Odds and Contenders
2024 Wood Memorial
Betting Guide
By TVG Staff
Updated April 4, 2024
2024 Wood Memorial Betting Information
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2024
Where: Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, NY
Post Time: 5:40 pm ET
Distance: 1 1/8 miles (dirt)
Kentucky Derby Points: 100-50-25-15-10
The 2024 Wood Memorial will be run on Saturday, April 6, at Aqueduct in New York. The Grade 2 horse race has a purse of $750,000, and also offers 100-40-30-20-10 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to its top five finishers.. It is one of the last prep races for the Kentucky Derby, and is run over nine furlongs, a distance that many of the runners have never traversed before but need to do in order to step up to the 10 furlongs of the Derby.
The Wood Memorial has never been won by a filly, but it does not exclude them. 11 horses have won the Wood Memorial and the Kentucky Derby since 1930, and perhaps more famously Secretariat managed to lose the Wood Memorial before winning the entire Triple Crown in 1973. The Kentucky Derby winners that also won the Wood Memorial are Gallant Fox, Twenty Grand, Johnstown, Count Fleet, Hoop Jr., Assault, Foolish Pleasure, Bold Forbes, Seattle Slew, Pleasant Colony, and Fusaichi Pegasus.
Though no Wood winner has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, Tacitus (2019) went on to finish third. Furthermore, Mo Donegal (2022) went on to win the Belmont, and Vino Rosso (2018) went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic the next year!
Wood Memorial Odds
Thirteen horses were entered for the 2024 Wood Memorial. This is the field, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds for each runner:
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | ML Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resilience | Bill Mott | John Velazquez | 6-1 |
| 2 | El Grande O | Linda Rice | Dylan Davis | 8-1 |
| 3 | Lonesome Boy | Hugo Padilla | Adam Bowman | 50-1 |
| 4 | Deterministic | Christophe Clement | Joel Rosario | 7-5 |
| 5 | Protective | Todd Pletcher | Kendrick Carmouche | 30-1 |
| 6 | Evening News | Michael Pino | Jareth Loveberry | 20-1 |
| 7 | Merit | Saffie Joseph, Jr. | Edwin Gonzalez | 20-1 |
| 8 | Elysian Meadows | Bill Mott | Jose Lezcano | 15-1 |
| 9 | Tuscan Sky | Todd Pletcher | Manuel Franco | 4-1 |
| 10 | Gettysburg Address | Dallas Stewart | Emmanuel Esquivel | 30-1 |
| 11 | Society Man | Danny Gargan | Luis Rivera, Jr. | 30-1 |
| 12 | Deposition | Uriah St. Lewis | Dexter Haddock | 50-1 |
| 13 | Uncle Heavy | Robert Reid, Jr. | Mychel Sanchez | 8-1 |
Aqueduct
The Queens racetrack Aqueduct is an old fixture in New York racing. It opened in 1894 and has a fall and winter meeting. The grandstand has been remodeled several times, and the track has been updated to include an inner turf course in 2018. The Breeders’ Cup was held here in 1985, and many famous horses have run over the course, including Cigar.
Wood Memorial Prep Results
The Wood Memorial heads a series of local prep races that begin with the Jerome Stakes for newly turned sophomores in early January. Drum Roll Please won the Jerome this year, though he has since been declared off the Derby trail. That is followed by the Withers Stakes (G3) in early February and the Gotham Stakes (G3) in early March. Withers winner Uncle Heavy and Gotham winner Deterministic will clash in the Wood.
New York has a stellar program for juveniles going a route of ground on the dirt to prepare for these contests at three. The Champagne Stakes (G1) and the Remsen Stakes (G2) are both famous races in the fall for two-year-olds who will eye these Kentucky Derby prep races at three.
