The final major race to be run at Aqueduct Racetrack in Ozone Park, New York, takes place April 4. The Grade 2 $750,000 Wood Memorial Stakes has a big field of 12 likely to run and offers 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Derby qualifying points to the top-five finishers.
Aqueduct closes permanently on June 28, 2026.
The card is bolstered by the Grade 2, $300,000 Carter presented by NYRA Bets for older horses sprinting seven furlongs [Race 6]; the Grade 3, $200,000 Gazelle at nine furlongs for sophomore fillies offering 100-50-25-15-10 Kentucky Oaks qualifying points [Race 11]; the Grade 3, $150,000 Distaff at seven furlongs for older fillies and mares [Race 10]; and the Listed $150,000 Excelsior at 1 1/4 miles for older horses [Race 3].
The list of past Wood Memorial winners includes 11 who went on to win the Kentucky Derby [Gallant Fox, 1930; Twenty Grand, 1931; Johnstown, 1939; Count Fleet, 1943; Hoop Jr., 1945; Assault, 1946; Foolish Pleasure, 1975; Bold Forbes, 1976; Seattle Slew, 1977; Pleasant Colony, 1981; and Fusaichi Pegasus, 2000]. Gallant Fox, Count Fleet, Assault and Seattle Slew all captured the Triple Crown.
IRON HONOR (Nyquist) is the Wood Memorial early favourite based on his two-for-two record. Trained by five-time Eclipse Award winner Chad Brown, Iron Honor [post 13, Manny Franco] enters from a one-length score over Crown the Buckeye in the one-turn mile Grade 3 Gotham on February 28 here. With a pace-pressing trip under returning rider Manny Franco, the colt earned 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points.
“I think this is a very talented three-year-old,” Franco said. “He is two-for-two in his career, so I’m just happy to be on his back. I think the distance will be no problem, with the size he has and he has Chad, too. He is a great trainer.”
Iron Honor’s final time of 1:37.94 over the good footing earned a 90 Beyer Speed Figure, slightly lower than his debut 95 for a local 1 1/2-length score over next-out winners Crossingthechannel and returning rival Right to Party sprinting six furlongs on December 13.
Franco was aboard Iron Honor for a half-mile breeze in 49.31 seconds in company with Ottinho on Saturday over the Belmont Park dirt training track.
“He worked outside of the other horse,” said Franco. “He worked really good. The gallop out was really good, too. I’ve had the chance to work him twice now. I’ve liked the way he’s been going. I like the way he is doing, so hopefully he is best.”
A $475,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, Iron Honor was bred in Kentucky by Mike Freeny and Pat Freeny and is out of the winning Blame mare Orencia, a half-sister to stakes-placed My Savannah Belle.
Brown, seeking his first Wood Memorial triumph, will also send out Three Chimneys Farm’s Kentucky homebred Ottinho [post 11, Dylan Davis, blinkers on]. The Quality Road bay needs to improve from his last-out 65 Beyer for a distant third to returning rival Talk to Me Jimmy in the nine-furlong Listed $200,000 Withers on February 6, where he picked up six Kentucky Derby points in defeat.
Ottinho has the pedigree to take a step forward as a half-brother to Hall of Famer Gun Runner and a full-brother to the Brown-trained Grade 3-winner Pretty Ana, out of the Grade 2-winning Giant’s Causeway mare Quiet Giant.
“We are hopeful that he’s going to mature like his sister and Gun Runner later on,” said Doug Cauthen, vice chairman of Three Chimneys Farm. “He continues to improve and strengthen. He is a physical specimen. It just seems like these horses get stronger and better with time. We’re hoping for that and a move forward when he runs.”
Ottinho graduated at second asking over course and distance on New Year’s Eve, his pacesetting trip earning a career-best 82 Beyer. He was previously third over the local one-turn mile in November.
