Welcome to 2024 Kentucky Derby Prospect Profiles, where we’ll take a look each week at a recent winner on the Triple Crown trail, usually from the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule from races on the Road to the Kentucky Derby schedule that offer qualifying points for the first leg in the series. The 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve will be held May 4, 2024, at Churchill Downs.

This week, we’ll take a closer look at Resilience, a 2 ¼-length winner of the $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino on April 6 at Aqueduct. The Into Mischief colt earned 100 points toward qualifying for the 2024 Kentucky Derby with that win and ranks fifth with 110 points on the latest Road to the Kentucky Derby leaderboard, guaranteeing his spot in the Kentucky Derby.

Racing Résumé: Co-owner Emily Bushnell said after the Wood Memorial, that when Resilience was just a baby he had no shortage of confidence.

“I remember back when he was a foal, he would come out and look you in the eye like, ‘What’s up,’” Bushnell recalled. “He’s just a confident dude and has just done everything right every step of the way.”

Resilience serves as a compelling reminder that racehorses develop and improve at their own pace. Despite his self-assuredness, Resilience needed some time to emerge on the racetrack as a top prospect. He earned his first win in his fourth start Jan. 1, 2024, at Gulfstream Park after going winless in three races as a 2-year-old.

He was well-beaten and unplaced in his career debut last September at Saratoga, showed promise in a runner-up finish in his second start in October at Churchill Downs, and then was a well-beaten third in his final race in 2023.

This year, Resilience has stepped forward as a top 3-year-old. He stalked the pace from third and powered to a 4 ¼-length victory in his maiden win. Next, he was second in the stretch of the Risen Star Stakes Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds after a stalking trip but faded late to finish fourth behind Sierra Leone, Track Phantom, and Catching Freedom – a Kentucky Derby-bound trio.

Equipped with blinkers on the recommendation of Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez for the Wood Memorial, Resilience delivered the breakout performance his connections sought. He again stalked the pace, this time from third, and drew clear in early stretch en route to a 2 ¼-length win over 11 opponents.

“We broke really well, which was what we wanted to do. He got a little bit aggressive, more than I wanted to in the first part. Then I put him out and he kind of relaxed better on the outside of horses,” Velazquez said. “The reason we put blinkers on is because he's kind of hesitant in passing the horses. So, I kind of engaged him a little bit early to see if he'd pass horses and he passed them. Then I was like ‘Oh man I might’ve broken a little too soon.’ Then he just kept me busy down the lane.”

Resilience completed the final three-eighths of a mile in approximately :37.80 and his final furlong in :12.93 to secure his first stakes win and punch his ticket to Louisville.

“The blinkers didn't hurt, did they?” Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott quipped after the race.

Speed Figures: Resilience looks like a racehorse on the rise based on the eye test, and the speed figures support that as he has improved both his Equibase Speed Figure and Beyer Speed Figure in each of his six starts to date. This year, he’s improved his Equibase number from a 91 in his maiden win to a 93 for the Risen Star and a 103 for the Wood Memorial. Likewise, his Beyer numbers in three starts this year follow that upward trajectory 80-85-90. He took a significant jump in the Wood Memorial and now will be tasked with making another improvement in the Kentucky Derby on four weeks rest.

Running Style: Resilience was more of a closer in three starts as a 2-year-old, but this year he has settled in as a stalker with tactical speed who prefers to tuck in just a few lengths off the pace. He raced in third and two lengths behind the pace after the first half-mile in his two wins, and in both races the pace was similar (:47.50 and :47.49, respectively). He has enough cruising speed to track a solid pace, which probably will be a bit faster in the 1 ¼-mile Kentucky Derby, and still finish well. If he can duplicate the trip he got in the Wood Memorial on Kentucky Derby day, it would allow him to avoid much of the traffic in a 20-horse field and get the jump on the closers … but there will very likely be quite a few horses jockeying for the same position.

Velazquez and connections celebrate. (Walter Wlodarczyk/NYRA)

Connections: Longtime Thoroughbred owners-breeders Pam and Marty Wygod bred Resilience and he is co-owned by their daughter, Emily Bushnell, and Ric Waldman, who oversaw the career of influential stallion Storm Cat at Overbrook Farm. Resilience’s family was carefully cultivated by the Wygods, anchored by multiple Grade 1 winner Tranquility Lake, who was purchased by the couple for $250,000 at the 1996 Keeneland July sale of selected yearlings. All three of Tranquility Lake’s stakes winner as a broodmare, including Grade 1 winners and sires After Market and Courageous Cat, were sired by Storm Cat, hence the close connection between the Wygods, Bushnell, and Waldman.

