A Day in the Life of a Kentucky Derby Horse
Horses wheel into the stretch of the 2023 Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct, with eventual upset winner Lord Miles (front left, red and white jockey silks) angling out for a closing rally. (Dom Napolitano/NYRA)
This Saturday, Aqueduct will host its signature spring race and the final stop on the New York road to the Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve. A full field of 3-year-olds will do battle in the $750,000, Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino at 1 1/8 miles on the main track
A total of 200 Kentucky Derby qualifying points are on the line, with the winner receiving 100 points, and 50-25-15-10 going to the second-place through fifth-place finishers. A top-two finish in the Wood Memorial should be enough to ensure a spot in the Derby starting gate on May 4, and the points from one of the minor placings could even be enough to help some other hopefuls into the field.
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Twenty horses coming out of the Wood Memorial have won the Kentucky Derby, including some of the sport’s biggest stars. The list includes Gallant Fox, Omaha, Count Fleet, Assault, Carry Back, Secretariat, Foolish Pleasure, Seattle Slew, Genuine Risk, Fusaichi Pegasus, and Funny Cide. The 2023 Wood Memorial was won by 59.25-1 longshot Lord Miles while favorite Hit Show finished second.
Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000 was the last horse to win both the Wood Memorial and Kentucky Derby, but that doesn’t mean the race has not been productive more recently than that. The 2022 Wood Memorial turned out to be the key race for the 2022 Triple Crown series despite failing to yield a horse that hit the board in the Derby. The winner, Mo Donegal, finished fifth under the twin spires but went on to win the Belmont Stakes Presented by NYRA Bets, while the runner-up, Early Voting, skipped the Derby and won the Preakness Stakes in his next outing.
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Is there are chance the 2024 Wood Memorial could also churn out multiple classic winners just like it did in 2022? Read on for more information about the horses entered in Saturday’s 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial for 3-year-olds. Scheduled post time is 4:07 p.m. ET, and the race will be shown live during the “America’s Day at the Races” show on FS2 and also be broadcast on FanDuel TV.
Lauren King/Coglianese Photo
1. Resilience (6-1 morning-line odds)
Jockey: John Velazquez
Trainer: Bill Mott
Owners: Emily Bushnell and Ric Waldman
Career record: 5 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 1 third
Career earnings: $94,630
Earnings per start: $18,926
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 93
Pedigree: Into Mischief – Meadowsweet, by Smart Strike
Kentucky Derby points: 10
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Went winless in three starts as a 2-year-old but has come around nicely early in the 3-year-old season, first with a 1 1/16-mile maiden win at Gulfstream Park on Jan. 1 and then with a respectable fourth place finish last time in the 1 1/8-mile Risen Star Stakes Feb. 17 at Fair Grounds. Finished behind three top-caliber horses in the Risen Star with the winner of that race Sierra Leone, expected to be one of the favorites in the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland, also held this Saturday. Risen Star runner-up Track Phantom was exiting a win in the Lecomte Stakes, and third-place finisher Catching Freedom returned to win the Twinspires.com Louisiana Derby in his next race. A similar kind of effort against this field could be enough to make him a contender, at least for the exotics, and it’s worth noting that Resilience will race with blinkers added for the first time Saturday. Hall of Famer Bill Mott trained the winner of the 2019 Wood Memorial, Tacitus.
Bet Resilience in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Chelsea Durand/NYRA
2. El Grande O (8-1)
Jockey: Dylan Davis
Trainer: Linda Rice
Owner: Barry Schwartz
Career record: 11 starts – 3 wins – 5 seconds – 2 thirds
Career earnings: $435,000
Earnings per start: $39,545
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 95
Pedigree: Take Charge Indy – Rainbow’s Song, by Unbridled’s Song
Kentucky Derby points: 30
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Speed
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Hails from top local connections with trainer Linda Rice and jockey Dylan Davis coming fresh off their respective titles at the recently-concluded Aqueduct winter meet. Both Rice and Davis will be seeking their first-ever Wood Memorial wins, and they will have a realistic chance with speedy New York-bred El Grande O, who was a two-time state-bred stakes winner and the runner-up by a nose behind Uncle Heavy in the 1 1/8-mile Withers Stakes at Aqueduct on Feb. 3. Counting that race, and his subsequent third-place finish in the one-mile Gotham Stakes at Aqueduct in March, El Grande O already has 30 Kentucky Derby qualifying points and could secure a trip to Louisville with as little as a third- or fourth-place finish on Saturday. Much of El Grande O’s 11-race career has been spent racing at shorter distances, but his speed actually seemed more effective two races ago at 1 1/8 miles than it did last time at a flat mile. Expect El Grande O to be racing on or extremely close to the pace in the Wood Memorial, and more than anything it will be the presence of fellow frontrunner Evening News which could cost him his best chance to win this race.
