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Wicked Strong rallies to win going away in TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial
Wicked Strong showed good form in New York last fall, recording a two-length maiden win at Belmont Park and a fast-closing third in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct, beaten only a half-length. However, the son of Hard Spun was never a serious factor in a pair of unplaced finishes at Gulfstream Park this year. He put those performances behind him in style Saturday, returning $20.40 to win after scoring as the 9-1 fifth choice among 10 rivals.
"Handicapping the race, you would think there was going to be a contested pace," Maragh said. "I really wasn't so much concerned with the fractions; I just wanted my horse to get happy early, to get into a nice rhythm and take it from there." Wicked Strong came off the inside leaving the far turn, driving four wide into the stretch, and went after the leaders in earnest after turning for home. Social Inclusion was still clinging to the lead after a mile in 1:36 1/5, with Samraat in a full drive trying to catch him, but Wicked Strong had all the momentum down the center of the track. He rolled past to win in a convincing manner. "To me, he's the Derby favorite right now," Maragh said. "In my book, anyway. He showed that more distance is going to be better for him.
Samraat, who was exiting Grade 3 wins in the Gotham and Withers, sustained his first setback in six career starts. "It's his best race," Samraat's trainer Richard Violette Jr. said. "It's the first time he's been surrounded and covered up, and he handled it. He came back three times. I thought he was going to be fourth the entire (stretch run) and he kept finding more, finding more. Good horses rally from this and get better. "Other than win, he got a huge education. As long as he comes out of it all right we'll head to Kentucky. I don't think there's anything he can't do; Jose can put him anywhere he wants - behind horses, on the inside, wherever. I don't think the extra eighth of a mile is going to bother him. We kind of did it the hard way." Social Inclusion, who captured his first two career starts at Gulfstream this year, tasted defeat for the first time as well. "It was very good," Social Inclusion's trainer Manny Azpurua said. "Next time he'll win; he'll kill them." Bred in Kentucky by William F. Lynn, Wicked Strong sold for $375,000 as a 2012 Keeneland September yearling. The bay colt hails from a nice female family with plenty of stamina influences for longer distances. Out of Moyne Abbey, a daughter of 1999 Kentucky Derby and Preakness winner Charismatic, Wicked Strong's second maternal dam, the stakes-placed With Approval mare Classic Approval, produced multiple Grade 3 hero Gulch Approval as well as stakes winners Approval Rating and Rusty Slipper. Multiple Grade 1 winner and sire Student Council is also part of his immediate female family. Wicked Strong was originally named Moyne Spun, but he was renamed in honor of the Boston Marathon bombings last year. Centennial is donating a percentage of the horse's earnings to The One Fund, which benefits those affected by the tragic events. With the $590,000 payday, Wicked Strong has now earned $704,610 from a 6-2-1-1 record. Jerkens is looking forward to sending the late-running Wicked Strong to Churchill Downs for the 1 1/4-mile Kentucky Derby. "Looks like a horse where distance shouldn't bother him." Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com
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