Jerkens mulls next race for Wicked Strong

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Wicked Strong had his first workout since returning to New York from Florida, breezing five furlongs in 1:01.55 over the Belmont Park training track Thursday. What he is working toward is a question that has yet to be answered.

The two options are the Grade 3, $200,000 Excelsior Stakes at Aqueduct on April 25 or the Grade 3, $150,000 Westchester Stakes at Belmont Park on May 2. The Excelsior this year is run at 1 1/4 miles, lengthened from its usual 1 1/8-mile distance. The Westchester is a one-turn mile.

Neither distance is ideal, said trainer Jimmy Jerkens, who would have preferred that the Excelsior remained at 1 1/8 miles.

“I don’t know why it’s such a big deal in my head about the mile and a quarter,” Jerkens said Friday. “He should handle it as well as anybody with his past experience. He’s run at the distance twice.”

Going 1 1/4 miles as a 3-year-old last year, Wicked Strong ran fourth in the Kentucky Derby and second, beaten a nose, in the Travers. He also ran in the Jockey Club Gold Cup at that distance but clipped heels with Moreno and unseated jockey Rajiv Maragh.

Wicked Strong ran fourth, beaten just one length, in the Grade 2 Gulfstream Park Handicap on March 7, a one-turn, one-mile race. Jerkens said he would have preferred to gradually stretch him out in distance.

“Maybe I’m making more out of it than it is,” Jerkens said.

Thursday’s work was Wicked Strong’s first in nearly two weeks. Jerkens said Wicked Strong “got a little light” when he first arrived in New York, which is why he went 12 days between workouts.

Regarding Thursday’s work, Jerkens said he had to slow down the exercise rider or he would have gone too fast.

“If we decide on the Excelsior, I’ll probably give him a nice, long work next week,” Jerkens said.

Wicked Strong, a son of Hard Spun, is owned by Centennial Farms.