Bet El Grande O in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Bill Denver/EQUI-PHOTO
3. Lonesome Boy (50-1)
Jockey: Adam Bowman
Trainer: Hugo Padilla
Owner: John Parker
Career record: 10 starts – 3 wins – 2 seconds – 2 thirds
Career earnings: $126,444
Earnings per start: $12,644
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 88
Pedigree: Nationhood – Atta Girl Pearl, by Atta Boy Roy
Kentucky Derby points: 0
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Former maiden claimer started career slowly with six losses in a row but since had made up for lost time with three wins in his last four races. Those three career wins tie him with El Grande O and Uncle Heavy for the most wins in the prospective Wood Memorial field. Certainly would make for an interesting rags to riches story after graduating from the maiden claiming level at Parx Racing as recently as Dec. 19. Since then, Lonesome Boy earned a win going seven furlongs over this racetrack in January and most recently became a stakes winner with a victory at Parx in the City of Brotherly Love Stakes, which he won by 6 ¾ lengths to give him his first victory around two turns. Both his Aqueduct win and that stakes win came on sloppy tracks, and while his Equibase Speed Figures lag behind the other top contenders in this field, we can’t rule out the possibility of this horse scoring an in-the-money finish at a nice price if the track is wet on Saturday.
Bet Lonesome Boy in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Chelsea Durand/NYRA
4. Deterministic (7-5)
Jockey: Joel Rosario
Trainer: Christophe Clement
Owners: St. Elias Stable, Vicarage Stable, Ken Langone, and C. Steven Duncker
Career record: 2 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $222,750
Earnings per start: $111,375
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 99
Pedigree: Liam’s Map – Giulio’s Jewel, by Speightstown
Kentucky Derby points: 50
Color: Dark bay
Running style: Stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Deterministic has started his career posting wins in his first two races, with a nearly six-month break between them. Deterministic won his maiden race last summer at Saratoga and then wasted no time getting back to the winner’s circle in his return from the layoff with an impressive rallying victory in Aqueduct’s Gotham Stakes on March 2 where he defeated Just a Touch, who has 7-2 odds on the morning line in Saturday’s Toyota Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland. Wood Memorial foe El Grande O finished third in the Gotham, which was held at one mile around one turn. If anything, Deterministic should benefit from his return effort in that race and be even tougher in his second start off the layoff. His 99 Equibase Speed Figure in the Gotham equals the top last-race speed figure in this field, and it seems likely that Deterministic should be even better at this two-turn, 1 1/8-mile trip. Trainer Christophe Clement has never won the Wood Memorial but jockey Joel Rosario has two Wood victories under his belt, in 2015 with Frosted and in 2022 aboard Mo Donegal.
Bet Deterministic in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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5. Protective (30-1)
Jockey: Kendrick Carmouche
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Repole Stable
Career record: 2 starts – 0 wins – 1 second – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $22,920
Earnings per start: $11,460
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 85
Pedigree: Medaglia d’Oro – Grace Hall, by Empire Maker
Kentucky Derby points: 0
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Stalker/closer
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Still a maiden after two career races so far, including a runner-up finish in a six-furlong Saratoga career unveiling back in July 2023 and a third-place finish off the layoff on March 10 at Tampa Bay Downs in a race where he was disqualified back to fourth in a five-horse field after drifting out in the far turn. That one mile and 40-yard route was won by a first-time starter, More Vino, from the same Todd Pletcher-Mike Repole connections. This colt, who was the 3-5 favorite at Tampa, is eligible to improve strongly in his second start back from a seven-month layoff, but his true strength is his aforementioned connections. Pletcher has won the Wood Memorial in seven of the last 13 runnings, and Repole has two Wood Memorial wins as co-owner of Vino Rosso in 2018 and sole owner of Outwork in 2016. Jockey Kendrick Carmouche rode the Todd Pletcher-trained upset winner of the 2021 Wood Memorial, Bourbonic. Pletcher adds blinkers to Protective in the Wood Memorial to hopefully prevent an incident similar to his last outing, and to improve his focus for this major class test.
