Wet track quite possible for Wood

With a forecast for heavy rain on Friday and more on Saturday, War Pass, who attempts to rebound from an inexplicably poor effort in the Tampa Bay Derby last month, the first loss of his six-race career, may have his final Kentucky Derby prep in the Wood Memorial on a wet track., conditions similar to those he relished while winning the Breeders’ Cup Juvenile last fall at Monmouth. If he gets a wet track Saturday and comes away from the gate cleanly, it could spell trouble for the other nine horses in the Wood.

With War Pass and several other Wood contenders coming off sub-par efforts, this race could be a fertile spot for trainer Todd Pletcher to strike at a price. Pletcher has Gotham runner-up Texas Wildcatter and allowance winner Spurrier going in the Wood.

Running over a sloppy track in Gotham and compromised by a premature move by rider Norberto Arroyo Jr., Texas Wildcatter emerged from the fog with a clear lead, only to be nailed at the wire by Visionaire. Although it was a tough beat, Pletcher was happy to see the son of 2001 Kentucky Derby winner Monarchos run the best race of his career and replaced the rider with Eibar Coa.

“We put blinkers on him for the Gotham and that really made a difference,” Pletcher said. “He lost focus on the far turn of the Whirlaway, so we thought the blinkers would help.”

Texas Wildcatter has now put three solid races together. With only $50,000 in graded stakes earnings, he’ll need to run well in the Wood to have enough earnings to get him into the Kentucky Derby.

“He’s improved his performance with each race and part of that is due to maturity,” Pletcher said. “He showed he belongs with these the last time.”

Spurrier’s presence in the Wood is entirely experimental. “This is a real big step up for Spurrier, but he’s also improved with blinkers,” Pletcher said. “I’m interested to see where he fits.”

Bill Mott entered Court Vision and Inner Light, both owned by IEAH Stables, the latter as the apparent rabbit for the former.

Court Vision won the Grade 2 Remsen over the Wood Memorial distance and Aqueduct’s main track last fall. His lone start of 2008 was a third-place finish behind Cool Coal Man in the Fountain of Youth Stales. “It was his first race back and he ran well, considering he was on a speed-favoring racetrack,” Mott said. “He was pretty far back, and he wasn’t going to make up any kind of ground on that track.”

Tale of Ekati, last year’s Futurity winner at Belmont, will be making his second start of 2008. He made his seasonal debut March 8 at the Fair Grounds finishing a non-threatening sixth in the Louisiana Derby. “He ran alright,” trainer Barclay Tagg said of the Louisiana Derby. “His head was turned at the start, so he got away from the gate bad and that ruined his chances.

War Pass is 6-5 on the morning line, followed by Tale of Ekati, 9-2, and the Mott-trained entry, 5-1.