wild smashed her competition by 71/4 lengths in her career debut in May and has gone to take the Top Flight Stakes in August and the Grade III Arlington-Washington Lassie in September by a combined 11 lengths.
"We thought she would run good, but until they do it at this stage in their life, you don't know," Catalano said. "You want to see them take that next step forward and she made that for us. And she did it fairly easy.
"I would love to (have her repeat Dreaming of Anna's success). We're looking forward to doing it again."
The casual nature of her victories may be nice, but She Be Wild has shown more than just the ability to run away from everyone.
After setting the fractions in her maiden win, she stalked the pace in the Top Flight and then proved she could rate when she rallied from fifth in the 1-mile Arlington Lassie.
"It's very nice to see her rate like she did the last two races, that was a very pleasant surprise that she rated off her first performance," Catalano said. "Of course she has to keep stepping up and hopefully Friday she steps up and keeps moving forward."
With three career wins in the Alcibiades, trainer Ken McPeek knows how to get his fillies to step forward this time of year.
McPeek saddled Dream Empress to victory in the race last season and is feeling good about his chances for a repeat with the improving Beautician.
Beautician won her debut going 51/2 furlongs at Churchill on June 5 and has gamely run second to division leader Hot Dixie Chick in both the Grade I Spinaway and Grade III Schuylerville at Saratoga.
"This is the most confident I have ever been coming into the race," McPeek said. "I think she is better than all three of them that won this race."
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