Wood Memorial Contenders
These are the leading contenders in the 13-horse field for the 2024 Wood Memorial Stakes:
Deposition: He may be 50-1 on the morning line, but this Uriah St. Lewis trainee has more to recommend him for the exotics than your usual massive longshot. His two best races, his maiden-breaker and his close fourth in the Withers, were his two most recent two-turn starts. Outside posts at Aqueduct aren’t as bad as they are at some other tracks, and he should be tactical enough to chase in range and stay on for a piece late if he can run back to his Withers over a dry track.
Deterministic: He is the morning-line favorite off of his smart victory in the Gotham. That was only his second career start, but he picked up right where he left off almost seven months before, with his debut win at Saratoga. Two turns is a question: he has only ever gone one turn, and his sire and damsire are both sprinter-miler types, though both have enough threads of going a little further that nine furlongs isn’t impossible. In short, he fits well, but may be an underlay in a big, competitive field.
El Grande O: With 11 starts, he is the most experienced horse in the field, and he has snagged points in the Jerome, Withers, and Gotham. He didn’t win any of those races, but he ran consistently well: he always got on or near the lead, and kept finding the frame. There is every reason to expect more of the same from El Grande O: he might not get all the way there, but he should run well enough to get another piece.
Resilience: The rail draw may be tough, but otherwise, there is a lot to like about Resilience. This Bill Mott trainee took four starts to graduate, but he finished a close fourth in the Risen Star—a race from which third-place Catching Freedom came back to win the Louisiana Derby. The return to a fast track gives him some upside, as well.
Tuscan Sky: This Todd Pletcher trainee has not raced in stakes company yet, but Pletcher is perennially live in this race, and Tuscan Sky’s form is good enough to make this a logical spot. He is undefeated in two starts, and stretched out well to win an allowance at Fair Grounds in his first two-turn try. He has the tactical speed to work out a good trip, and it doesn’t seem impossible for him to stretch out to 1 ⅛ miles effectively. The biggest question is footing—both his races have been fast, but both have come on off-tracks, meaning he still has to prove he isn’t just a slop monster.
Uncle Heavy: A winner of three out of his four lifetime starts, he stepped up from Parx to the Kentucky Derby trail with a win in the Withers, where he nosed out El Grande O. He has the tractability to work a trip from this outside gate, and both his debut win and trainer Robert Reid, Jr.’s generally good record with layoff horses bodes well for him to pick up right where he left off. If he does, he is a win contender at what are likely to be value odds.
Wood Memorial Past Winners Past Performances
The Wood Memorial has had terrible luck when it comes to horses moving on towards the Kentucky Derby since 2000. Big winners who were injured before the Run for the Roses include Toby's Corner, who missed the Derby with lameness (2011), Eskendereya with a soft tissue injury (2010), Kentucky Derby favorite I Want Revenge with a ligament injury on the morning of the race (2009), and popular gray runner Buddha with a hoof injury (2002).
Even though the Wood has not produced a Kentucky Derby winner since 2000, many winners still go on to big careers. Mo Donegal, the 2022 Wood winner, won the Belmont Stakes. Tacitus went on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby and earn $3.7 million, while Frosted took the Met Mile (G1) in brilliant fashion. 2018 hero Vino Rosso won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2019, and of course 2004 Wood winner Tapit became one of the greatest sires of this generation.
Post Time for the Wood Memorial
The 2024 Wood Memorial goes off at 4:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, as the tenth race of 11. The April 6 race offers 100-50-25-15-10 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to the top five finishers. The Kentucky Derby starting gate is made up of the top 20 point-earning horses: the winner of the Wood gets enough points to make it into the field, the second-place finisher probably does as well, and even the third- through fifth-place runners are in a good spot for a coveted Derby berth if they have run well in another points race or two.
Wood Memorial Undercard
The Wood Memorial day card features a total of five stakes races including the $200,000 Gazelle (G3), a 100-point Kentucky Oaks prep. Other stakes races on the card include the Carter Handicap (G2) for older sprinters, the Distaff Stakes (G3) for filly and mare sprinters, and the Bay Shore for sophomore sprinters. With classy horses all day long, Aqueduct’s flagship spring card is full of excellent betting opportunities!
