Bourbonic ($146.50) surprises with Wood Memorial triumph

OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Trainer Todd Pletcher is used to winning the Wood Memorial. He’s not used to doing it with a horse who was the longest shot on the board.

Bourbonic, dismissed by the betting public at 72-1, rallied from last under Kendrick Carmouche to nail the Pletcher-trained Dynamic One (15-1) to win the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial by a head and earn his way to the Kentucky Derby on May 1.

Dynamic One, coming off a maiden win last month, finished second by 1 3/4 lengths over Crowded Trade. Weyburn, the Grade 3 Gotham winner, was fourth, followed by Brooklyn Strong, Prevalence, Risk Taking, Market Maven, and Candy Man Rocket.

It was the sixth win in the Wood Memorial for Pletcher, putting him two behind the legendary “Sunny Jim” Fitzsimmons for most victories by a trainer in this race.

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The $146.50 win mutuel was the highest in the 96-year history of the Wood Memorial, eclipsing the $129.50 Mansassa Mauler paid in 1959.

Bourbonic, a son of Bernardini, is owned by Brad Kelley’s Calumet Farm. It was Kelley who asked Pletcher to run Bourbonic in a points-scoring race for the Derby despite his modest 2-for-5 record, the first win coming in a $50,000 claiming race here on Dec. 6.

“They’re always game to take a chance and one thing about the horse is that he would handle added distance,” a somewhat shell-shocked Pletcher said. “He was able to get a perfect trip, sit back and make one late run and was able to get there just in time. It was a big effort.”

Bourbonic was ridden to victory by Kendrick Carmouche, who last Dec. 5 rode Calumet Farm’s True Timber to an upset victory in the Grade 1 Cigar Mile here. Carmouche picked up this mount when his scheduled Wood starter, Nicky the Vest, was withdrawn from consideration for the race due to a physical issue.

Carmouche rode Bourbonic to a victory in a starter allowance race at Aqueduct on Jan. 17. Carmouche felt the horse would appreciate added distance and he also felt the horse would benefit from sitting back and making one run.

Carmouche had Bourbonic last of nine, 10 1/2 lengths off the pacesetting Market Maven - who beat Bourbonic in a Feb. 23 allowance at Parx - through a half-mile in 50.18 seconds. Weyburn was a pacepressing second.

Dynamic One, sixth early, appeared to be moving sweetly around the turn under Jose Ortiz, came four wide into the lane and tackled Weyburn, who had made the lead above the eighth pole. Crowded Trade was making a run at Dynamic One in the lane, but it was Bourbonic who ran by both in the last few strides to pull the upset.

“Todd asked me what I’m going to do. I said I’m just going to sit, sit, sit, sit, sit, and hopefully I get out the last quarter of a mile and I knew he would run on from there,” Carmouche said. “Even though they went slow, my horse was in a good stride, each pole I was picking them up and picking them up without even asking him.”

Bourbonic covered the 1 1/8 miles in 1:54.49, which was the slowest of three races at that distance on the card. Search Results, a 3-year-old filly, won the Gazelle the race prior in 1:54.14.

Bourbonic was given an 89 Beyer Speed Figure.

If Pletcher thought he’d have a chance in the Wood, it was with Dynamic One, a son of Union Rags who had shown signs of improvement during the course of the winter.

“The one thing we were concerned about is if he made the lead he might idle a little bit and Jose [Ortiz] tried to time it as well as he could,” Pletcher said.

Bourbonic and Dynamic One join Pletcher’s Florida Derby winner Known Agenda and Jeff Ruby Steaks runner-up Sainthood as horses he is pointing to the Kentucky Derby.

Crowded Trade and Weyburn, the third- and fourth-place finishers in the Wood, appear unlikely to go even though they may have enough qualifying points to make the Derby.

Chad Brown, the trainer of Crowded Trade, said, “you’d have to be concerned with how far he’d run because he couldn’t make up any ground from the eighth pole home.”

Brown also trained Risk Taking, the Withers winner and Wood favorite, who showed nothing in an eighth-place finish, effectively running himself out of the Derby picture.

Jimmy Jerkens, the trainer of Weyburn, said “I don’t think so,” when asked if the Derby was in still play. Jerkens believes Weyburn has some maturing to do and had previously said the Belmont Stakes is a race he would try to make with Weyburn.

Prevalence, the Wood second choice following two flashy wins, was just 2 1/2 lengths back at the eighth pole, but faded to sixth, beaten five lengths.