The Bad Cat's coming

El Gato Malo, who had been considered for the Preakness, will run instead in Saturday’s $400,000 Lone Star Derby, his trainer, Craig Dollase, said Tuesday.

A winner of three of his five races, including the San Rafael Stakes, El Gato Malo finished fifth in his most recent outing, the Santa Anita Derby.

“He got a little raddled in the paddock,” Dollase said, explaining the only poor performance in El Gato Malo's career, “and then he was just flat. That wasn’t him. But he's trained very well since then, and we're eager to get him back on track.”

Dollase said he decided on the Lone Star Derby in part because of the distance  (1 1/16 miles) and the lucrative purse, but also because he has had success sending horses to Grand Prairie, most recently Monterey Jazz, who won the Texas Mile.

Dollase said El Gato Malo will arrive Thursday at Lone Star from California. Rafael Bejarano, one of the nation's leading jockeys, will ride him Saturday.