El Kabeir still seeking respect in Wood Memorial
OZONE PARK, N.Y. – John Terranova was surprised though hardly upset that his multiple graded stakes winner El Kabeir was made the third choice on the morning line behind Daredevil and Frosted for Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.
“I figured Daredevil would be the favorite and we’d be second choice,” Terranova said. “No big deal. It doesn’t mean anything to me.”
Despite winning three graded stakes in his last four starts, El Kabeir still has his fair share of skeptics who need to see him do more before taking him seriously as a Kentucky Derby contender. In the Wood Memorial, El Kabeir will have to prove that he can get the 1 1/8-mile distance against better competition than he’s faced while wintering in New York.
El Kabeir, who won the Grade 3 Jerome in January and the Grade 3 Gotham in March, will take on Grade 1 winner Daredevil, the highly regarded but thus far underachieving Frosted, and four others in the Wood Memorial. The Wood is the 10th race on a 12-race card that begins at 12:50 p.m. Eastern.
The Wood is the third leg of an all-stakes pick four with a guaranteed pool of $500,000. The wager begins with the Grade 2 Gazelle, includes the Grade 3 Bay Shore, and concludes with the Grade 1 Carter.
El Kabeir began the year as a confirmed front-runner, a style he employed to win the Grade 2 Kentucky Jockey Club Stakes at Churchill Downs last November. In the Jerome, he stalked the pace after bobbling shortly after the break, and in the Gotham, he rallied from next to last. He ran second in the Withers after pressing the early pace.
The versatility and maturity El Kabeir has shown from 2 to 3 has his connections quite confident in his ability to handle the 1 1/8 miles of the Wood, a distance he and everyone else in the field will be attempting for the first time.
“The way he’s developed and the way he’s run, I don’t see anything standing in his way in terms of the distance,” said Terranova, who trains El Kabeir for Ahmed Zayat. “Until we try it against top-level horses, we’re not going to know how strong he is at that distance. But I would think, based on the field, I’d be questioning a couple of others in there way ahead of us because they’re really unproven at it.”
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Daredevil won the Grade 1 Champagne – beating El Kabeir by 17 3/4 lengths – but didn’t handle two turns when finishing last in the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile at Santa Anita. He ran a solid second to Ready for Rye in the seven-furlong Swale Stakes at Gulfstream last out.
Frosted, the runner-up to Leave the Light On in the Grade 2 Remsen here last fall, looked like he was going to win the Fountain of Youth when he stopped suddenly and finished fourth. He has since undergone several changes, including a throat operation known as the Llewellyn procedure that is meant to prevent him from displacing his soft palate.
Key contenders
El Kabeir (Last 3 Beyers: 88-93-95)
◗ El Kabeir received only an 88 Beyer Speed Figure for his victory in the Gotham, which was run over a muddy inner track.
“We know he’s fast – he’s already proven that,” Terranova said. “Hey, maybe it’s the tracks that have taken away from him. If he had run over a fast surface like he did last summer at Saratoga, we’d see maybe faster numbers.”
◗ In his last two races, El Kabeir has spotted six to seven pounds to the majority of his rivals. On Saturday, all runners carry 123 pounds.
Daredevil (Last 3 Beyers: 99-57-107)
◗ He’s shown that he’s a fast horse by virtue of his dominant maiden and Champagne victories, both run over a wet track.
◗ While El Kabeir has run three races around two turns, Daredevil is 0 for 1.
“He did win at a mile as a 2-year-old, so that gives us confidence that he’ll stretch out,” trainer Todd Pletcher said of Daredevil, a son of More Than Ready. “His half-brother Albertus Maximus won the Donn Handicap, which inspires confidence, and the success we had with Verrazano around two turns in the Haskell and Wood Memorial gives us confidence a [son of] More than Ready can produce a horse that will do that.”
Frosted (Last 3 Beyers: 85-93-95)
◗ He had a large bandwagon entering the Grade 2 Fountain of Youth. He was cruising on the lead until he stopped in the stretch and was beaten 4 3/4 lengths.
◗ Since then, trainer Kiaran McLaughlin has stepped up the colt’s training, had him undergo the throat operation, is changing riders, and returning him to the track over which he’s run his best races.
“We’re all in Saturday,” McLaughlin said. “We’ve done everything we can. The only thing I worry slightly about now is a sloppy track.
“He is ready for his best performance to date, and he needs to have his best performance. We’re not looking to go to Churchill unless we belong and have a big chance to win.”