Aqueduct Notes: Wood Memorial Update

OZONE PARK, N.Y. – Beating the rain that fell this morning at Belmont Park, trainer Chad Brown worked a trio of his 3-year-olds at 7:40 a.m. with an eye on final-round Kentucky Derby preps. Shortly after the works, Brown confirmed that Grade 3 Gotham Stakes winner Shagaf and Grade 3 Jerome Stakes winner Flexibility will both run in the Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on April 9.

Working as a team, Shadwell Stable’s Shagaf and Klaravich Stables and William H. Lawrence’s Flexibility covered four furlongs on the training track in :48 2/5. Brown said the colts, who started and finished on even terms, got their first eighth of a mile in :13 1/5.

“This is the first week that I worked them together,” Brown said. “Shagaf and Flexibility are generally good work horses. They had plenty left and were well within themselves – pretty even work. That would be a normal half-mile work for them.”

The undefeated Shagaf will be ridden in the Wood Memorial by Irad Ortiz Jr., who piloted him to a 1 1/4-length victory in the Gotham.

In the weeks since the Gotham, Shagaf has been schooled at the starting gate, as well as practice sessions loading onto a van. Brown said the colt has done very well in both exercises.

“The horse is a little quirky; particularly with tight spots,” Brown explained. “If he decides he doesn’t want to do something, he will stick his toes in there. He won’t get mean or hot or aggressive, he just won’t do it. Going into the starting gate was a problem early on and loading into vans was a problem. Sometimes going into the saddling enclosure is a problem, but we can avoid that by saddling outside of it. But, unfortunately, we can’t avoid the starting gate or the van.

“My staff and the gate crew have been working with him and he has made a lot of progress,” Brown continued. “We’ve been schooling him going into the van since the Gotham, and he has been going right in, and the same with the gate. All in all, I’m proud of the horse’s progress mentally in terms of being agreeable to the stuff we want him to do.”

Flexibility, who will be ridden by Manny Franco in the Wood Memorial, is coming off a layoff. After winning the Jerome to open his 3-year-old campaign on Jan. 2, Flexibility finished fourth as the favorite in the Grade 3 Withers at Aqueduct on Jan. 30.

“I think Flexibility can be competitive in the Wood, particularly with the way he is training – he is training really well,” Brown remarked. “I think the layoff has done him well. As far as where he needs to be numbers-wise to compete with the top group of 3-year-old dirt horses, I think the race will do him well for his next start after that. If he is able to run good enough in the Wood, and grab some more [qualifying] points for the Derby, I think his second start off the layoff will be his best.

“We’re trying to accomplish two things here,” Brown continued. “Obviously, we would love the horse to win, but if he just runs well, and earns his way into the Derby with both a good performance and points, I’m inclined to take him to Kentucky, knowing his second start off a layoff will be his better start.”

Brown indicated that his other Wood Memorial nominee, My Man Sam, who worked a half-mile in :50 Saturday at Belmont, will ship Sunday to Keeneland to run in the Blue Grass Stakes on April 9.

Also working for Brown Saturday at Belmont was Majestic Affair, who will run in next Saturday’s Grade 1, $400,000 Carter Handicap at Aqueduct. He worked in company with My Man Sam, and was timed in :50 for the four-furlong work.

Matt King Coal ready to roll in Wood

Lady Sheila Stable’s Grade 1, $1 million Wood Memorial contender Matt King Coal wrapped up his major preparations for the race with a lengthy breeze on Wednesday morning, according to trainer Linda Rice on this weekend.

A one-length winner of a first-level optional claiming contest over a stakes-caliber field on March 6, Matt King Coal was clocked for a seven-furlong maintenance move in 1:25 1/5, the second and final planned workout before the 1 1/8-mile Kentucky Derby prep next Saturday.

“I decided to only give him two works into the race,” said Rice. “He came back after that race and worked three-quarters really nice. With his last breeze on Wednesday, he went beautifully; so we’re ready.”

Matt King Coal was forced to skip his original target of the Grade 3 Jerome in January after the colt spiked a fever in December. The Florida-bred son of Cool Coal Man regrouped with a trio of works in February and was nominated for the Grade 3 Gotham on March 5 before Rice opted instead for the 1 1/16-mile optional claimer that ultimately attracted Blue Grass entrant My Man Sam and the stakes-aimed Mo Power.

“I was in a little bit of a rush to get him back and that’s why I chose the allowance race over the Gotham,” she explained. “Maybe if I had gotten a fourth breeze in him, we might’ve gone with the Gotham but, at the time, I felt like I barely had him ready to go. So I chose the allowance race and then that came up so tough. But he ran great and we’re very excited about the Wood. It’s a little added distance, tougher competition, but we’re as ready as we can be.”

“It can be a little intimating to jump right into a Grade 1 but I think we’ve taken all the natural steps,” Rice continued. “He broke his maiden and we gave him time last fall. He was running fast numbers and he looked like a nice colt, so I wanted to give him a chance to grow up before I threw him into the deep end of the pool.”

Affectionately known around the barn as “Matty” – “unless he’s misbehaving, then it’s ‘Matthew'”, Rice added – the tall, leggy bay has posted back-to-back wins and a close second-place finish over the dirt, all with front-running trips with regular jockey Jose Ortiz, who will retain the mount for the Wood. His worst effort was a third-place finish when he debuted on the grass last summer at Saratoga after Rice had purchased him as a 2-year-old-in-training for Sheila Rosenblum’s stable for $250,000.