About Aqueduct
An oldie, but a goodie, Aqueduct, known as The Big A, opened up back in 1894 in Queens, New York, although the original track was demolished in 1956 after 62 successful years. It is the only race track within New York City limits.
A new track and facilities were opened to the public in 1959, and in ’75, the inner track was laid in order for the venue to host winter time racing which is now a feature here.
One of the key racing venues anywhere in North America, Aqueduct has hosted hundreds of top class races in its time and has contributed to the careers of many an equine star.
Over 17,000 people can be seated at Aqueduct for a total capacity in excess of 40,000.
Aqueduct History
Since its inception in 1894, Aqueduct has been at the top of the racing game, and it was made possible by the Queens County Jockey Club, something put together by Thomas Reilly.
Originally owned by a family of Dutch settlers, the land was leased from them in order to accommodate the new track, but it took until 1895 for it to be recognized by the Jockey Club. At this time, investment was allowed, and so vast improvements were made.
More land was purchased moving into the turn of the 20th century, and by 1955 the old track was demolished to make way for a new world-class facility. Costing $33 million (around $284 million in today’s money), the new facility was opened in the fall of 1959 to rapturous acclaim.
Since these times, many a big race has been held at this venue, and in 1985, the track deservedly hosted its first Breeders’ Cup Championships, though it has not hosted the event since.
Aqueduct Track Details
The main track is a dirt oval of 9 furlongs that surrounds not one but two turf courses. The first is a one-mile oval, and the inner turf course is 7 furlongs in distance.
Biggest Races
The most important races of the year at Aqueduct include the Road to the Kentucky Derby series that culminates in the Wood Memorial (G2), the Carter (G1), often run on the same day as the Wood Memorial, and its fall feature for older horses, the Cigar Mile (G1).Aqueduct is home to many big prizes, the biggest of them being:
Wood Memorial (Grade 2) – 3yo, 9 furlongs ($750,000, April) Cigar Mile Handicap (Grade 1) – 3yo+, one mile ($500,000, December) Carter Handicap (Grade 1) – 3yo+, 7 furlongs ($300,000, April) Gazelle Stakes (Grade 2) – 3yo fillies, 9 furlongs ($300,000, April) Gotham Stakes (Grade 3) – 3yo, one mile ($300,000, March)
Wood Memorial FAQ
Q: When is the Wood Memorial?
A: The 2024 Wood Memorial takes place on Saturday, April 6, 2024.
Q: Where is the Wood Memorial?
A: It takes place at Aqueduct in Queens, New York.
Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Wood Memorial?
A: Two trainers have won the race seven times: “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons earned his wins between 1930 and 1957, while Todd Pletcher has amassed seven wins between 2010 and 2022. Pletcher has three chances for a record-setting eighth win in 2024, Tuscan Sky and Protective.
Q: Who is the favorite for the Wood Memorial?
A: Off of his victory in the Gotham, Deterministic is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the Wood. He will probably be favored in the Wood, though take notice if a horse like the up-and-coming Tuscan Sky (4-1) or Withers winner Uncle Heavy (8-1) challenges him on the tote board.
Q: Who is the best Wood Memorial jockey?
A: Legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro won the race a staggering 9 times between 1944 and 1958, including a sweep of both divisions in 1947! Among jockeys entered in 2024, John Velazquez leads, with four victories. His last win came in 2018, and he can extend his tally to five if he guides Resilience to victory.
Q: Who won the Wood Memorial in 2023?
A: 59-1 long shot Lord Miles surprised almost everyone by getting up to win the Wood in 2023. His trainer, Saffie Joseph, Jr., returns to the race in 2024 with long shot Merit, who will be ridden by Edwin Gonzalez. Lord Miles’ rider, Paco Lopez, does not ride in the race this year.
