Three Takeaways from 2022 Wood Memorial

Apr 13, 2022 James Scully/TwinSpires.com

The $1 million Wood Memorial (G2) at Aqueduct awarded 170
points to the top four finishers as a major qualifier in the Road to the Kentucky Derby series, and the 1 1/8-mile race produced a top contender.

Four of the seven dirt races at Aqueduct on April 9 were
captured wire-to-wire, and six of the seven winners were either on or within a
length of the lead after the opening half-mile. The speed-favoring oval wasn’t
playing favorably for late runners.

Mo Donegal was last of eight runners, nowhere close to the
lead after a half-mile in the Wood Memorial, and a classy rival, unbeaten Withers (G3) romper Early Voting, was showing the way on a clear lead. The
pacesetter was still up by a couple of lengths in midstretch, but he could not
withstand Mo Donegal’s furious rally.

Closing like the proverbial freight train, Mo Donegal angled
off the rail in the stretch drive and dramatically got up by a neck on the wire, stopping the teletimer in 1:47.96..

The Todd Pletcher-trained son of Uncle Mo rebounded from a
disappointing third as the favorite in his seasonal opener, the Feb. 5 Holy
Bull (G3) at Gulfstream Park. Mo Donegal entered 2022 as a top Kentucky Derby
contender following a nose win over Zandon in the Remsen (G2) last fall, and
the bay colt regained lost luster in the Wood Memorial.

The Kentucky Derby is shaping up to have a hot pace, and Mo
Donegal will be rolling in the latter stages.

Mo Donegal netted a whopping 111 Brisnet Speed rating, which
will be tied for the top number in the Kentucky Derby field, and he received a
121 Late Pace number.

His final time and Speed rating put him in good company.

The last Wood winner to complete the 1 1/8-mile distance in
less than 1:48, Bellamy Road in 2005, earned a 115 Speed rating and before
finishing seventh as the favorite in the Kentucky Derby.

Fusaichi Pegasus, who went on to win the Kentucky Derby by 1 1/2 lengths in 2000, captured the Wood in 1:47 4/5, notching a 110 Speed
figure.

Early Voting won his first two starts wire-to-wire by open lengths, but
he brought pedestrian Speed figures (91 and 86) to the Wood. The frontrunner
changed that narrative in defeat, receiving a 111 rating.

The Gun Runner colt had things his own way on the front end,
which probably won’t the case at Churchill Downs, but Early Voting is still
lightly raced for Chad Brown. He could have more to offer following a very
encouraging performance.

Early Voting will be part of the pace in the Kentucky Derby.