Matt King Coal all in for Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Matt King Coal, impressive in winning a first-level allowance race at Aqueduct on March 6, definitely will make his next start in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial here on April 9, trainer Linda Rice said Thursday.

While the Wood Memorial was always deemed the logical next step for Matt King Coal, Rice said she wanted to see how the horse emerged from his first start in 129 days before committing to the 1 1/8-mile race. After being away a few days to attend the Ocala Breeders’ Sales Co. 2-year-old sale earlier in the week, Rice on Thursday got her first look at Matt King Coal since last week and liked what she saw.

“I’m really happy,” Rice said. “His weight has really come back; he’s filled up. He’s doing really well.”

Matt King Coal, a son of Cool Coal Man, won a maiden race by 5 3/4 lengths going a one-turn mile Oct. 29 at Belmont Park. Originally pointed to the Jerome Stakes on Jan. 2, Matt King Coal was forced to miss that race as well the Withers on Jan. 30 due to an illness. Rice had toyed with the idea of running Matt King Coal in the Private Terms Stakes at Laurel on March 12 but ultimately went in the 1 1/16-mile allowance race despite having gotten just three workouts into the colt.

“I was a little concerned about him being a little light coming into the first race,” Rice said. “I decided to just run him instead of breezing him and, of course, he ran great. I don’t think I’ll work him too aggressively into this next one either.”

Rice said she plans to breeze Matt King Coal twice heading into the Wood Memorial.

Matt King Coal recorded a front-running one-length victory over My Man Sam in the allowance race and was assigned a 97 Beyer Speed Figure. Matt King Coal has three Beyers of 93 or higher.

Three weeks out, the field for the Wood Memorial is very much in flux. Shagaf and Adventist, the first- and third-place finishers from the Grade 3 Gotham, are considered definite. Chad Brown, the trainer of Shagaf, also could run either Flexibility or My Man Sam in the race. Trainer Todd Pletcher is likely to run multiple horses from a group that consists of Zulu, Outwork, and Cards of Stone.

The Wood Memorial offers 170 qualifying points to the Kentucky Derby to its top four finishers (100-40-20-10).