Eye-catching maiden winner Westerdale pointing to Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Westerdale, a 14 3/4-length maiden winner at Aqueduct on Sunday, will be pointed to the Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial on April 7, trainer Tom Morley said Thursday.

Morley, who is part owner of Westerdale, has always been high on this son of Flat Out. He finished third in his two starts at 2, including in a race won by Mask when both debuted at Belmont last Oct. 20. Mask came back to win the Mucho Macho Man at Gulfstream in January.

“He was a bit too keen in the race,” Morley said.

In his second start, Westerdale finished third going a mile after making the lead in midstretch.

“He hit the front and looked up into the grandstand, didn’t switch leads,” Morley said.

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Morley said he was thinking of running Westerdale as a maiden in the Withers Stakes on Feb. 3, but the horse developed a foot bruise that forced him to miss some training time. Morley said that had last Sunday’s maiden race not filled, he would have run Westerdale in the Gotham on March 10. In his maiden win, Westerdale caught a sloppy track that he obviously relished and he went gate to wire breaking from the rail under Kendrick Carmouche. He ran a mile in 1:38.58 and earned a Beyer Speed Figure of 83.

“I know he’s a very good horse on a fast track,” Morley said. “I said to all my partners when we went over there ‘You don’t know till you run them on it whether they handle [an off track] or not.’ It wasn’t the most ideal draw for us. I’ve been trying to teach this horse to relax off horses a bit, but on paper he was not only the best horse in the race but he was the fastest horse in the race.”

Morley said he has not ruled out running recent New York-bred maiden winner Danny California in the Gotham. Part of his decision depends on whether a statebred allowance race in the coming days filled.

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