Bet Protective in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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6. Evening News (20-1)
Jockey: Jareth Loveberry
Trainer: Michael Pino
Owner: Travin Stables
Career record: 6 starts – 2 wins – 1 second – 1 third
Career earnings: $84,600
Earnings per start: $14,100
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 98
Pedigree: Nyquist – Prieta, by Bernardini
Kentucky Derby points: 0
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Speed
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Evening News is attempting to cap off an unlikely rise Saturday, going from maiden claiming winner at 6 ½-furlongs on an all-weather track at Turfway Park back in January to winner of the 1 1/8-mile Wood Memorial. As ambitious as that may sound, it may not be impossible if a strong pace does not develop on Saturday. Evening News scored an 8 ¼-length two-turn win at Turfway last time out in a one-mile allowance race where he earned a 98 Equibase Speed Figure, which is within a point of what the other main Wood Memorial contenders got in their last race. It remains to be seen if Evening News’ all-weather surface form will translate to the dirt track at Aqueduct, but his breeding by Nyquist out of a Bernardini mare would seem to indicate racing on dirt won’t be an issue. He has a fighting chance at an upset, but his chances would be a lot better on Saturday if it weren’t for the presence of fellow pacesetter El Grande O, who is also likely to race on or close to the lead.
Bet Evening News in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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7. Merit (20-1)
Jockey: Edwin Gonzalez
Trainer: Saffie Joseph Jr.
Owner: Peter E. Blum Thoroughbreds
Career record: 3 starts – 1 win – 1 second – 1 third
Career earnings: $47,980
Earnings per start: $15,993
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 81
Pedigree: Mastery – Faithful, by Vindication
Kentucky Derby points: 0
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Speed/presser
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Trainer Saffie Joseph Jr. won this race last year in a shocker with longshot Lord Miles. Merit, however, comes into this race with a different kind of profile than Lord Miles did last year. Lord Miles had already gained three races of stakes experience in the Mucho Macho Man Stakes, the Holy Bull Stakes, and the Lambholm South Tampa Bay Derby before benefitting from that foundation on Wood Memorial Day. Merit, on the other hand, makes his stakes debut off back-to-back allowance losses behind rivals that have not lived up to their hype ever since. After winning his maiden race at first asking in a seven-furlong sprint at Gulfstream Park in November, Merit lost an allowance optional claiming race to Real Macho in his second start, and then lost another Gulfstream allowance in his third outing to Conquest Warrior. Both Real Macho and Conquest Warrior disappointed after their wins over Merit, with Real Macho finishing fourth of five in the Coolmore Fountain of Youth Stakes and then eighth in the Curlin Florida Derby Presented by Hill ‘n’ Dale Farms at Xalapa, while Conquest Warrior finished a distant fourth in the Florida Derby. Joseph’s chances of training his second straight Wood Memorial winner seem unlikely.
Bet Merit in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Adam Coglianese/NYRA
8. Elysian Meadows (15-1)
Jockey: Jose Lezcano
Trainer: Bill Mott
Owners: Team Penney Racing
Career record: 3 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $89,750
Earnings per start: $29,916
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 84
Pedigree: City of Light – Heavenly Thought, by War Front
Kentucky Derby points: 4
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker/closer
Notable achievements and interesting facts: This New York-bred seemed to love this track when beginning his career in promising fashion at Aqueduct with back-to-back wins in state-bred sprints late in 2023. His lone outing so far this year was much less encouraging, however, when he finished a non-threatening fourth in the Sam F. Davis Stakes Feb. 10 at Tampa Bay Downs in his first career route try at 1 1/16 miles. Optimists will point out that he’s back at his favorite track for the running of the Wood Memorial and that he’s sent out by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott (who won the 2019 Wood Memorial with Tacitus), but this colt will need very quick and very big improvement in order to compete at this level based on how soundly he was defeated in his first and only route try so far.
Bet Elysian Meadows in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Eclipse Sportswire
9. Tuscan Sky (4-1)
Jockey: Manny Franco
Trainer: Todd Pletcher
Owner: Spendthrift Farm
Career record: 2 starts – 2 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $83,000
Earnings per start: $41,500
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 99
Pedigree: Vino Rosso – South Andros, by Sky Mesa
Kentucky Derby points: 0
Color: Gray or roan
Running style: Presser/stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Trainer Todd Pletcher has won seven of the last 13 runnings of the Wood Memorial, with his most recent victory coming in 2022 with Mo Donegal. The Wood Memorial will be Tuscan Sky’s third career race and stakes debut, but this colt has looked sensational in his two wins in two prior starts to date, including a stakes-caliber allowance win at Fair Grounds last time out where he beat Nash, the next-out winner of the Hot Springs Stakes at Oaklawn Park. The 99 Equibase Speed Figure earned by Tuscan Sky in that Feb. 17 win equals Deterministic for the highest last-race speed figure in this field. Tuscan Sky will attempt to follow in the footsteps of his sire, Vino Rosso, who won the 2018 running of the Wood Memorial for Pletcher.
