Outwork, Shagaf committed to Kentucky Derby
OZONE PARK, N.Y. - Outwork, the Wood Memorial winner, and Shagaf, the Wood favorite who finished a troubled fifth in the race, both emerged from their efforts in good order and will make their next starts in the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs on May 7.
Wood Memorial runner-up Trojan Nation, who remains a maiden, is “for sure” under consideration for the Run for the Roses, trainer Paddy Gallagher said Sunday morning, while the connections of Adventist, the Wood third-place finisher, will likely need some help to get into the race.
Outwork outlasted Trojan Nation by a head over a sealed, muddy Aqueduct main track Saturday to win the same Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial his father, Uncle Mo, couldn’t win five years ago. Uncle Mo finished third as the 1-9 favorite and was scratched from the Kentucky Derby the day before the race due to an infection. Both Uncle Mo and Outwork are owned by Mike Repole and trained by Todd Pletcher.
On Sunday morning, Outwork was “happy, alert and bright,” Pletcher said at his Belmont Park barn.
The final time of the Wood was 1:52.92 for 1 1/8 miles, making this the slowest of 65 Woods run at its present 1 1/8-mile distance. Outwork was assigned a 93 Beyer Speed Figure for the performance.
“It was a difficult track to get a line on,” Pletcher said. “It was changing throughout the day. My guess is it got slower throughout the day and over a demanding muddy surface like that to go [the opening quarter] in 22-and-4 in the three or four path it will take something out of you. So I think it took a big effort on his part to be able to do that. He was one of few who was involved early who was still around at the end.”
Pletcher also said that jockey John Velazquez told him Outwork “idled pretty good when he got to the lead.”
Pletcher said he has not yet decided when Outwork will ship to Kentucky, but did say he would have at least one workout over the Churchill Downs main track.
Shagaf, who earned his way into the Derby by virtue of his win in the Grade 3 Gotham last month, will leave for Churchill Downs on April 19, trainer Chad Brown said Sunday morning. Shagaf didn’t fire in the stretch of the Wood after getting stopped behind horses on the far turn and finished fifth, beaten four lengths. It was his first career defeat in four starts.
“The horse was undefeated going into the race and it was disappointing to see that come to an end but it was tough track conditions,” Brown said Sunday morning. “He didn’t get the greatest trip, he had to steady a bit, lost some momentum, but the horse looks okay this morning. I still have confidence in this horse that he’s a Grade 1-level horse and that he can get a mile and a quarter. He deserves a chance in the Derby as long as he’s training well going into the race.”
Brown said Blue Grass runner-up My Man Sam would van from Keeneland to Churchill on April 19 and, like Shagaf, get two workouts over the Churchill surface.
Trojan Nation came within a head of pulling off an 81-1 upset in the Wood. He showed some grit trying to rally up the rail under Aaron Gryder, who said he didn’t feel the horse was intimidated despite being in tight quarters.
“I was real impressed with him the way he kept on going through there,” Gryder said. “He kept gaining, it was tight on him the last sixteenth of a mile and Johnny [Velazquez] got right on top of him but it never bothered him. He could have easily been intimidated and he wasn’t.”
Gallagher said Trojan Nation would likely ship back to Southern California on Wednesday to prepare for a likely start in the Derby.
“I’ll definitely bring him home and look at that race, be positive and see what happens,” Gallagher said by phone from California. “He ran good. It looks like he’ll go a mile and a quarter.”
Adventist finished third for the third straight time in a graded stakes at Aqueduct. He has 32 qualifying points which puts him in the 20th and final position for the Derby based on the system used by Churchill Downs to determine the field for the race. He will be passed on the list by at least one, if not more horses, based on what happens in Saturday’s Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.
Leah Gyarmati, the trainer of Adventist, said Sunday morning she had not yet spoken to owner Jeff Treadway, but guessed that if Adventist could get into the field, he would run.
“You have to be happy with his effort. It’s nice to know he can handle different kinds of tracks,” Gyarmati said.
Noting that her horse had a wide trip in the Wood and other races, Gyarmati said, “He’s already run the Kentucky Derby distance. One thing for sure is I have a very fit horse.”