Enticed, Firenze Fire lead modest cast into Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Despite offering a $1 million purse and a great opportunity to qualify for the Kentucky Derby, Saturday’s Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct drew a modest nine-horse field topped by Enticed, a perfect-trip winner of the Grade 3 Gotham, and the Grade 1 winner Firenze Fire. There are five horses in the field who would be eligible for a first-level allowance race.

This year, the New York Racing Association announced it would bump the purse of the Wood Memorial from $750,000 to $1 million if a Grade 1 winner started in the race. NYRA officials are hoping to restore the Wood Memorial to the Grade 1 status it held from 2002-16. Firenze Fire, who won the Grade 1 Champagne last fall at Belmont, stayed in New York all winter and most likely would have run in the Wood regardless of the purse increase.

The reality is that the Wood has not produced a top three-finisher in the Kentucky Derby since 2003, when Wood runner-up Funny Cide turned the tables on Wood winner Empire Maker in the Kentucky Derby. Since then, only four of the 30 Kentucky Derby starters the Wood has produced have managed to finish as well as fourth.

Of the nine Wood entrants, only Enticed is assured a spot in the starting gate for the May 5 Kentucky Derby. Enticed, who has 63 qualifying points under the system Churchill Downs uses to determine the field, won the Gotham on March 10, receiving a clean outside stalking trip under Junior Alvarado.

In his previous two-turn race, Enticed got stuck down inside, resented having dirt kicked back into his face, and finished fourth behind Audible. Trainer Kiaran McLaughlin suggested that race “looks better now” after Audible came back to win last Saturday’s Florida Derby.

The Wood offers Derby qualifying points (100-40-20-10) to its top four finishers.

For a few of this year’s entrants, the Wood Memorial became Plan B or C. Trainer Bob Baffert shipped in Restoring Hope from Southern California after the maiden winner failed to crack the field for the Sunland Derby on March 25 due to insufficient earnings.

Baffert this week shuffled the deck with his 3-year-olds after an injury knocked McKinzie out of Saturday’s Santa Anita Derby. Justify took his place in that race, while Solomini, originally intended for the Wood, takes Justify’s place in the April 14 Arkansas Derby. Baffert had thought about the Blue Grass for Restoring Hope, but noted he likely wouldn’t have drawn into that race, which drew 14 horses plus an also-eligible.

“We want to find out what he’s made of,” Baffert, who won the Wood in 1996 with Bob and John and again in 2001 with Congaree, said Tuesday in a national conference call. “He’s ready to take on something like that. I think he should be very competitive. You’re just hoping they’re going to be competitive and they can go that far. He’s bred to go a mile and a quarter, and he has speed, and he’s a big, strong, beautiful horse. I feel pretty good that he should run well.”

Also in from California is Heartfullofstars, another who was possible for the Blue Grass but had his course altered for fear of not making it into that field. Heartfullofstars finished fourth to Restoring Hope on Feb. 2, but came back to win a maiden race at Santa Anita on March 3.

In splitting up their horses for the final round of Kentucky Derby preps, trainer Todd Pletcher – a four-time Wood winner – shipped Vino Rosso to New York, while trainer Dale Romans sent up King Zachary. Vino Rosso won his maiden here but had difficulty with the turns at Tampa when finishing third in the Sam F. Davis Stakes and fourth in the Tampa Bay Derby.

King Zachary enters off a good-looking maiden win at Gulfstream.

Firenze Fire will be making his fourth start of the meet. After winning the Jerome, he finished second in the Withers and fourth in the Gotham. His connections want to get to the Derby, and a top three-finish would assure that.

Old Time Revival was a game second in the Gotham, leading the field to deep stretch before getting caught by Enticed.

Evaluator, unraced since finishing second in the Damon Runyon Stakes for New York-breds on Jan. 15, and Catch Twenty Two, a maiden-claiming winner in December who clipped heels and unseated his rider in his only other start, complete the field.

The Wood will go as race 10 on an 11-race card that includes the Grade 1 Carter, Grade 2 Gazelle, Grade 3 Bay Shore, and Grade 3 Excelsior. First post is 1 p.m. Eastern. The forecast for Saturday is not pretty. A mix of rain and snow is expected, with a high of 40 degrees.

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