Eskendereya heading back to Palm Meadows

"He'll probably just hang out here for a couple of days, and then I'll make

arrangements for him to go to Kentucky," said Zito, adding that he loved the way

the compact colt fought back in the stretch to outgame AWESOME ACT (Awesome

Again) for second place in the 1 1/8-mile race.

"He ran really great," Zito said. "The other horse (winner Eskendereya) is

just in another league right now. It's sad, because that was a really thrilling

race -- for second."

The trainer also pointed out that a number of horses who ran in the Wood and

did not win went on to take the Kentucky Derby, among them the Zito-trained Go

for Gin, who finished second to Irgun in the 1994 Wood and then won the Derby.

"A lot of horses ran second in the Wood and ran good in the Derby -- Go for

Gin, Funny Cide (2003) -- so you never know," said Zito, who also won the Derby

in 1991 with Strike the Gold.

Awesome Act, third in the Wood Memorial, will continue preparations for the

Kentucky Derby at Belmont Park, where he has been stabled since an impressive

victory in last month's Gotham S. (G3).

"We'll train here until about five days before the Derby, then ship down to

Kentucky," said Wayne Tanner, assistant to trainer Jeremy Noseda, who is based

at Newmarket in England and trains Awesome Act for Mrs. Susan Roy and Vinery

Stables.

No worse for the wear after an eventful trip in the Wood in which he stumbled

out of the gate and lost a shoe in the process, the chestnut colt was resting

comfortably in his stall at Belmont Sunday morning. 

"He's come out of it well," Tanner said. "He couldn't wait to get into his

grub last night. He's a very relaxed horse, and about the only thing that gets

him going is the sound of his feed being poured into the bin."

Awesome Act was beaten just a head for second by Jackson Bend, and Tanner

said he thought the colt's troubles at the start had probably cost him the

place. 

The Wood Memorial was only the second start on dirt for Awesome Act, who won

the Gotham following a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Juvenile Turf

(G2) at Santa Anita last fall, in which he closed late and missed third by a

half-length. 

"We'll let him have an easy couple of days and move on from there," Tanner

said.