Like the Brooklyn Bridge and Broadway, the Wood Memorial (G2) is intrinsically linked to New York, and of all the significant Kentucky Derby (G1) prep races, this is the one final test that every horseman wants to ace.
"Anyone in this game, especially anyone with ties to New York racing, would dream of winning this race," said Hall of Fame trainer Todd Pletcher, who has notched seven editions and can tie the record of eight victories established by fellow Hall of Famer James "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons between 1928 and 1957.
Pletcher will send out Grande in search of his record-equaling score in the $750,000 Wood Memorial April 5, which will be contested at 1 1/8 miles by a field of 12 3-year-olds vying for Kentucky Derby qualifying points on Aqueduct Racetrack's main track. With 100-50-25-15-10 points awarded to the top-five finishers, the horse crossing the wire first is practically guaranteed a spot in the starting gate on the first Saturday in May.
Yet this year's edition holds even greater significance. It is the centenary edition of the Wood Memorial, which was initiated in 1925.
Named to honor Eugene D. Wood, the New York State politician and founder and past president of the old Jamaica Race Course, the Wood Memorial was held there until that track closed in 1959 and it was relocated to Aqueduct.
Over the last century there have been different distances from 1 mile 70 yards to the 1 1/8 miles, and there have been different grades assigned. When the grading system of races was introduced in 1973 the Wood Memorial was granted grade 1 status, which it retained until 1994, and then it was a top-level race again from 2002 to 2016. It has been a grade 2 affair since 2017 but nonetheless the race is revered.
"The Wood Memorial has always been known as New York's race," said Hall of Fame trainer Nick Zito, a New York horseman through and through who won in 2005 with Bellamy Road, with Adonis in 1999 and in 1990 with Thirty Six Red. "The Wood is one of my favorite races of all time. Look at the horses that won. Great, great horses ran in it. You shake your head and go, 'Holy Cow.' It's incredible."
The list of past 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 went on to win the Triple Crown.
Moreover, past Wood Memorial winners earned trophies in the Preakness (G1) 12 times and the Belmont Stakes (G1) 16 times, 15 were sophomore champions, 10 captured Horse of the Year honors, and 14 are enshrined in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.
Also there on what can be called the 'Roster of Racing Royalty', among the past winners are 39 jockeys, including nine-time record holder Eddie Arcaro (1944, 1945, 1947-two divisions-1949,1950, 1956-1958), and 29 trainers who are in the Hall of Fame. Many of the pillars of the turf who shaped the sport from the 1920s onward have graced the winner's circle and they include the Woodward Family's Belair Stud, the Vanderbilts, the Whitney family's Greentree Stable, and the Phipps family's Wheatley Stable.
"This race has an amazing history," said Pletcher. "I looked at all the past winners. It's a who's who of horses, jockeys, trainers, and owners. It is astounding."
But of all the estimable winning horses through the decades, arguably none was more popular than 1989 victor Easy Goer.
"The Wood is New York's race. Easy Goer was always New York's horse," said Daisy Phipps Pulito, the granddaughter of the colt's owner, Ogden Phipps, and head of the current day Phipps Stable.
The fourth generation Phipps homebred by Alydar out of champion Relaxing was the talk of the town when he won the 1988 Cowdin and the Champagne, both grade 1s, as a 2-year-old. He was the prohibitive favorite in the 1988 Breeders' Cup Juvenile (G1) but finished second on a muddy track.
Phipps Pulito recalled, "When he didn't win the Breeders' Cup Juvenile, people were questioning whether he could go around two turns. Then he ran in the (1989) Gotham (G2) at Aqueduct and ran really well (winning by 13 lengths in track- and stakes-record time of 1:32 2/5 for the mile). But again, people weren't convinced he could run around two turns so that was a real eye-opening effort he made in the Gotham. Then people were saying that if this horse is going to be the favorite in the (Kentucky) Derby, he needs to show us something really big in the Wood."
Did he ever. Easy Goer won by three lengths in 1:50.60 for the 1 1/8 miles.
"He had a ton of heart," she said. "The racetrack wasn't the same track it was in the Gotham. It was looser, it was cuppier, it wasn't as fast. But (jockey) Pat Day didn't move on him the whole time. In the winner's circle, I was the 14-year-old girl in the purple blazer with the big shoulder pads. He was the macho man. It was so cool just being around him and to be there when New York's horse won New York's race. We all lived in New York. We were New Yorkers."
Easy Goer would win nine total grade 1 races in New York, including the Belmont Stakes, on his way to the Hall of Fame.
"He was very popular, especially with the New York fans and the New York media. He overcame all his physical problems. If he'd been absolutely sound, there's no telling how good he could be," said his Hall of Fame trainer Shug McGaughey, who will send out Statesman on Saturday in search of a third Wood win. "He is on the Wood roster of good horses that were owned by people who really enjoyed racing and put a lot into it. That's one of the big pleasures I got out of it."
