Eight 3-year-olds were entered yesterday in Saturday’s Grade 1, $750,000 Wood Memorial at the Big A, a race most of their trainers hope will be the last whistle stop on the road to the Kentucky Derby.
The solid favorite breaking from post 1 going a mile-and-an-eighth is I Want Revenge, the California-based colt who shipped east to win the March 7 Gotham over Aqueduct’s inner track by 8½ lengths.
It was his first start on dirt after racing over synthetic tracks on the Left Coast. The Wood will be run over the main track, which opened yesterday.
“He got everything right in the Gotham, and all I want from the Wood Memorial is to see him keep moving forward, even if it is just a little bit,” trainer Jeff Mullins said.
“I definitely don’t want to take any steps backward.”
I Want Revenge’s rider, Joe Talamo, will wear the silks of IEAH Stable, which purchased a 50 percent share in the colt on Monday from owner-breeder David Lanzman.
IEAH campaigned last year’s Derby winner, Big Brown, who also won the Preakness but was eased as the odds-on favorite bidding for the Triple Crown in the Belmont Stakes.
Shug McGaughey’s Imperial Council, who rallied for second in the Gotham under Rajiv Maragh, gets an extra sixteenth of a mile to work with and is reunited with jockey Edgar Prado.
Kelly Breen runs an entry of Atomic Rain, second in last year’s Remsen at Aqueduct, and West Side Bernie, looking to rebound after finishing sixth as the favorite in the Lane’s End.
CHURCHILL AT NIGHT?
Horse racing fans may hear the bugler’s “Call to the Post” under the lights for the first time at Churchill Downs.
The home of the Kentucky Derby is hoping to bring in temporary lights to experiment with three nights of racing for the upcoming spring meet. Churchill is seeking approval from the Kentucky Horse Racing Commission, which meets next Tuesday.
First post would be 6 p.m., and the 11 races each night would continue until about 11 p.m., he said.
Any dabbling in night racing would not be done with an eye toward its most famous race. “Churchill Downs is not contemplating night racing with the Kentucky Derby in mind,” track spokesman John Asher said. –With AP
