Rodriguez wins Wood Memorial at Aqueduct

As a light rain fell from a grey sky, Mike Smith was giddy.

The jockey was talking about Rodriguez, the three-year-old he rode to victory in the 100th running of the Grade 2 $750,000 Wood Memorial on Saturday at Aqueduct.

And as he spoke, a realization came over him: This horse has not scratched the surface of what he can be.

“He looked good, didn’t he? He really did,” said Smith after the 7-2 second choice covered the 1 1/8-miles in the swift time of 1:48.15. With the victory, Rodriguez clinched a berth in the Kentucky Derby. “There’s a lot of growing for this horse to do. That’s a good thing.”

The Bob Baffert-trained horse led the entire race in a field of 10.

“If you get him to breathe, he’s going to run, man,” Smith said. “We put some separation on the field.”

Sure did, as Rodriguez finished ahead of Grande by 3 ½ lengths, followed by Passion Rules, owned by Mike Repole, and favored Captain Cook.

"I thought he ran super,’’ said Grande’s trainer, Todd Pletcher. “It was his first time in a stakes and only his third start. We have a lot of positive things to draw from it.”

While Pletcher left the track feeling optimistic about his horse, Smith and Baffert were excitedly looking ahead to May 3 in Churchill Downs since 11 previous winners of the Wood Memorial have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby.

Could Rodriguez join Gallant Fox (1930), Twenty Grand (1931), Johnstown (1939), Count Fleet (1943), Hoop Jr. (1945), Assault (1946), Foolish Pleasure (1975), Bold Forbes (1976), Seattle Slew (1977), Pleasant Colony (1981) and Fusaichi Pegasus (2000) as horses that won both races?

Baffert was not exactly downplaying his chances of winning a seventh Derby.

“Any time you win in New York it means a lot,” Baffert said. “I have great memories of winning the Wood [with Congaree in 2001 and Bob and John in 2006]. It’s a very important race. Just knowing that you have a horse that looks like he’s a serious Derby contender makes it that much better. We’re all pretty excited and I’m really happy for our ownership group.”

Which now won’t have to sweat out the final two races of the Road to the Kentucky Derby, a series of 48 races at selected tracks worldwide in which the top five finishers in each meet earn points.

The 20 horses that accumulate the most points will make up the field for the Kentucky Derby. Entering Saturday, Mark E. Casse’s-trained Sandman had collected 129 points, most among all of the horses in the series.

Rodriguez earned 100 points with the win and now has 121.25.

There are only two qualifying races remaining before the Kentucky Derby: the Blue Grass Stakes on Tuesday and the Lexington Stakes Saturday. Both races will be held at Keeneland.

The Wood Memorial was the 12th of 13 races held Saturday at Aqueduct, which is slated to permanently shut its doors once the redeveloped Belmont Park racetrack opens in the fall of 2026.