When El Gato Malo finished fifth in the Santa Anita Derby, Oceanside's Jeff Bloom was perplexed.

The betting favorite in the race, El Gato Malo made a menacing move on the turn for home in the April 5 race, but he flattened out -- and so did his hopes of going to the Kentucky Derby.

He went back to the barn, had a number of tests and received a clean bill of health.

So Bloom, the vice president of West Coast operations for West Point Thoroughbreds, which owns El Gato Malo, set his sights on another jewel of the Triple Crown -- Saturday's Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore.

Then, two weeks ago in Louisville, Ky., Bloom watched Big Brown win the Kentucky Derby with ease.

Time to call an audible.

Bloom got on his cell phone and talked to trainer Craig Dollase about going to last Saturday's $400,000 Lone Star Derby at Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie, Texas. It proved to be a fruitful trip, as El Gato Malo won the Grade III race and $225,000.

And the best thing of all is the 3-year-old gelding will be in his Hollywood Park stall today while 12 others try to knock off a formidable foe in Maryland.

Bloom said the change was made for a number of reasons.

"One of the factors was our horse was jumping out of his skin, and the Lone Star Derby was a week earlier than the Preakness," Bloom said. "We loved the distance of the Lone Star Derby (1 1/16 miles). And Big Brown was a horse who looks different than all of the others."

Bloom knows a good-looking horse when he sees one. He is a former jockey and worked as an exercise rider for Hall of Fame trainer Charlie Whittingham.

"Big Brown is one of the most amazing racehorses I've ever seen in person," said Bloom. "The way he handled the whole experience from start to finish -- I mean the crowd, the paddock, the fact that he broke out of the 20 hole in the Kentucky Derby and won that race so easily, is mind-boggling. It was a spectacular performance.

"The thing that got me the most in watching the race was that in different parts of the race, he was so relaxed. He settled and rebroke when needed. Any time (jockey Kent Desormeaux) needed that horse to relax and make his move, he did it multiple times. Watching him live, he looked like a horse that was out for a morning gallop, not the toughest 3-year-old race in the country. He's a unique horse as far as I'm concerned.

"We always talk about after the Kentucky Derby that we have the next Triple Crown winner, but to me he's a different kind of racehorse."

Bloom knows it will take a superior effort to defeat Big Brown on Saturday, and West Point certainly hopes it has such an animal in Macho Again, who will start from the No. 1 post. Macho Again is trained by Dallas Stewart.

"In all seriousness, in watching Big Brown, he looks like the next Secretariat," said Bloom, "but it's a horse race and we haven't had a Triple Crown winner in 30 years. There is so much to overcome, but if there is ever going to be a time to beat Big Brown, it would be off two weeks' rest after the Kentucky Derby."

Bloom doesn't discount the fact that El Gato Malo might face Big Brown down the line.

"Our long-term target is to go to the Haskell Invitational," said Bloom.

The Haskell is held every August at Monmouth Park in Oceanport, N.J. It is used by many 3-year-old stars as a prep for the Grade I Travers Stakes at Saratoga Springs, N.Y.

El Gato Malo will likely prep for the Haskell in the July 12 Swaps Stakes at Hollywood Park in Inglewood.

"Most likely, give him a breather until then," Bloom said. "He did come out of the (Lone Star Derby) in perfect shape, and we answered a lot of questions in that race."

Contact staff writer Jeff Nahill at nctnahill@aol.com or (760) 740-3550.