Aqueduct: Romancing the Gold possible for Wood

Romancing the Gold, who won a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct on Wednesday, could possibly make his next start in the $1 million Wood Memorial on April 7, trainer Jeremiah Englehart said Thursday.

Bouncing back from a sixth-place finish in this same condition on Feb. 3, Romancing the Gold won Wednesday by one length, running a mile and 70 yards in 1:44.73, and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 78.

Englehart said that Romancing the Gold came out of his previous race with a muscle strain.

Englehart said Romancing the Gold would be nominated to the Wood and would most likely be nominated to the Triple Crown by the end of this month. After missing the first nominating deadline – which would have cost $600 – owner Orlando DiRienzo can nominate for $6,000 by March 24.

Englehart said he would look at different speed figures as well as the prospective field for the Wood before deciding whether to run in that race or not.

“I don’t want to run him over his head,” Engelhart said. “He’s still immature but he does have talent. I’m just trying to be smart about it.”

Englehart said that DiRienzo did receive some offers for Romancing the Gold, a gelded son of Medallist, following his maiden win in January.