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Updated April 4, 2024
2024 Wood Memorial Betting Information
Date: Saturday, April 6, 2024
Where: Aqueduct Racetrack, Queens, NY
Post Time: 5:40 pm ET
Distance: 1 1/8 miles (dirt)
Kentucky Derby Points: 100-50-25-15-10
The 2024 Wood Memorial will be run on Saturday, April 6, at Aqueduct in New York. The Grade 2 horse race has a purse of $750,000, and also offers 100-40-30-20-10 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to its top five finishers.. It is one of the last prep races for the Kentucky Derby, and is run over nine furlongs, a distance that many of the runners have never traversed before but need to do in order to step up to the 10 furlongs of the Derby.
The Wood Memorial has never been won by a filly, but it does not exclude them. 11 horses have won the Wood Memorial and the Kentucky Derby since 1930, and perhaps more famously Secretariat managed to lose the Wood Memorial before winning the entire Triple Crown in 1973. The Kentucky Derby winners that also won the Wood Memorial are Gallant Fox, Twenty Grand, Johnstown, Count Fleet, Hoop Jr., Assault, Foolish Pleasure, Bold Forbes, Seattle Slew, Pleasant Colony, and Fusaichi Pegasus.
Though no Wood winner has gone on to win the Kentucky Derby since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000, Tacitus (2019) went on to finish third. Furthermore, Mo Donegal (2022) went on to win the Belmont, and Vino Rosso (2018) went on to win the Breeders’ Cup Classic the next year!
Wood Memorial Odds
Thirteen horses were entered for the 2024 Wood Memorial. This is the field, including post positions, trainers, jockeys, and morning-line odds for each runner:
| Post | Horse | Trainer | Jockey | ML Odds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Resilience | Bill Mott | John Velazquez | 6-1 |
| 2 | El Grande O | Linda Rice | Dylan Davis | 8-1 |
| 3 | Lonesome Boy | Hugo Padilla | Adam Bowman | 50-1 |
| 4 | Deterministic | Christophe Clement | Joel Rosario | 7-5 |
| 5 | Protective | Todd Pletcher | Kendrick Carmouche | 30-1 |
| 6 | Evening News | Michael Pino | Jareth Loveberry | 20-1 |
| 7 | Merit | Saffie Joseph, Jr. | Edwin Gonzalez | 20-1 |
| 8 | Elysian Meadows | Bill Mott | Jose Lezcano | 15-1 |
| 9 | Tuscan Sky | Todd Pletcher | Manuel Franco | 4-1 |
| 10 | Gettysburg Address | Dallas Stewart | Emmanuel Esquivel | 30-1 |
| 11 | Society Man | Danny Gargan | Luis Rivera, Jr. | 30-1 |
| 12 | Deposition | Uriah St. Lewis | Dexter Haddock | 50-1 |
| 13 | Uncle Heavy | Robert Reid, Jr. | Mychel Sanchez | 8-1 |
Aqueduct
The Queens racetrack Aqueduct is an old fixture in New York racing. It opened in 1894 and has a fall and winter meeting. The grandstand has been remodeled several times, and the track has been updated to include an inner turf course in 2018. The Breeders’ Cup was held here in 1985, and many famous horses have run over the course, including Cigar.
Wood Memorial Prep Results
The Wood Memorial heads a series of local prep races that begin with the Jerome Stakes for newly turned sophomores in early January. Drum Roll Please won the Jerome this year, though he has since been declared off the Derby trail. That is followed by the Withers Stakes (G3) in early February and the Gotham Stakes (G3) in early March. Withers winner Uncle Heavy and Gotham winner Deterministic will clash in the Wood.
New York has a stellar program for juveniles going a route of ground on the dirt to prepare for these contests at three. The Champagne Stakes (G1) and the Remsen Stakes (G2) are both famous races in the fall for two-year-olds who will eye these Kentucky Derby prep races at three.
Wood Memorial Contenders
These are the leading contenders in the 13-horse field for the 2024 Wood Memorial Stakes:
Deposition: He may be 50-1 on the morning line, but this Uriah St. Lewis trainee has more to recommend him for the exotics than your usual massive longshot. His two best races, his maiden-breaker and his close fourth in the Withers, were his two most recent two-turn starts. Outside posts at Aqueduct aren’t as bad as they are at some other tracks, and he should be tactical enough to chase in range and stay on for a piece late if he can run back to his Withers over a dry track.
