Wood Set to Clarify Field for Derby

NEW YORK —  Only three weeks before the Kentucky Derby, there’s a slew of mystery horses in the tentative field, and Master David, running at Aqueduct today in the $750,000 Wood Memorial, is a good fit for the mold.

Trainer Bobby Frankel’s colt is lightly raced and has had a blip in his schedule, something you can say about several Derby candidates.

“I think the Derby favorite will come out of the Wood,” Frankel said. “Then all the Derby bull can start. And that’s what it is, pure bull. The favorite never wins that race, so what else can you call it?”

Speaking of favorites, Master David, at 5-2 on the morning line, is expected to go off as the public choice in the Wood. The Hollywood Park-based Frankel also brought the Wood favorite here last year, Empire Maker, who narrowly beat Funny Cide. But in the Derby, those positions were reversed, with Frankel later second-guessing himself that he might have been better off leaving Empire Maker in the barn because of a problematic foot.

Five weeks later, a fully healed Empire Maker foiled Funny Cide’s Triple Crown bid by winning the Belmont Stakes.

Empire Maker’s pre-Kentucky Derby run consisted of the Sham Stakes at Santa Anita, the Florida Derby at Gulfstream Park in Florida, and the Wood. Frankel would have preferred the same routine for Master David, but the colt ran a high temperature before the Florida Derby and was unable to run.

“He was only sick for a day, but it was enough to throw his training off and I didn’t want to chance it,” Frankel said. “The Wood should be a good prep ... and I’ve got a horse who’s already had a good race over the track.”

Master David has been sold twice, first as a non-raced 2-year-old for $100,000 and then for an undisclosed price to his current owners, a group of New Yorkers. They bought him off the strength of a win and two seconds on grass courses in England.

Since then, he has run only on dirt, finishing second in last year’s Remsen at Aqueduct, third in the Santa Catalina and first in the Sham. The horse who beat Master David in the Remsen -- at the same distance as the Wood, 1 1/8miles -- was Read The Footnotes, a hot Kentucky Derby hopeful before he ran poorly in the Florida Derby.

Frankel said Master David didn’t necessarily have to win the Wood to go on to the Kentucky Derby, but then, his horse is in a tenuous position with only $58,000 in graded-stakes earnings.

The Derby, which has a 20-horse limit, is likely to be oversubscribed, and horses under the $200,000 mark might be caught short. The Wood’s purse breakdown includes $450,000 for first, $150,000 for second and $75,000 for third.

The Wood is the leadoff race today in a round of Derby preps that also includes the $750,000 Blue Grass at Keeneland and the $1-million Arkansas Derby at Oaklawn Park.

The Blue Grass lost one of its runners when Birdstone was scratched because of a high blood count. Trainer Nick Zito, whose Eurosilver is definitely missing the Derby, said Birdstone might run in the Lexington Stakes at Keeneland a week from today. Zito has The Cliff’s Edge running in the Blue Grass and is taking a shot with Royal Assault, at 20-1, in the Wood.

Royal Assault didn’t get to the races until he broke his maiden at Gulfstream Park in January. He ran twice more, getting a second and a third, under allowance conditions at the Florida track.

Zito has won the Wood twice, with Thirty Six Red in 1990 and Adonis in 1999.

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Congaree, treated for colic this week at a clinic in Lexington, Ky., was unable to run today in the Commonwealth Stakes at Keeneland. Because of his defection, Lion Tamer, trained by Todd Pletcher, became the favorite in the $250,000 race. Pletcher will be at Aqueduct, however, to saddle Value Plus in the Wood.

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House Of Fortune, trained by Ron McAnally and ridden by Alex Solis, is on her way to the Kentucky Oaks on April 30. She won the Fantasy Stakes at Oaklawn Park.... At Keeneland, Perfect Soul set a track grass record, winning the Maker’s Mark Mile in 1:33 2/5.