Wood Memorial: Despite brutal winter, Uncle Sigh one step from Kentucky Derby

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – The seemingly never-ending New York winter was testing, to say the least. Many mornings – or afternoons – were not fit for man nor beast.

But through the snow, the ice, and the bitter cold, Uncle Sigh has endured and emerged as a legitimate Kentucky Derby candidate. Gutty runner-up finishes to Samraat over Aqueduct’s inner track in the Withers and Gotham – with the worst of the trips in both races – have Uncle Sigh one solid effort away from making it to Churchill Downs.

His connections – trainer Gary Contessa and owner George “Chip” McEwen – hope Uncle Sigh can take that step Saturday when he again meets Samraat and likely eight others in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct. On Tuesday, the day before entries were to be finalized and posts drawn, it appeared a 10-horse field was likely for the Wood.

Contessa believes it’s the mental make-up of Uncle Sigh that enabled him to handle the harsh winter, one in which nearly 60 inches of snow fell in the New York area, where the high temperature was below freezing for 28 days and where seven full cards of racing at Aqueduct were canceled.

“It was the horse, because I had many horses that didn’t survive Aqueduct winter and the trainer had a hard time surviving Aqueduct winter,” Contessa said Tuesday morning. “He doesn’t give a [darn] about anything. It’s that kind of attitude that got him through the winter at Aqueduct and Belmont, because it was murder.”

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

Contessa said if he knew then what he knows now he would most likely would have sent Uncle Sigh to Florida for the winter. Contessa did keep a small string at Palm Meadows, a training center in Boynton Beach, Fla.

But Contessa liked New York’s program for 3-year-olds, a lucrative two-turn race on the first Saturday of each month leading to the Wood Memorial.

“I thought it was perfect for this horse,” Contessa said.

The weather forced New York Racing Association officials to close Belmont for training several times, including four straight mornings in February. Contessa once took Uncle Sigh to one of the jogging barns, but with so much congestion there he didn’t go back and would simply have the horse ridden around the shed row at his own barn twice a day.

In trying to get a work into Uncle Sigh before the Gotham, Contessa received permission to work him at 1 p.m. over the training track, something that is rarely done.

Rick Violette opted to train Samraat in south Florida for the winter. One of the things Violette said after the Gotham was that horses expend a lot of energy when it’s cold simply trying to keep themselves warm in their stalls.

While Contessa didn’t disagree with that logic, he said Uncle Sigh didn’t waste energy in that fashion.

“He’s just the coolest cat,” Contessa said. “I’ve never seen him shake, I’ve never seen him shiver, I’ve never seen him turn a hair on the worst day.”

Contessa said one of the only issues he had with Uncle Sigh this winter was that for a brief period the horse had a breathing problem.

“We scoped him multiple times, but didn’t find anything,” Contessa said. “Had him on different antibiotics, but ultimately it just resolved itself.”

Contessa wanted Uncle Sigh’s last workout for the Wood to be at Aqueduct, but he had to make adjustments on the timing of it due to more inclement weather, which left the main track wet over the weekend and on Monday.

Tuesday, Contessa vanned Uncle Sigh from Belmont to Aqueduct where he put in a sharp half-mile breeze in 47.61 seconds with the former jockey Nick Santagata up over a fast main track. Uncle Sigh got the final quarter of the move in 22.86 seconds and galloped out five-eighths in 59.99 seconds.

“This should serve to sharpen him a little bit, let him know it’s time to get serious,” Contessa said. “He came home quick, but effortless quick.”

Uncle Sigh has 24 qualifying points toward the Derby and would likely need a top-four finish in the Wood – a race that awards qualifying points on a 100-40-20-10 basis – to guarantee a spot in the starting gate for the Derby.

“I think he needs to run well or have a damn good excuse for not running well to go on to the Derby,” Contessa said. “But I think he deserves a shot. I truly believe he’s one of the ones.”

Vyjack working toward Met

Vyjack, the 3-year-old who endured last year’s New York winter to make it to the Kentucky Derby – where he finished 18th of 19 – worked five furlongs in 1:02.50 Tuesday morning at Aqueduct.

It was the sixth work for Vyjack this year and second since he returned to trainer Rudy Rodriguez at Aqueduct. He had spent the last six months at the Fair Hill training center with Bruce Jackson.

“He looks very good; Bruce did an unbelievable job over there,” Rodriguez said. “We could have left him over there but we have to get him ready.”

Rodriguez said he would like to run Vyjack in the Metropolitan Handicap at Belmont on June 7 with a prep race somewhere before then.

Last year, Vyjack won the Jerome and Gotham at Aqueduct before finishing third to Verrazano in the Wood.