Weyburn On Target For Wood Memorial

OZONE PARK, NY – Chiefswood Stables homebred Weyburn returned to the work tab on Wednesday with an easy 1/2-mile move in 50.93 seconds over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for the Wood Memorial (G2) Presented by Resorts World Casino.

The dark bay son of Pioneerof the Nile pleased trainer Jimmy Jerkens in his first work back from the Gotham (G3) on March 6 at the Big A, where he pulled off a 46/1 upset fighting gamely along the rail to get a nose to the better of Crowded Trade.

“He just ran hard (in the Gotham) and he’s not the heaviest horse in the world, so he didn’t really need anything more than what he did on Wednesday,” Jerkens said of the breeze.

A strong performance in the Wood Memorial would likely propel Weyburn to the Kentucky Derby (G1), for which he earned 50 qualifying points after winning the Gotham. Jerkens’ lone Derby starter to date was Wicked Strong, who ran fourth in 2014 after capturing that year’s Wood Memorial.

Weyburn, bred in Ontario, was recently made the 3/1 early favorite for the $1 million Queen’s Plate on August 22 at Woodbine – Canada’s premier horserace restricted to those bred in Canada. Jerkens won the 2017 Queen’s Plate with Stronach Stables’ homebred Holy Helena.

Weyburn is out of the A.P. Indy mare Sunday Affair, who also produced graded stakes winner Yorkton. His third dam was Grade 1 winner Maplejinsky, who produced 1994 Champion Older Filly Sky Beauty.

A probable list of Wood Memorial contenders includes Brooklyn Strong (Daniel Velazquez), Crowded Trade (Chad Brown), Dynamic One (Todd Pletcher), Nicky the Vest (Jonathan Thomas), Overtook (Pletcher), Risk Taking (Brown), and Roman Centurian (Simon Callaghan). Also under consideration are Prevalence (Brendan Walsh) and Rombauer (Michael McCarthy).