Bet Tuscan Sky in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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10. Gettysburg Address (30-1)
Jockey: Emmanuel Esquivel
Trainer: Dallas Stewart
Owner: Gervais Racing
Career record: 5 starts – 1 win – 0 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $80,796
Earnings per start: $16,159
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92
Pedigree: Constitution – Jojo Warrior, by Pioneerof the Nile
Kentucky Derby points: 4
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Started his career with a bang by posting a debut win in an Ellis Park sprint race last summer, but unfortunately this colt has been winless in four races since then including his last start in March when he was soundly defeated by Evening News in a one-mile race at Turfway Park. He seemed to have peaked on New Year’s Day when he finished fourth by three lengths in the Smarty Jones Stakes at Oaklawn Park, and while his Equibase Speed Figure of 92 was solid that day for a 1 1/16-mile dirt race, he has been unable to repeat something close to that in two races since. Needs a positive turnaround here in order to compete for a spot in the exotics. Dallas Stewart takes over training duties for Gettysburg Address in the Wood Memorial from Brad Cox, and will put blinkers back on the colt after he raced with them in his first two starts and then without for his next three.
Bet Gettysburg Address in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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11. Society Man (30-1)
Jockey: Luis Rivera Jr.
Trainer: Danny Gargan
Owners: GMP Stables, Danny Gargan, and West Paces Racing
Career record: 4 starts – 1 win – 0 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $56,705
Earnings per start: $14,176
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 92
Pedigree: Good Magic – You Cheated, by Colonel John
Kentucky Derby Points: 0
Color: Chestnut
Running style: Closer
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Competed in the Withers Stakes on Feb. 3 as a maiden and finished eighth, and he’ll have about 15 lengths to make up on both Uncle Heavy and El Grande O in order to contend in Saturday’s Wood Memorial. Exits a maiden win in a one-mile race at Aqueduct around one turn and showed major improvement when adding Lasix; however, he’s not allowed to race on Lasix again in this graded stakes event. Has the look of an outsider versus this field. Danny Gargan also trains Dornoch, one of the favorites for the Toyota Blue Grass Stakes Saturday at Keeneland.
Bet Society Man in the Wood Memorial Stakes
Eclipse Sportswire
12. Deposition (50-1)
Jockey: Dexter Haddock
Trainer: Uriah St. Lewis
Owner: Uriah St. Lewis
Career record: 8 starts – 1 win – 0 seconds – 1 third
Career earnings: $62,275
Earnings per start: $7,784
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 90
Pedigree: Constitution – Mandrell, by Dubawi
Kentucky Derby points: 4
Color: Dark bay or brown
Running style: Stalker
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Owns one victory in eight lifetime races with his maiden win coming last November in a 1 mile and 70-yard route race at Parx Racing. Since then, Deposition had unsuccessfully attempted three stakes races, with his most promising effort coming via a fourth-place finish in Aqueduct’s Withers Stakes at 1 1/8 miles, where he finished three lengths behind both Uncle Heavy and El Grande O. Has the look of a Wood Memorial longshot who will need to improve a lot off his most recent race, which was a 14 ¼-length defeat to Deterministic in the local Gotham Stakes.
Bet Deposition in the Wood Memorial Stakes
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13. Uncle Heavy (8-1)
Jockey: Mychel Sanchez
Trainer: Robert “Butch” Reid Jr.
Owner: Michael Milam and LC Racing
Career record: 4 starts – 3 wins – 0 seconds – 0 thirds
Career earnings: $293,580
Earnings per start: $73,395
Top Equibase Speed Figure: 95
Pedigree: Social Inclusion – Expect Wonderful, by Tiz Wonderful
Kentucky Derby points: 20
Color: Bay
Running style: Stalker/closer
Notable achievements and interesting facts: Uncle Heavy has won three of four lifetime outings to date, including his only race so far this year when he captured the Withers Stakes Feb. 3 at Aqueduct by a nose over El Grande O. That victory came at the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Wood Memorial, and Uncle Heavy is the only contender in this race with a prior win at the distance. He’s 2-for-2 since stretching out to two-turn route races and has gained ground in the stretch in all three of his wins. The Pennsylvania-bred can lock up a spot in the Kentucky Derby starting gate with a Wood Memorial victory or runner-up finish and will put himself on the qualifying bubble if he finishes third. One of those top-three placings seems probable on Saturday.
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