Mo Town, Irish War Cry look to bounce back in Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Mo Town and Irish War Cry seek rejuvenation. Battalion Runner and Cloud Computing seek validation. All four are seeking an invitation to the Kentucky Derby when they meet in Saturday’s Grade 2, $750,000 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct.

Mo Town and Irish War Cry are the only two graded stakes winners in the eight-horse field, but both are coming off dismal performances in their most recent starts. Battalion Runner is making his stakes debut after winning twice at Gulfstream since returning from a layoff and looks to give trainer Todd Pletcher his fifth Wood Memorial victory. Cloud Computing will try to improve one notch from his second-place finish in last month’s Grade 3 Gotham, which was just his second career start.

That quartet plus four longshots are vying for the all-important qualifying points the Wood offers toward the Kentucky Derby. A total of 170 points will be divvied up among the Wood’s top four finishers (100-40-20-10) under a system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field in the likely event that more than 20 horses are entered.

By running in the Wood, Mo Town returns to the track and distance of his most significant victory, last November’s Grade 2 Remsen, a race he won by 2 1/2 lengths. In his 3-year-old debut, however, Mo Town finished fifth, 10 1/4 lengths behind Girvin, in the Risen Star Stakes at Fair Grounds.

While jockey John Velazquez told trainer Tony Dutrow that Mo Town did not handle the Fair Grounds surface, there may have been more to the performance. Dutrow said Thursday that Mo Town displayed “minimal traits” of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis [EPM], a neurological disease, when he returned to Florida.

“Could it possibly have been there in the Risen Star? It could have been,” Dutrow said. “Was it an excuse? Absolutely not.”

Dutrow said the EPM was “easily taken care of” and that since the Risen Star, he has trained Mo Town hard, giving him four works at a minimum of five furlongs in distance.

“I don’t think our horse could be going into the Wood any better in any way,” Dutrow said. “He’s going to show what Mo Town is, whatever that is.”

Javier Castellano will ride Mo Town from post 2 as Velazquez will be on Battalion Runner.

Battalion Runner enters the Wood off a 1 1/4-length allowance win at Gulfstream going 1 1/16 miles on Feb. 4, outfinishing a stubborn Beasley.

“It was a good race,” Pletcher said. “It was a progression. Those two were well clear of the third horse, so he answered some questions but has a few more to answer here.”

Irish War Cry also has questions to answer. He dominated the Grade 2 Holy Bull, beating Gunnevera and Classic Empire. In the Fountain of Youth, he chased the pace and faded to seventh. Trainer Graham Motion said he would have preferred to see Joel Rosario take Irish War Cry a little farther back in the race so that he would have learned something more about his horse.

“I’d like to think he’s going to settle on Saturday, and if he’s not going to settle, he’s going to have a hard time competing in these races,” Motion said.

Rajiv Maragh rides Irish War Cry as Rosario is riding Practical Joke in the Blue Grass.

The pace of the Wood could be interesting. Motion said he would like to see Irish War Cry relax. Kiaran McLaughlin, the trainer of True Timber, said he would like his horse to stalk someone. Glennrichment has the rail but may not be fast enough to get to the lead. Stretch’s Stone is another with some early lick.

In the end, the one who proves fastest to the wire will be going to Louisville, Ky., on the first Saturday in May.

The Wood will go as race 10 on a 12-race card that includes four other graded stakes and begins at 12:45 p.m. Eastern. Post time for the Wood is 5:52 p.m. It will be part of a two-hour broadcast on NBC Sports Network beginning at 5:30 p.m. that includes the Blue Grass and Santa Anita Derby.

KEY CONTENDERS

Battalion Runner, by Unbridled’s Song
Last 3 Beyers: 91-98-76

◗ Has the tactical speed to be a presence from the start under Velazquez, who said Battalion Runner “relaxed really nice” just off another horse in his allowance win at Gulfstream on Feb. 3.

◗ The last horse to win the Wood in a stakes debut was Buddha in 2002. He, like Battalion Runner, won two races – at seven furlongs and 1 1/16 miles – at Gulfstream before winning the Wood in his fourth start.

Mo Town, by Uncle Mo
Last 3 Beyers: 77-86-84

◗ Won the Remsen over this track last November, but that race has not proved to be very productive.

◗ Has had several stamina-building works at Payson Park since his dismal effort in Risen Star.

Cloud Computing, by Maclean’s Music
Last 2 Beyers: 96-82

◗ Though his sire was a sprinter, his dam’s sire, A.P. Indy, won the Belmont.

“Physically, he looks more like an A.P. Indy,” trainer Chad Brown said. “He’s a big, leggy stretch horse with a big stride on him.”

Irish War Cry, by Curlin
Last 3 Beyers: 63-101-83

◗ The combination of a bounce off a big effort in Holy Bull and being too close to a hot pace may have doomed him in Fountain of Youth.

◗ Trainer Motion is changing equipment to a figure-eight-style noseband designed to “make him a little more manageable in the afternoon.”