Deterministic: He is the morning-line favorite off of his smart victory in the Gotham. That was only his second career start, but he picked up right where he left off almost seven months before, with his debut win at Saratoga. Two turns is a question: he has only ever gone one turn, and his sire and damsire are both sprinter-miler types, though both have enough threads of going a little further that nine furlongs isn’t impossible. In short, he fits well, but may be an underlay in a big, competitive field.
El Grande O: With 11 starts, he is the most experienced horse in the field, and he has snagged points in the Jerome, Withers, and Gotham. He didn’t win any of those races, but he ran consistently well: he always got on or near the lead, and kept finding the frame. There is every reason to expect more of the same from El Grande O: he might not get all the way there, but he should run well enough to get another piece.
Resilience: The rail draw may be tough, but otherwise, there is a lot to like about Resilience. This Bill Mott trainee took four starts to graduate, but he finished a close fourth in the Risen Star—a race from which third-place Catching Freedom came back to win the Louisiana Derby. The return to a fast track gives him some upside, as well.
Tuscan Sky: This Todd Pletcher trainee has not raced in stakes company yet, but Pletcher is perennially live in this race, and Tuscan Sky’s form is good enough to make this a logical spot. He is undefeated in two starts, and stretched out well to win an allowance at Fair Grounds in his first two-turn try. He has the tactical speed to work out a good trip, and it doesn’t seem impossible for him to stretch out to 1 ⅛ miles effectively. The biggest question is footing—both his races have been fast, but both have come on off-tracks, meaning he still has to prove he isn’t just a slop monster.
Uncle Heavy: A winner of three out of his four lifetime starts, he stepped up from Parx to the Kentucky Derby trail with a win in the Withers, where he nosed out El Grande O. He has the tractability to work a trip from this outside gate, and both his debut win and trainer Robert Reid, Jr.’s generally good record with layoff horses bodes well for him to pick up right where he left off. If he does, he is a win contender at what are likely to be value odds.
Wood Memorial Past Winners Past Performances
The Wood Memorial has had terrible luck when it comes to horses moving on towards the Kentucky Derby since 2000. Big winners who were injured before the Run for the Roses include Toby's Corner, who missed the Derby with lameness (2011), Eskendereya with a soft tissue injury (2010), Kentucky Derby favorite I Want Revenge with a ligament injury on the morning of the race (2009), and popular gray runner Buddha with a hoof injury (2002).
Even though the Wood has not produced a Kentucky Derby winner since 2000, many winners still go on to big careers. Mo Donegal, the 2022 Wood winner, won the Belmont Stakes. Tacitus went on to finish third in the Kentucky Derby and earn $3.7 million, while Frosted took the Met Mile (G1) in brilliant fashion. 2018 hero Vino Rosso won the Breeders’ Cup Classic in 2019, and of course 2004 Wood winner Tapit became one of the greatest sires of this generation.
Post Time for the Wood Memorial
The 2024 Wood Memorial goes off at 4:07 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, as the tenth race of 11. The April 6 race offers 100-50-25-15-10 Road to the Kentucky Derby points to the top five finishers. The Kentucky Derby starting gate is made up of the top 20 point-earning horses: the winner of the Wood gets enough points to make it into the field, the second-place finisher probably does as well, and even the third- through fifth-place runners are in a good spot for a coveted Derby berth if they have run well in another points race or two.
Wood Memorial Undercard
The Wood Memorial day card features a total of five stakes races including the $200,000 Gazelle (G3), a 100-point Kentucky Oaks prep. Other stakes races on the card include the Carter Handicap (G2) for older sprinters, the Distaff Stakes (G3) for filly and mare sprinters, and the Bay Shore for sophomore sprinters. With classy horses all day long, Aqueduct’s flagship spring card is full of excellent betting opportunities!
