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Tampa Bay Derby winner Verrazano leads a field of ten three-year-old colts in the Grade 1 Wood Memorial at Aqueduct on Saturday, April 6.Verrazano, a sone of More Than Ready out of a Giant's Causeway mare (Enchanted Rock), is a perfect three-for-three in his brief career and has won all three races by a minimum of three length.
Vyjack, the late running winner of the Grade 3 Gotham Stakes back on March 2, drew post position five and appears to be one of the prime contenders to the likely heavily favored Verrazano. In his Gotham win, Vyjack closed from the back of the field, a distinct change in running styles after a pressing the pace in his prior three victories. Vyjack is undefeated in four lifetime starts and is trained by Rudy Rodriguez and ridden by the red hot Joel Rosario.
Normandy Invasion will look to get his Kentucky Derby chances back on track in the Wood after a disappointing fifth place finish in the Risen Star on Feb. 23. The Tapit colt was second in the Grade 2 Remsen at Aqueduct on Nov. 24 and he broke his maiden by 9 1/4 lengths at the track in early November.
I'll have more on the Wood and all of this weekend's big stakes action, later on in the week.
Below are the entries and post positions for Saturday's Wood Memorial. Morning line odds will be updated when released:
| PP | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | ML |
| 1 | Chrisandthecaper | J. Lezcano | J. Servis | 30/1 |
| 2 | Normandy Invasion | J. Castellano | C. Brown | 5/1 |
| 3 | Quinzieme Monarque | I. Ortiz | T. Albertrani | 30/1 |
| 4 | Elnaawi | E. Castro | K. McLaughlin | 12/1 |
| 5 | Vyjack | J. Rosario | R. Rodriguez | 4/1 |
| 6 | Mr. Palmer | J. Alvarado | W. Mott | 12/1 |
| 7 | Always in a Tiz | C. Borel | D. Schettino | 15/1 |
| 8 | Verrazano | J. Velazquez | T. Pletcher | 4/5 |
| 9 | Go Get the Basil | J. Ortiz | R. Violette | 30/1 |
| 10 | Freedom Child | E. Trujillo | T. Albertrani | 30/1 |
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