“It’s surprising that he has the speed he has because when you look at him, and when I bought him at the OBS April sale a year ago, I was just shocked that a horse of his stature could be that fast,” said Rice. “And Jose thought the same way; when he breaks from the gate, he’s surprised that he has that kind of speed.”

Ortiz, who clinched his second consecutive Aqueduct inner track meet title last weekend, will retain the mount on Matt King Coal.

“There are certain things about it; he’s been two turns already but he’s never been off the lead yet so that, of course, leaves an unanswered question, and I’ve still got the blinkers on him” Rice said. “I don’t really anticipate making any changes going into the race. We’re just going to let it unfold and let Jose figure it out. The less instruction the better. Jose has got great instincts and we’re just going to let it roll.”

Adventist ‘fantastic’ ahead of Wood

Trainer Leah Gyarmati reported Saturday morning that all is well with her Wood Memorial contender Adventist ahead of next weekend’s race.

Adventist had his final breeze on Thursday, working in company with graded stakes-placed In Equality. The duo earned an official six-furlong time of 1:14.55.

“[Adventist] is doing fantastic,” said Gyarmati. “He’s been on a regular breeze schedule, his breezes have been great: strong gallops to the pole and really good gallop-outs. So it’s probably been more work than it looks like on paper.

“The three-quarters the other day was really the gallop out,” she said. “He went five-eighths and galloped out three-quarters and ended up galloping out the full mile. I couldn’t ask for anything better, he’s doing really well.”

The Any Given Saturday colt will be coming into the Wood off a pair of third-place finishes in Kentucky Derby preps, finishing 1 ¾ lengths behind Sunny Ridge in the Withers and two lengths behind Shagaf in the Gotham, despite a few displays of greenness in both races.

“I think that comes with racing experience that he’ll just have to get,” said Gyarmati. “And I don’t think he was always as green as it looked; there was a lot of bumping going on and it wasn’t just him. I thought he was pretty professional when he got walloped a few times and he just kept on digging in and outfinished the horses he was bumping with. He’s got some fight in him.”

Despite only a maiden victory currently in his win column, Adventist’s stakes placings have earned him 12 points towards the Kentucky Derby, with the Wood Memorial worth another 100-40-20-10 points to the top four finishers.

“Obviously, when you have a horse with talent and they’re really giving you a big effort, you wonder if you’re one bump or one duck in from being second or winning that race because you lose momentum when that happens,” she said. “But that’s tempered with being very excited about having a nice horse. I try not to cry too much.”

Kendrick Carmouche, Adventist’s jockey for the Withers and Gotham, will be aboard again next weekend.

In Equality, most recently sixth in the Grade 2 Risen Star at Fair Grounds on February 20, could make an appearance on the Wood Memorial undercard. In Equality ran twice on the grass before breaking his maiden on the dirt and running third in the Grade 3 Jerome. The Quality Road colt is eligible for a 1 1/16-mile turf allowance in the condition book for Saturday, Gyarmati said, and would likely be entered there if he’s ready in time.

“The whole trip [to the Risen Star] took a lot out of him and he probably wasn’t at his best down there,” she explained. “But it was a good race, it was a pretty salty field. So he’s back up here; I gave him a couple of weeks off out in the round pen and he’s started back training. I’m leaning towards trying him back on the grass first, he can do both, turf or dirt; I don’t know where he’s better yet but we’ll see. We’ll maybe point for the grass race, see how that goes and then make a decision after that.”

La Verdad in foal; Palace settling in to stud duties

Lady Sheila Stable’s recently-retired champion La Verdad is confirmed in foal to Medaglia d’Oro, the mare’s former trainer Linda Rice said on Friday.

“We got an ultrasound report at 28 days on Thursday that she is confirmed in foal,” she said. “The first ultrasound confirmation was at 16 days and the second time at 28 days.”

La Verdad, a 5-year-old New York-bred by Yes It’s True, retired two weeks after winning the Eclipse Award for Champion Female Sprinter, following a 2015 campaign that included five stakes wins and a game runner-up effort in the Breeders’ Cup Filly & Mare Sprint. In her only start this year, La Verdad won the $100,000 Interborough by 2 ¾ lengths on January 9 at Aqueduct Racetrack, her 16^th win from 25 career starts.

“What amazes me, is that she’s just good at everything,” Rice said. “She was bred on March 1 and, boom, first time around, she’s pregnant. She went to the track like a winner and she’s gone to the breeding shed like a winner.”

Still in central Kentucky, La Verdad will relocate to New York when she is cleared to travel in a few weeks where she will give birth to her first foal.

Rice said that Palace, her other recent retiree, has settled in well to his stallion duties at Spendthrift Farm in Lexington, where he is set to cover a full book of broodmares in his first year at stud.

“He’s got 160 girlfriends this year” Rice laughed. “They said he’s getting mares in foal really quick and they’re really pleased with him. We couldn’t be happier for him.”

A 6-year-old son of City Zip, Palace was claimed for $20,000 by Linda Rice in 2012 and went on to become a seven-time stakes winner, including Grade 1 wins in the 2014 Alfred G. Vanderbilt and Forego. He retired at the end of 2015 with lifetime earnings of more than $1.5 million and a 12-7-5 record from 30 starts.

Source: NYRA