The New King of New York

Going into the Wood Memorial there were a lot of unanswered questions and chief among them was if Eskendereya was the real deal. It didn't take him long to silence a lot of his critics as he rolled to a 9 3/4-length victory over Jackson Bend.

On a foggy and unexpectedly chilly afternoon at Aqueduct, the well bred son of Giant's Causeway sat just off the lead and then rolled up on the outside on the far turn and cruised home to the easy and eye opening victory.

After the race, trainer Todd Pletcher, who is seeking his first Derby winner, was ecstatic after the race.

"It's amazing," he said. "The further he goes, the stronger he gets....We've never had a horse we know could handle the mile and a quarter and we've not had one put together a couple of preps like this one. We've had some good prep wins but none as impressive as these two."

Those are strong words from one of the bests trainer in America. And there certainly have been many, many horses who have come into the Derby with a lot of hype and failed to deliver but you rarely hear this kind of praise from Pletcher.

Rounding out the finish in the Wood was Awesome Act, Schoolyard Dreams, Carnivore and Most Happy Fella.

Only time will tell if he indeed beat a great field in the Wood Memorial. You should expect to see Jackson Bend and Awesome Act also move on to Louisville.

"These guys have to run against Muhammad Ali (Eskendereya)," said trainer Nick Zito, who conditioned Jackson Bend. "That's smokin' Joe Frazier (Jackson Bend). Eskendereya just proved himself a monster. For Jackson Bend, you can not give him enough credit. I am very proud of him...We're going to Kentucky and see what happens. Kentucky is a place for a horse to get good...One thing we do know - Eskendereya is in a class by himself."

"My horse was not suited by the pace," said Awesome Act's trainer Jeremy Noseda. "It was a great performance by the winner but for my horse the pace was wrong. He lost a shoe coming out of the gate, which didn't help. We'll move on to Kentucky and go from there."

The Wood has produced 20 Derby winners and the last won to capture both the Wood and Derby was Fusaichi Pegasus (2000). (Fusaichi Pegasus was sent off as the Derby favorite)

The bottom line is that at least for one day, we saw a horse with all the tools to win the "Run for the Roses" and should help Pletcher break his 0-for-Derby streak he would love to eradicate.