By Jarrod Horak
The Grade 2 Wood Memorial, Grade 1 Blue Grass, and Grade 1 Santa Anita Derby were the latest road to Kentucky Derby 2024 points races on Saturday, April 6. In this article, I will look back at those events and update my “Exceptional 11” Kentucky Derby contenders. The Grade 3 Lexington at Keeneland is the final Derby points race on April 13.
Kentucky Derby 2024 Points Race Recaps
Wood Memorial – April 6 (Aqueduct)
Fractions: 23.45, 47.49, 1:12.31, 1:37.35, 1:50.28
Top 5 Finishers: Resilience, Society Man, Protective, Lonesome Boy, Uncle Heavy
Evening News, a 52-1 outsider, made the early running and 80-1 bomber Lonesome Boy chased from second. Resilience worked out a great tactical trip from the inside post. The latter sat in third, move out, struck the front, and maintained a clear advantage at the wire. The official winning margin was 2 1/4 lengths. Society Man stalked wide from post 10 and landed the place at 106-1 odds. Protective, a maiden for Todd Pletcher, rallied from last to complete the trifecta. Lonesome Boy was best of the rest in fourth, and Uncle Heavy was a wide fifth from the outside post. My top choice Tuscan Sky was a flat 7th, and Gotham (G3) hero Deterministic flopped in 8th place as the beaten favorite. I have always liked Resilience but this was not a strong race. The two favorites were no shows, and a 100-1 shot and a maiden finished second and third.