 “It’s really special,” Bushnell said. “I’ve known Ric since I was a teenager and he loves the sport. He has a strong relationship with my dad, and they work well together. It’s a team approach, and I’m really excited to be on this journey with him.”

Hall of Famer Bill Mott for years was best known as the trainer of two-time Horse of the Year and fellow Hall of Famer Cigar, but Mott has accomplished so much more than just that having earned four Eclipse Awards as outstanding trainer, including 2023 when he trained Horse of the Year Cody’s Wish, champion sprinter Elite Power, and champion 2-year-old filly Just F Y I. Mott’s first win in a Triple Crown race came in 2010 when Drosselmeyer won the Belmont Stakes and he added a win in the Kentucky Derby when Country House prevailed via disqualification in 2019.

Hall of Fame jockey John Velazquez has been aboard for Resilience’s last two races, but Mott almost certainly will be looking for a new rider for the Kentucky Derby as Velazquez is the regular rider of champion Fierceness, the probable Kentucky Derby favorite.

Pedigree Notes: Resilience is by Into Mischief, who was the leading general sire in North America for the fifth straight year in 2023. Into Mischief success is due in part to the fact that his runners boast speed and in many cases the ability to carry it a distance of ground with two-turn Grade 1 winners such as 2020 Horse of the Year Authentic, 2021 Kentucky Derby winner Mandaloun, champions Pretty Mischievous and Wonder Wheel, and elite talents like Life Is Good and Goldencents. There are several other star sires and ascending stallions, but right now, Into Mischief is the undisputed king.

Some of the details of Resilience’s female family, anchored by multiple Grade 1-winning second dam (maternal grandmother) Tranquility Lake, by Rahy, were mentioned above. Resilience was bred by Martin and Pam Wygod out of Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike. Meadowsweet won two of six career starts at distances of 7 ½ furlongs and 1 1/16 miles on the turf. Smart Strike is a quality source of stamina.

Tranquility Lake won 11 of 27 starts and earned $1,662,390 over four seasons on the racetrack, including the Grade 1 Yellow Ribbon Stakes at 1 ¼ miles and the Grade 1 Gamely Breeders’ Cup Handicap at 1 1/8 miles, both on the grass. She also won the Grade 2 Clement L. Hirsch Stakes around two turns on the dirt among seven graded stakes wins.

In addition to Meadowsweet, Tranquility Lake produced group-graded stakes winners Courageous Cat, After Market, and Jalil, the first two both Grade 1 winners and sires.

Tranquility Lake is a half-sister (same dam, different sire) to multiple graded stakes winner and sire Benchmark and hails from the family of 1983 Belmont Stakes winner Caveat.

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Derby Potential: There are many reasons for optimism with Resilience. First and foremost, he’s on the right (upward) trajectory and looks like a 3-year-old putting things together and peaking at the right time for a Hall of Fame trainer. He’s got enough tactical speed to work out a good trip and he’s shown the ability to finish well even after stalking a solid pace. He’s a well-bred colt that I feel pretty confident will have something left in the fuel tank for the Derby stretch run.

The main concern is that he very likely needs to take another significant step forward in terms of speed figures to be a win candidate and he will try to do it on four weeks of rest after a career-best race. Unlike some of the other 3-year-olds, Resilience has a six-race foundation that should give him a solid chance to continue on the upswing. Will that be good enough?

Fierceness is fast enough that if he runs his best race in the Kentucky Derby the rest of the field probably is running for second, and Sierra Leone looks like a 3-year-old who can run all day and he already defeated Resilience convincingly in the Risen Star Stakes.

The Derby, however, is unlike any 3-year-old dirt race with a 20-horse field in front of 150,000 screaming fans. Fierceness has shown that he can be thrown off his game when faced with adversity while Sierra Leone is a deep closer who must navigate traffic in the Derby and was very hesitant to load into the starting gate in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes because of the boisterous crowd at Keeneland.

Beyond the top two, Resilience looks as good as any of the prospects on target for the race and he might slip a bit under the radar because the Wood Memorial Stakes has not been a productive Derby prep race in recent years. The last Wood Memorial runner to win the Derby was Funny Cide in 2003 and only Tacitus in 2019 has come out of the race since Funny Cide to finish in the Kentucky Derby top three (moved up from fourth in the Derby after Maximum Security was disqualified from first). The last horse to complete the Wood Memorial-Kentucky Derby double was Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000.

Resilience feels like a really good bet to round out the exacta or trifecta on May 4 at Churchill. He might even capitalize and pull out a win should the two favorites struggle on Derby day.