![]() ![]() ![]() Jamaica drew 42,122 fans on the third Saturday in April to watch the Wood Memorial, and they saw a thriller. Off those performances, Bold Ruler was the 1-2 favorite in his final Derby prep, the Wood Memorial. He won two stakes races down there, including the Flamingo Stakes at Hialeah Park, while finishing second in two more behind top Kentucky Derby contender General Duke. He was sent to Florida to begin his 3-year-old season and started off strong. He won the prestigious Futurity Stakes at Belmont Park in September, but followed that performance with dull showings in both the Garden State Stakes and he Remsen Stakes. He came into his 3-year-old campaign as a mixed bag. (Baltimore Sunpapers Photo/BloodHorse)īold Ruler was part of the iconic 3-year-old crop of 1957 that included fellow Hall of Famers Round Table and Gallant Man. Let’s take a look back at some of the best Wood Memorial winners.ĬAREER RECORD: 33 starts, 23 wins, 4 seconds, 2 thirdsīold Ruler wins the 1957 Preakness Stakes. Eleven Wood Memorial winners have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby, most recently Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000. Trainer Todd Pletcher won the race in 2022 with eventual Belmont Stakes winner Mo Donegal, giving Pletcher his seventh Wood Memorial victory since 2010. There was no race in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The race was a Grade 1 from 1973 to 1994, and again from 2002 to 2016. It was contested at a mile and 70 yards from its inauguration until 1939, then was extended to 1 1/16 miles in 1940, and extended to its current distance in 1952. The race was held at Jamaica until that track’s closure in 1959. The race was first held in 1925, and was named in memory of Eugene Wood, the first president of old Jamaica Racetrack. The winner will receive 100 qualifying points toward the Derby, while the runner-up will receive 40, the third-place finisher 30, the fourth-place runner 20, and the fifth-place horse 10. Aqueduct will host the $750,000, Grade 2 Wood Memorial Stakes Presented by Resorts World Casino at 1 ⅛ miles on the dirt. New York’s road to the 2023 Kentucky Derby Presented by Woodford Reserve concludes this Saturday. ![]()
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