Offlee Wild in control

Somebody knew something.

Listed at 15-1 in the morning line, Offlee Wild came on the board at 6-5 for yesterday's $500,000 Massachusetts Handicap at Suffolk Downs. He slowly drifted to 3-1, and he rewarded backers as the second choice when he outfinished favorite Funny Cide to win by a head in a three-horse close.

"Going into the race, I felt he should be the favorite," said Dick Dutrow, who trains Offlee Wild. "He was the only one who trained for the race. The connections of the other horses thought it was a weak field coming up. There weren't a whole lot of horses on the top of their game coming in here. This was a good step. I thought we had a good shot here."

The Lady's Groom, who finished another head back in third, went to the front under Horatio Karamanos. Funny Cide, off at 2-1 with Jose Santos, stalked his every step from second, and they were joined by Offlee Wild and Edgar Prado around the far turn. The three horses battled hard down the lane, and Prado, working the right-hand whip, got Offlee Wild up in time from the outside before a crowd of 17,280.

The dark bay colt returned $8.40 to win, and covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.

"The race set up perfect," said Prado. "Maybe the fractions were a little slower than I expected, but I wasn't too far off the leaders. I had a chance to get off the rail at the three-eighths pole, and I took it. After that, it was just a matter of finding room to get home, and he just kept digging. This horse has really improved since [Dutrow] took over. He has found the key to this horse."

Offlee Wild was a promising 3-year-old when he finished 12th in last year's Kentucky Derby. After losing an allowance and a stake at Gulfstream over the winter, owners Az Azalea Stables took him away from Tom Smith and sent him to Dutrow. It didn't take Dutrow long to get him in shape, and when Offlee Wild won his first race for the new conditioner, an allowance at Belmont May 14, he earned a trip to the 64th MassCap.

"He had hind end problems mostly," said Dutrow, who sent Offlee Wild to Suffolk early last week and had him breeze over the track Wednesday. "And I wasn't exactly thrilled with the way he was shod.

"He was a dead horse in Florida. When I walked in his stall, he didn't even care. He started to show a lot more signs of life after a while. He was much more aggressive, and he acted like he wanted to be there. After his race for us, I knew we had a different horse. We could have gone in another allowance, but when a horse is sitting on a big race, you have to go for the money.

"[Lead owner] Landon Robbins kept telling me how talented this horse was, that he knew he could do better. Then I started to get confidence in him. When you pick up horses, you want to find out what's wrong with them. It happened to work out with [Offlee Wild]. But I could name you 100 horses I took over that it hasn't worked out with. We got lucky with him."

J.J. Castellano rode Offlee Wild in the Belmont allowance, which he won by more than 4 lengths. But Prado, who could have ridden Evening Attire yesterday (fifth place), was watching.

"He ran such a good race last time, and I have a lot of business with Mr. Dutrow," said Prado. "I was willing to take a chance. As a 2-year-old and a 3-year-old, he was very competitive and he ran against some of the best. He used to show speed very early in his career, but recently, he has dropped back at the start. I was happy he was able to stay closer today."

Next for Offlee Wild, son of Wild Again and a $325,000 yearling purchase at Keeneland, could be the Whitney at Saratoga Aug. 7.

"I want to duck the best of them, and find a spot he can win," said Dutrow. "I'd love to try the Whitney. If all the big horses don't show up, that might be a good spot for him. We'll play it by ear."