About Aqueduct
An oldie, but a goodie, Aqueduct, known as The Big A, opened up back in 1894 in Queens, New York, although the original track was demolished in 1956 after 62 successful years. It is the only race track within New York City limits.
A new track and facilities were opened to the public in 1959, and in ’75, the inner track was laid in order for the venue to host winter time racing which is now a feature here.
One of the key racing venues anywhere in North America, Aqueduct has hosted hundreds of top class races in its time and has contributed to the careers of many an equine star.
Over 17,000 people can be seated at Aqueduct for a total capacity in excess of 40,000.
Aqueduct History
Since its inception in 1894, Aqueduct has been at the top of the racing game, and it was made possible by the Queens County Jockey Club, something put together by Thomas Reilly.
Originally owned by a family of Dutch settlers, the land was leased from them in order to accommodate the new track, but it took until 1895 for it to be recognized by the Jockey Club. At this time, investment was allowed, and so vast improvements were made.
More land was purchased moving into the turn of the 20th century, and by 1955 the old track was demolished to make way for a new world-class facility. Costing $33 million (around $284 million in today’s money), the new facility was opened in the fall of 1959 to rapturous acclaim.
Since these times, many a big race has been held at this venue, and in 1985, the track deservedly hosted its first Breeders’ Cup Championships, though it has not hosted the event since.
Aqueduct Track Details
The main track is a dirt oval of 9 furlongs that surrounds not one but two turf courses. The first is a one-mile oval, and the inner turf course is 7 furlongs in distance.
Biggest Races
The most important races of the year at Aqueduct include the Road to the Kentucky Derby series that culminates in the Wood Memorial (G2), the Carter (G1), often run on the same day as the Wood Memorial, and its fall feature for older horses, the Cigar Mile (G1).Aqueduct is home to many big prizes, the biggest of them being:
Wood Memorial (Grade 2) – 3yo, 9 furlongs ($750,000, April) Cigar Mile Handicap (Grade 1) – 3yo+, one mile ($500,000, December) Carter Handicap (Grade 1) – 3yo+, 7 furlongs ($300,000, April) Gazelle Stakes (Grade 2) – 3yo fillies, 9 furlongs ($300,000, April) Gotham Stakes (Grade 3) – 3yo, one mile ($300,000, March)
Wood Memorial FAQ
Q: When is the Wood Memorial?
A: The 2024 Wood Memorial takes place on Saturday, April 6, 2024.
Q: Where is the Wood Memorial?
A: It takes place at Aqueduct in Queens, New York.
Q: Which trainer has the most wins in the Wood Memorial?
A: Two trainers have won the race seven times: “Sunny” Jim Fitzsimmons earned his wins between 1930 and 1957, while Todd Pletcher has amassed seven wins between 2010 and 2022. Pletcher has three chances for a record-setting eighth win in 2024, Tuscan Sky and Protective.
Q: Who is the favorite for the Wood Memorial?
A: Off of his victory in the Gotham, Deterministic is the 7-5 morning-line favorite for the Wood. He will probably be favored in the Wood, though take notice if a horse like the up-and-coming Tuscan Sky (4-1) or Withers winner Uncle Heavy (8-1) challenges him on the tote board.
Q: Who is the best Wood Memorial jockey?
A: Legendary jockey Eddie Arcaro won the race a staggering 9 times between 1944 and 1958, including a sweep of both divisions in 1947! Among jockeys entered in 2024, John Velazquez leads, with four victories. His last win came in 2018, and he can extend his tally to five if he guides Resilience to victory.
Q: Who won the Wood Memorial in 2023?
A: 59-1 long shot Lord Miles surprised almost everyone by getting up to win the Wood in 2023. His trainer, Saffie Joseph, Jr., returns to the race in 2024 with long shot Merit, who will be ridden by Edwin Gonzalez. Lord Miles’ rider, Paco Lopez, does not ride in the race this year.