The Eighth Pole: Weekend Derby prep recaps and other racing news
Mo Donegal won the 97th running of the $750,000, Grade 2, Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on Saturday. Todd Pletcher's colt is trained by him and finished second. The next stop for the colts is the Kentucky Derby. The winner receives valuable Kentucky derby points. It was the seventh Wood memorial for P Fletcher's barn. He is optimistic about Mo Donegals chances. "He's got some good experience and he showed today he can overcome a bit of a trip and zigzag when he needs to," he says.
Zandon won the Blue Grass Stakes at Keeneland on Saturday. He was trained by Chad Brown and Flavian Pratt. Smile Happy finished second, Emmanuel third and Golden Glider fourth. The top four finishers received Kentucky Derby points.
Taiba and jockey Mike Smith won the Santa Anita Derby by 2-1/4 lengths. The colt was trained by Tim Yakteen and completed the 1- 1/8 miles in 1:47.67. Messier was second, Happy Jack third and Armagnac fourth. Taiba will give the jockeying his 27th spin in the Kentucky Derby on May 7 at Churchill Downs.
Keeneland's spring meet opened on Friday. The 5th race was a one-mile allowance race on the soggy green with a full field of 11. (#3) Healing and Tyler Gaffalione won the race. Red Hornet finished second, 3/4 of a length ahead of the third-place finisher Rochambeau and Myopic.
The correct order of finish for the fifth race at Keeneland was 3-9-8-10. Tickets that were cashed on the track before the corrected order were honored. The race was repriced and the correct running order prices are official.
The wrong order of finish was posted at the horse racing's opening day. The horses that lined up for the 6th race were delayed for almost twenty minutes. The tickets that were cashed on the track before the corrected order was honored. New safeguards are in place to prevent such a mistake in the future. ADW accounts will be adjusted to reflect the correct pricing. It was painful to watch and the entire fiasco seemed like a bad comedy skit. This was another example of horse Racing shooting itself in its foot on a big stage. it was embarrassing for all the parties involved.
