Daredevil settles in for Wood Memorial

Far From Over and Daredevil may both be trained by Todd Pletcher and running in the same race, but their preparations for the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 4 will be a little different.

Pletcher vanned Daredevil from south Florida to his Belmont Park stable on Monday, and the colt arrived in New York on Tuesday. Pletcher said that he opted to ship Daredevil to New York early because the horse did not run well in last year’s Breeders’ Cup Juvenile – he was last of 11 – after arriving at Santa Anita just three days before the race. Last year, Daredevil won the Grade 1 Champagne at Belmont Park.

The plane carrying Florida-based horses to New York for the Wood Memorial and other races on the April 4 card does not leave until Thursday. That plane will include Far From Over, the undefeated Withers winner who will work Saturday at Palm Beach Downs, and Frosted, the Holy Bull runner-up who is expected to work over the weekend at Palm Meadows.

On Wednesday, the New York State Gaming Commission and New York Racing Association jointly announced a set of security protocols for NYRA’s 11 Grade 1 races in 2015 whose purses are a minimum of $1 million. Among those protocols is having horses in those races based on the grounds of NYRA tracks 72 hours in advance of the race. There is a provision that enables the stewards, at their discretion, to waive that rule.

As of Wednesday morning, six horses were considered likely starters in the 1 1/8-mile Wood, and three others were possible for the race but also under consideration for other major 3-year-old stakes.

In addition to Daredevil, Far From Over, and Frosted, the other probable Wood starters are El Kabeir, the John Terranova-trained winner of the Gotham, Jerome, and Kentucky Jockey Club; Tencendur, trained by George Weaver; and Toasting Master, trained by Dale Romans.

The possible Wood entrants include Classy Class, who like Frosted is trained by Kiaran McLaughlin; Tiz Shea D, trained by Bill Mott; and the recent Team Valor purchase Unrivaled, who is trained by Marya Montoya.

– additional reporting by Jim Dunleavy