Gold Square’s Grade 1-winner Napoleon Solo [post 1, Paco Lopez] looks to rebound from a prominent fifth-place finish in the 1 1/16-mile Grade 2 Fountain of Youth on February 28 at Gulfstream Park. Trained by Chad Summers, the Liam’s Map gray was making his seasonal and two-turn debut, his prior effort a pacesetting 6 1/2-length score in the one-turn mile Grade 1 Champagne in October at Belmont at the Big A.
Napoleon Solo has 15 Derby points, with 10 from the Champagne and 5 from the Fountain of Youth. He was awkward at the start of the latter when coming off the about five-month respite.
“He was going to need that race regardless,” Summers said. “There were a lot of things going on in that race. Now, we are going to have one more bite at the apple.”
Napoleon Solo went two-for-two as a juvenile with a debut win in August at Saratoga Race Course in a six-furlong maiden auction, his Champagne registering a career-best 95 Beyer.
“He’s obviously going to be the only Grade 1-winner in the field,” Summers said. “He’s got questions to answer. There are some other horses that will be favored over him, so we’ll see what happens.”
Napoleon Solo scratched out of last Saturday’s Grade 1, $1.5 million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.
SEI Thoroughbreds and trainer Rudy Rodriguez’s New York-bred Talk to Me Jimmy [post 2, Ruben Silvera] won gate-to-wire by 11 lengths in the Listed Withers over course and distance in February. The Modernist bay earned 20 Derby points and conquered open company following two state-bred efforts going the local one-turn mile, including a second-out pacesetting graduation by 5 1/2-lengths over next-out $500,000 NYSSS Great White Way-winner Sunday Boy in November.
“We are at home,” Rodriguez said. “He’s very good here. We nominated him over here and over there, all over, but he’s right at home. We don’t need to worry about anyone else, except him. I try to get the horse ready the best I can, and we let the jockey worry about the rest.”
Talk to Me Jimmy breezed a half-mile in 50.01 seconds on Sunday over the Belmont Park dirt training track after logging six-furlong breezes the past two weeks. His official record shows five works since his last effort and according to Rodriguez, he also worked on March 8, which wasn’t recorded due to foggy conditions.
“We had to put some miles on him,” said Rodriguez. “This race is a mile and an eighth. It looks like it is coming up with a lot of speed, so we just have to be ready for anything. He’s worked very good, came back good, he’s coming up good and the race is coming up solid.”
Bred in the Empire State by Majestic View Farms, Intl., Talk to Me Jimmy, a modest $31,000 purchase at the 2024 Keeneland September Yearling Sale, is out of the 10-time winning Trippi mare Prairie Trip.
Hall of Famer Todd Pletcher sends out Whisper Hill Farm, Stonestreet Stables and Windancer Farm’s Courting [post 8, Kendrick Carmouche, blinkers off] in pursuit of a record-equaling eighth Wood Memorial victory to match fellow Hall of Famer “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons’ mark.
Pletcher’s past scores include Eskendereya [2010], Gemologist [2012], Verrazano [2013], Outwork [2016], Vino Rosso [2018], Bourbonic [2021] and Mo Donegal [2022].
“It’s the historic last one at Aqueduct and the race has been kind to us over the years. We’d love to add another one,” Pletcher said.
Courting has two Kentucky Derby points from a fourth to Paladin in the nine-furlong Grade 2 Remsen on December 6 here. The Curlin chestnut was bumped at the start to travel 9th-of-11 early, improving to a seven-length fourth with next-out Listed Sam F. Davis and Grade 1 Arkansas Derby-winning stablemate Renegade second.
“I thought he ran a sneaky good race,” Pletcher said. “The form from the Remsen has held up pretty well. Considering the start he got off to – to get squeezed back and for him to make a move and show some interest in the end was encouraging.”
Courting exited to run a last-out sixth to Paladin at the same distance in the Grade 2 Risen Star on Valentine’s Day at Fair Grounds.
“He didn’t jump well, and the track was a little on the speed-favoring side that day. He made a bit of a middle move and flattened out,” said Pletcher. “We’re drawing a line through that one and re-grouping, going back to a track he’s had some success on. Hopefully, he makes a move forward.”
-with files from NYRA media
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