Horses Betting

Eskendereya ended up winning the Wood Memorial Stakes Grade for $750,000 at the Aqueduct race track on Saturday, April 3, one of the Kentucky Derby Prep Races.  This is considered to be one of the leading horses for the upcoming Kentucky Derby and Eskendereya ended up winning by 9 ¾ lengths over Jackson Bend.

Eskendereya is trained by Todd Pletcher and ridden by jockey John Velazquez.  Eskendereya raced 1 1/8 miles in 1:49.97 and paid $3, $2.30 and $2.10.  Jackson Bend, which got second place, paid $3.90 and $2.60.  The third place winner, Awesome Act, paid $2.20 to show.

This was Eskendereya’s fourth win in 6 starts and $450,000 in the Wood Memorial to lift his total stakes earnings to $600,000 which easily qualifies this horse for the Kentucky Derby.  The second place Jackson Bend trainer said, “Obviously, Eskendereya proved himself as a monster.”  Eskendereya gave an incredible performance during this race.

Eskendereya’s trainer is yet to produce a Kentucky Derby champion, but could have up to eight starters this year.  “The further he goes, the stronger he gets,” said Todd Pletcher.  “He’s a horse that has a natural stamina.  It would be big to win the Derby.  We’ll try to make that happen”.

While Eskendereya won the race, there were some other horses of note that placed.  The other horses finished in this order: Schoolyard Dreams, Carnivore, and Most Happy Fella.  Anything can happen at the Derby this year, but Eskendereya should receive a lot of attention as he is one of the favorites this year to win the Derby.

On March 6 with a 11/4-length win at the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes, Awesome Act burst into the Kentucky Derby picture. After spending the first five races of his career in England, the native country of his trainer Jeremy Noseda, it was his first time racing on dirt.

Awesome Act, son of American dirt specialist Awesome Again, was picked by Noseda at the 2008 Keeneland September yearling sale. Noseda felt a change of scenery was needed for the colt after watching him fail to come up with strong finishes on the turf and synthetic tracks of Europe.

The Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf was his first American race, where he finished fourth. It was then that the horse would be most competitive running on dirt was decided by Noseda. He convinced owners Vinery Stables and Susan Roy to let him train the betting horse for the dirt races American Triple Crown. Awesome Act’s strong performance at the Gotham Stakes vindicated the decision.

The Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct was raced by Awesome Act on April 4. A distant third to Eskendereya was finished by him. Awesome Act’s performance was hindered by losing a shoe at the start of the race. Eskendereya, who is now the Kentucky Derby favorite, beat second-place finisher Jackson Bend by 9 ¾ lengths. The race was finished by Jackson Bend second place by a head over Awesome Act.

Noseda still has his sights set on Churchill Downs in spite of the distant third place finish. He has mentioned that the pace of the horse betting race was wrong for his horse and that losing his shoe coming out of the gate was not “ideal”, while he does not discredit the strong performance of Eskendereya at the Wood Memorial.