Shagaf heads cast of eight for Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – As Shagaf walked back into the barn following a Wednesday morning gallop at Belmont Park, trainer Chad Brown couldn’t help but gush over the physical appearance the colt made.

“He has the look of a Derby horse,” Brown said.

On Saturday, Shagaf will try to take on the look of a top Kentucky Derby contender when he heads an eight-horse field entered in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial.

Shagaf was one of just two stakes winners entered Wednesday for the 1 1/8-mile Wood, which offers 170 qualifying points to the top four finishers (100-40-20-10) toward the May 7 Kentucky Derby. Flexibility, who is also trained by Brown, is the other stakes winner.

Shagaf, a son of Bernardini, will try to brighten the spirits of Shadwell Stable, which watched Mohaymen run a dull fourth in last week’s Florida Derby, suffering his first defeat.

Shagaf is undefeated in three starts and is coming off a 1 1/4-length victory in the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes here on March 5. Shagaf has had some quirks about him, proving difficult to load onto a van or at the gate, but Brown sees the horse maturing.

“He’s already made a lot of progress from when he broke his maiden last year until now both mentally and physically,” Brown said on a conference call this week. “I do see a lot of room for further improvement. He’s an exciting horse who hasn’t done anything wrong yet. Hopefully, he continues to develop.”

Shagaf, who broke from post 2 and rode a golden rail on Aqueduct’s inner track before tipping three wide in the stretch to win the Gotham, will break from the rail Saturday under Irad Ortiz Jr.

Flexibility, a New York-bred son of Bluegrass Cat, twice finished second to Mohaymen in graded stakes run over Aqueduct’s main track last fall. He won the Grade 3 Jerome by 4 1/4 lengths on Jan. 2 but ran fourth in the Grade 2 Withers on Jan. 30 as the 1-2 favorite.

“We probably ran that horse a little too much in too short a time, which might have been an excuse for his last performance in the Withers,” Brown said Wednesday. “Now, he’s had two months to recharge his batteries, so to speak, and he has a nice pattern of workouts that are strong. I think the horse is coming into the Wood in great shape.”

Manny Franco, aboard for Flexibility’s first two starts, including a maiden victory at Belmont last fall, rides from post 5.

Matt King Coal (post 6) and Outwork (post 8) look like the two primary speed horses in the field. Matt King Coal, a son of Cool Coal Man trained by Linda Rice, is coming off a solid allowance win March 6, his first start off a 129-day layoff.

Outwork, a son of Uncle Mo trained by Todd Pletcher, finished second to stablemate Destin in the Grade 2 Tampa Bay Derby on March 12.

Others entered in the Wood include Adventist (post 2), Trojan Nation (post 3), Tale of S’avall (post 4), and Dalmore (post 7).

The Wood will go as race 10 on a 12-race card that begins at 12:20 p.m. Eastern. It will be shown live on NBC Sports Network in a two-hour broadcast (5-7 p.m.) that will include the Blue Grass Stakes and Santa Anita Derby.