Wood Memorial Stakes | Results | Race Profile
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Wood Memorial Stakes Results
Wood Memorial Stakes Result Archive
2016 Wood Memorial Stakes Result Recap
The 2016 Wood Memorial Stakes was hosted by Aqueduct Racetrack on April 9th, 2016. As one of the final events on the Road to the Kentucky Derby, it boasted a bounty of 100-40-20-10 points to the top-four horses while also offering a $1,000,000 purse. Essentially, the winner would walk right in to the first leg of the 2016 Triple Crown so there was a lot on the line despite a lackluster field.
Rain had rendered the track sloppy, but that didn’t stop the competitors from entering the gates. At the sound of the bell, Matt King Coal took the early lead as a 5/2 second choice, though he exchanged the lead often with Outwork, who slid in as the 2/1 favorite. Shagaf, who had been inserted as a 9/5 third choice, got off to a bad start and trailed for much of the race.
As the rivals rounded the final corner, fighting hard through the mud, Outwork was able to put Matt King Coal behind him and move to the lead. But to everyone’s surprise, 81/1 longshot Trojan Nation thundered through an opening alongside the rail and challenged Outwork down the final lengths in a pulse pounding finish. Stretching out to fend off his challenger in the last few breaths, Outwork crossed the wire first by a half-length. Adventist was third.
The conditions were truly against the field, who dug deep to pound through the slop. The effort was valiant, but not enough to prevent, Outwork from posting a historically slow, winning time. Clocked at 1:52.92, the 2016 Wood Memorial was the slowest race in the history of the event since it expanded to 1 1/8th miles.
Outwork brought back $6.80, $4,80 and $3.90 across the board. Longshot Trojan Nation, the big provider on the day, returned a whopping $40,60 and $13.40 in second place. Adventist was third with $4.90.
Sired by Uncle Mo, who is likely to send at least three other offspring to the 2016 Kentucky Derby, Outwork has suddenly thrust himself in to the conversation of the Triple Crown. He is trained by Todd Pletcher and owned by Mike Repole. Prior to the 2016 Wood Memorial, Outwork had placed 2nd in the Tampa Bay Derby behind Destin.
2014 Wood Memorial Stakes Results
Wicked Strong uncorked a late run from midpack to blow past the favorites and win the 2014 TwinSpires.com Wood Memorial at Aqueduct by a widening 3 1/2 lengths.
The bay colt saved ground on the backstretch before angling out four wide leaving the final turn and easily running down pacesetter Social Inclusion and Samraat, who rated just behind the leaders on the inside before moving out to begin his run.
Samraat just got his nose in front of Social Inclusion to take second in the 1 1/8-mile contest while Schivarelli, who tracked in second on the backstretch, filled the fourth spot.
One of the final major Kentucky Derby preps, the Wood Memorial gave the winner 100 points toward a starting berth in that classic contest. Runner-up got 40, third was worth 20 and fourth was awarded 10.
Wicked Strong parlayed his Wood Memorial points into a fourth-place finish in the Kentucky Derby before going on to fill that same spot in the Belmont Stakes.
Samraat was fifth in the Kentucky Derby and sixth in the Belmont Stakes, while Social Inclusion skipped the Kentucky Derby to be third in the Preakness. Schivarelli didn’t compete in any of the Triple Crown events.