Impressive win sends King Zachary to Wood Memorial

Trainer Dale Romans on Wednesday entered Promises Fulfilled and Storm Runner in Saturday’s Grade 1, $1 million Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park. After briefly considering running a third horse, Romans decided to point King Zachary to the Grade 2 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 7.

King Zachary, a son of Curlin, is coming off an eye-catching 7 3/4-length maiden victory at Gulfstream on March 18. The Florida Derby, Romans said, would have been too soon after that race.

As impressive as King Zachary was in winning his maiden, he ran a tremendous race to be third in a seven-furlong maiden race here Feb. 24. Coming out of the chute under Robby Albarado, King Zachary had a horse bolt in front of him. Albarado had to take up on King Zachary, who stumbled and dropped to the back of the field.

“He came to a complete stop,” Romans said. “Robby almost fell off of him. Came back and ran third, and then [his win] was just a perfect race.”

Romans believes that King Zachary will improve at the 1 1/8-mile distance of the Wood Memorial.

“He’s a serious horse,” Romans said.

:: Just reduced! Save on The Road to the Kentucky Derby Player's Package

King Zachary is scheduled to work at Gulfstream Park on Saturday. It is not yet clear when he will ship to New York.

A field of nine or 10 is shaping up for the Wood Memorial, entries for which will be taken next Wednesday.

Enticed, the Gotham winner, and Solomini, second in the Grade 2 Rebel at Oaklawn, likely will vie for favoritism. Trainer Todd Pletcher is expected to enter Vino Rosso and Marconi. Old Time Revival and Firenze Fire, second and fourth in the Gotham, as well as Demolition and Evaluator are considered definite. California Night will run in either the Wood Memorial or the Blue Grass, according to trainer Mike Maker.

On Tuesday at Belmont, Firenze Fire worked a half-mile in 50.33 seconds over the training track for trainer Jason Servis. Firenze Fire is a Grade 1 winner, and his participation in the Wood means the purse will increase to $1 million.

Enticed is scheduled to work at Palm Meadows on Friday, while Vino Rosso and Marconi likely will work Saturday at Palm Beach Downs.