Gladys Mills Phipps, Daisy's great-grandmother known as the "First Lady of the Turf," bred and owned 1957 winner and Horse of the Year Bold Ruler, who was trained by Fitzsimmons and ridden by Arcaro. Dispatched as the 1-2 favorite in the field of seven, he nosed out fellow future Hall of Famer Gallant Man.
In 2005, Bellamy Road, owned by the late New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner's Kinsman Stable, stamped his mark on Wood Memorial history by covering the 1 1/8 miles in a stakes record 1:47.16 under Hall of Fame rider Javier Castellano. The margin of victory was an incredible 17 1/2 lengths.
"The Wood Memorial and Bellamy Road will always hold a special place in my heart. I have been to many races through my lifetime, but none have ever been so overwhelming with excitement, anticipation, and emotion for me," said Jessica Steinbrenner, George's daughter, who is the president of Kinsman's racing and breeding operation based in Ocala, Fla. "The Wood being held in New York makes it that much more special because New York has become my family's second home.
"Bellamy Road winning by such an extraordinary amount of lengths ahead of his class in record time is such a feat in itself. I've never been to a race where the tears were flowing before the turn for home-17 1/2-lengths is unbelievable at the grade 1 level. The Wood Memorial turned Bellamy Road into a rockstar," continued Steinbrenner. "To this day I watch the YouTube replay whenever I need to be uplifted in a sport where there are so many peaks and valleys. To hear the announcer (Tom Durkin) say, 'A dazzling performance by a dazzling 3-year-old' still gives me emotion 20 years later."
Said Zito, who finished second in the 1994 Wood with eventual Kentucky Derby winner Go for Gin, "Bellamy Road was incredible. I'm almost choking up again. In that race you knew it was over from the start. He was in great gear. He had this incredible rhythm. He was sensational. He was spectacular. He was magnificent."
While the eight training wins for Fitzsimmons span three decades, Pletcher has won seven in just 12 years. His winners are Mo Donegal (2022), Bourbonic (2021), Vino Rosso (2018), Outwork (2016), Verrazano (2013), Gemologist(2012), and Eskendereya (2010). Bourbonic, under Kendrick Carmouche, pulled off the biggest upset in Wood history at 72-1.
Is there a favorite memory for Pletcher?
"That's a tough one. All of those wins were significant in their own right. It was a big win for Mo Donegal. Unfortunately, it didn't work out for him in the (Kentucky) Derby, but he was able to win the Belmont afterward. I thought Eskendereya was maybe the most impressive but, unfortunately, he got injured preparing for the Derby. All of them have been special in their own way but I think Eskendereya is a standout. He was our first one. Because of the impressive fashion in which he won, and that being our first Wood win, that was maybe the most exciting," he recalled.
Repole Stable owner Mike Repole is the quintessential New York guy. His silks are the orange and blue of the New York Mets and he is passionate and ebullient when it comes to his horses. He owned and bred Outwork and co-owned Vino Rosso with another New York stalwart, Vinnie Viola of St. Elias Stable.
"Part of what made it special for Mike with Outwork was that it was his first Wood Memorial win, but it was also with a homebred who was a son of Uncle Mo, and a son of his mare (Nonna Mia) that he raced and is named after his grandmother. So it took on significant meaning because of all that. Plus, Uncle Mo had been a beaten favorite in the Wood (2011, 3rd) so this was a redemption of sorts. With Mike being a New York guy this was a race he had always dreamt of winning," explained Pletcher.
Peter Brant, one of the sport's most prominent owners since the 1970s, campaigned champion and 1987 winner Gulch.
"It was a great race that day. I remember it very well because at the time I didn't see how he could get up in the mud like that because Gone West had pushed in front of him. He did it. He ran very well and came from out of it. (Trainer) LeRoy Jolley was trying to get him to run from off the pace and relax and he got it done," Brant recalled.
The Wood Memorial win was one of Gulch's seven grade 1 scores, with six notched at Aqueduct, Belmont, and Saratoga.
"The Wood is such a big part of New York racing. It's a really important race," Brant said. "It's a great race to race around two turns, and it's a mile and an eighth. Then it's a good prep where you can go right from the Wood to the Kentucky Derby. This race is very important to have not just on each horse's resume, but on the resume of the jockeys, trainers, and owners as well."
Centennial Farms' Wicked Strong was the 2014 winner.
"This is a race that most historians and generational families in the racing business would love to have on their resumes. It's a great list," said president and co-owner Don Little Jr. "It was Wicked Strong's only grade 1, I'm sad to say, but if your horse is going to win a grade 1, the Wood is one you want to have."
This press release has been edited for content and style by BloodHorse Staff.
