Kentucky Derby: Wicked Strong tries to break Wood dry spell

For the last decade, the Wood Memorial has not been a harbinger of success in the Kentucky Derby.

Though the Wood has produced 20 Kentucky Derby winners overall, from 2004 to 2013 the Wood produced 22 starters for the Kentucky Derby, with only three – Jazil (2006), Tale of Ekati (2008), and Normandy Invasion (2013) – managing as high as a fourth-place finish. During that span, three consecutive Wood winners – I Want Revenge (2009), Eskendereya (2010), and Toby’s Corner (2011) – didn’t make it to the starting gate due to injury. The last two Wood winners – Gemologist and Verrazano – went in the Kentucky Derby undefeated but did not exit the race that way.

In the last 36 years, only two Wood winners – Pleasant Colony (1981) and Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) – have gone on to win the Derby.

[ROAD TO THE KENTUCKY DERBY: Prep races, point standings, replays]

Jimmy Jerkens, the trainer of this year’s Wood winner, Wicked Strong, can’t explain it. But he was part of the jinx back in 1992 when Devil His Due, trained by his father Allen Jerkens, won the Wood and finished 12th in the Derby.

“He couldn’t have run any worse in the Derby,” Jimmy Jerkens said. “It is strange. It used to be years ago you won the Wood, you were the favorite for the Derby.”

Wicked Strong won’t be the favorite for the 140th Derby, to be run on May 3, but he could battle Hoppertunity for second choice behind California Chrome. Wicked Strong rallied from off the pace to win the Wood by 3 1/2 lengths over Samraat in an eye-catching performance.

On Friday, Wicked Strong looked every bit a Derby contender with a solid seven-furlong workout in 1:27.11 over the Belmont Park training track. He came home his final three furlongs in 37.66 seconds and galloped out a mile in 1:40.72.

“I liked the way he worked,” Jerkens said. “A lot of things have got to work out – he’s got to handle the crowd, he’s got to handle the track, he’s got to handle all the other stuff that goes with it – but at least he’s going there in a good frame of mind and in good condition. It’d be one thing if he worked lackluster and was leaving his oats and still had to go there to run; your confidence goes down a lot. As far as how he’s doing, I couldn’t be happier.”

Wicked Strong was going to van to Churchill from Belmont on Saturday. Jerkens said Wicked Strong would leave New York at 2 p.m. and arrive early Sunday morning. He did not want to arrive late Saturday night while opening night of the Churchill meet was still going on.

Jerkens said Wicked Strong will likely have a blowout through the lane at Churchill on Thursday.

The last horse to come out of the Wood Memorial and win the Kentucky Derby was Funny Cide in 2003. Funny Cide, a New York-bred, finished second to Empire Maker, the Wood winner, who went off as the 5-2 Derby favorite.

It just so happens that Samraat, this year’s Wood runner-up, is a New York-bred. He had won his first five starts – including the Grade 3 Withers and Grade 3 Gotham – before getting beat in the Wood.

“If history repeats itself, that’ll be fine,” trainer Rick Violette said.

On Friday, Samraat worked an easy mile at Aqueduct in 1:45.91, completing his final three furlongs in 38.12 seconds. He galloped out 1 1/8 miles in 1:58.72 and 1 1/4 miles in 2:14.14.

Though based most of the year in south Florida, Samraat has used the New York road to the Triple Crown, running in a trio of two-turn races over Aqueduct’s inner track.

Violette said he believes that New York’s prep series has become “a real avenue to get to the Derby.”

“All of that in a way means nothing,” he said. “We have to bring Samraat over there feeling like King Kong and history be damned.”

Samraat will fly to Kentucky on Monday, Violette said.

Uncle Sigh is the lone horse to have survived the entire winter in New York and make it to the Derby. Like Samraat, he raced in the Withers and Gotham – finishing second – before a fifth-place finish in the Wood Memorial.

Gary Contessa, the trainer of Uncle Sigh, is equipping Uncle Sigh with blinkers for the first time in the Kentucky Derby, but he doesn’t expect them to have the same effect as first-time blinkers did when Todd Pletcher put them on Palace Malice last year. Palace Malice became part of an extremely hot early pace before finishing 12th.

“If we get to the paddock and he’s dripping sweat and rearing up and carrying on, I’m concerned about [doing a] Palace Malice,” Contessa said. “The way he normally acts, he’s a cool, calm, collected horse. As long as he remains that way we’ll be okay.”

On Friday, Uncle Sigh worked in blinkers for the second time since the Wood. The first work was done in company while Friday’s work was done by himself.

“We put him behind horses, made him eat dirt,” Contessa said. “We did all our due diligence the last month. We worked him where he had to come up through the rail. I don’t see any hesitancy and I always saw hesitancy in this horse at one time or another without the blinkers.”

Uncle Sigh was scheduled to leave Belmont early Saturday morning and arrive at Churchill late Saturday evening.

Contessa said he is heading to Churchill Downs with “tremendous” confidence.

“I think this is a wide-open Derby and I think you have not seen anywhere near the best of this horse,” Contessa said. “I think the Wood was an absolute throw-out race. When he broke from the outside and broke poorly that threw off the whole rhythm of the race for us. I don’t think you’ve seen this horse’s best and I think we got a big shot going into this race.”

In other Derby news:

◗ At Fair Hill, Tampa Bay Derby winner Ring Weekend worked six furlongs in 1:12.80 over the dirt surface. Afterward, trainer Graham Motion confirmed that Ring Weekend would run in the Derby despite his second-place effort in the Calder Derby on April 5. He was beaten 9 3/4 lengths by Our Caravan at Calder as the 1-5 favorite.

“I wouldn’t blame anyone for questioning what we’re doing – obviously coming off a disappointing race,” Motion said. “My suspicion is the horse that won is a little better than he gets credit for. Our horse didn’t run his race. One thing I was pleased about in Tampa he led every step of the way and he still galloped out very strong. At Calder, he was practically pulled up by the time he got to the wire.”

Motion, who won the 2011 Derby with Animal Kingdom, said Ring Weekend would van from Fair Hill to Churchill on Monday.

◗ At Keeneland, Pablo Del Monte worked six furlongs on Polytrack in 1:11.20 for trainer Wesley Ward, who is desirous of running Pablo Del Monte in the Derby. As of Friday, Pablo Del Monte was ranked 22nd on the points list. The tiebreaker – earnings in non-restricted stakes – places Pablo Del Monte immediately behind Commanding Curve and just in front of Bayern.

– additional reporting by Jay Privman