Wicked Strong breezes half-mile at Belmont

In his first work since winning the Grade 1 TwinSpires.com Wood

Memorial, Wicked Strong breezed a solid half-mile in :49 3/5 Thursday morning

over the Belmont Park training track in preparation for his upcoming role as one

of the favorites for the May 3 Kentucky Derby.

Click here for

video of the work.

With exercise rider Kelvin Pahal in the irons, the dark bay son of Hard Spun

stepped onto the training track shortly after the 9:30 a.m. (EDT) renovation

break accompanied by a pony and galloped a mile before breaking off. New York

Racing Association clockers caught Wicked Strong in splits of :12 and :35 3/5,

and he galloped out five furlongs in 1:02 4/5.

Jimmy Jerkens, who trains Wicked Strong for Centennial Farms, appeared

genuinely delighted with the move.

"He did most of his work on the turns, which is what I wanted; I thought it

would keep him from working too fast," said Jerkens, 55, who has never saddled a

Derby starter. "He eased up a little bit in the stretch and then picked it

before the wire. It was just what I was looking for."

Wicked Strong, who currently is fourth on the "Road to the Kentucky Derby"

leaderboard with 102 points, is one of three New York-based horses pointing to

the "Run for the Roses."

Wood runner-up Samraat, winner of the Gotham and Withers at Aqueduct

Racetrack, is fifth with 100 points and Uncle Sigh, who was fifth in the Wood

after finishing second to Samraat in the Gotham and Withers, is No. 20 with 24

points. Both Samraat and Uncle Sigh are scheduled to work Friday morning at

Belmont Park.

Wicked Strong, who was 1-1-1 in three starts as a juvenile at Belmont and

Aqueduct, did not fare well in two starts in Florida during the winter,

finishing ninth in the Holy Bull and fourth in an optional claimer. Returned to

New York for the 1 1/8-mile Wood, he came charging from sixth on the outside and

went on to a 3 1/2-length win over previously undefeated Samraat and favored

Social Inclusion.

"He's a little bit on the light side, but I don't see him any lighter after

running that hard and that tough a race," Jerkens said. "I didn't think he lost

a pound and I'm really happy about that."

The trainer said Wicked Strong -- named in honor of the victims and heroes of

last year's Boston Marathon bombing -- would have one more work at Belmont, most

likely at six or seven furlongs next Thursday or Friday, before being vanned to

Louisville.

"He's never been on a plane, and he's been up and down to Florida twice (on a

van)," Jerkens said. "I'm not sure if he'll go the day after he works, or two

days after. We'll have to see."

Wicked Strong, whose sire Hard Spun was runner-up in the 2007 Derby, probably

will blow out over the Churchill Downs strip two days before the Derby, Jerkens

added.

Bet Horseracing Free Online at TwinSpires.com