Aqueduct Racetrack Picks: Wood Memorial Stakes Day, 4/4/26

Key Takeaways:

• With the rebuilt Belmont opening this fall, the final running of the Wood Memorial Stakes at Aqueduct Racetrack caps a stakes-heavy program where distance races and contested early pace scenarios place a premium on stamina and late-race efficiency.
• In the Excelsior Stakes, proven ability at the classic 1¼-mile distance gives Interceptor a practical edge in a race that could turn into a test of endurance rather than early speed.
• Early positioning remains a decisive factor in the Carter Handicap, and Rated By Merit profiles as the runner most likely to control the tempo while still carrying his speed through the stretch.
• In the Gazelle Stakes, pedigree and progression point toward improvement at nine furlongs, making Nycon a logical candidate to move forward with added distance and experience.

For the final time, the Grade 2 Wood Memorial will be run at Aqueduct – the rebuilt Belmont Park is scheduled to open this fall, and New York City-area racing will be consolidated at the Elmont, N.Y., track once it reopens. However, the final Wood Memorial day at Aqueduct will be a good one, with a full card of 13 dirt races, including five at the stakes level.

In addition to the Wood, which practically guarantees its top two finishers a ticket to Churchill Downs, Kentucky Oaks prospects will shine in the Gazelle (G3), a final-round prep for sophomore fillies. Other stakes races on the card include the Carter (G2) for older sprinters, the Distaff (G3) for filly and mare sprinters, and the Excelsior for Classic-distance older horses on the dirt.

The card at the Queens, N.Y., track gets underway at 12:40 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. You can get the latest news and analysis about Aqueduct and every track around the country, including 100-point Kentucky Derby prep hosts Keeneland and Santa Anita, by watching FanDuel TV. Horse racing is a game of information, after all, so staying informed about scratches and news will help you be successful at handicapping. And, of course, you can get past performance data and bet every race online at FanDuel!

Aqueduct Picks: Best Bets for Wood Memorial Stakes Day

Here are three best bets in more stakes races at Aqueduct on Wood Memorial day:

Race 3: Excelsior, 1 1/14 miles on the dirt - Interceptor, Yo Daddy

FanDuel odds: 8-1 and 2-1

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For a 1 ¼-mile race that drew a field of seven, there’s a decent amount of speed: Classicist has pace (and now adds blinkers!), Otello does his best when he goes, and Yo Daddy, Over and Ollie, and Interceptor don’t have to hit the gas but often do.

Only one horse in this field has gone the full 1 ¼ miles before: Interceptor (8-1), who won over the course and distance on March 7. That victory came gate to wire, but two back he won at 1 ⅛ miles at Aqueduct in stalk-and-pounce fashion, meaning he doesn’t need to hit the gas. Class is the question for Interceptor, of course, as his two-back win came against starter-allowance foes, and last out he won a first-level allowance. But, nowadays, these 1 ¼-mile races become wars of attrition that go to the horse who has something left at the end. This son of Kentucky Derby and Breeders’ Cup Classic winner Authentic surely will – and, because of the class questions, he’ll have it at a price.

Yo Daddy (2-1) was beaten last out at a flat mile, but two back he beat morning-line favorite Classicist at 1 ⅛ miles and could very well do that again. It’s his third start since an extended layoff, and trainer Linda Rice’s runners often move forward third off the lay. He’s an Aqueduct horse for the course; he wasn’t disgraced last summer over the far-too-long 1 ¾-mile trip of the Belmont Gold Cup (G3) at Saratoga, and he has the tactical speed to work out a trip just off all the pace drawn into this race.

Race 6: Carter (G2), seven furlongs on the dirt - Rated By Merit, Be You

FanDuel odds: 8-5 and 6-1

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This race features a clash of the titans: champion sprinter Book’em Danno returns for his first start since last August. He will face Rated by Merit, the fastest of the 2024 two-year-old class, who missed the Kentucky Derby trail, wired a restricted stakes in his only start at three, and now faces graded foes for the first time.

Rated by Merit (8-5) gets the nod here. In seven-furlong races, early speed at Aqueduct is dangerous, and Rated by Merit shapes as the speed of the speed. Anyone else will have to send hard to match him. He isn’t cheap speed either, as he has been able to win from a stalking early spot and from a contested early pace as well. He’s also not just a Gulfstream Park horse, as shown by his winning return at Aqueduct last fall. Chad Brown knows how to get a horse ready to fire fresh, and though this will be a class test, he should be able to not only set the pace but finish strong, as he keeps putting up closer-quality late-pace despite being a frontrunner. If he runs his race, even a champion like Book’em Danno has a tough task ahead.

If the front end gets a little too feisty, seven-furlong specialist Be You (6-1) should be coming to pick horses off late. He steps up from a victory in the Toboggan about two months ago over this same course and distance, and he has been solid all winter at the Big A. He didn’t have to settle too far back in that win last out; he was proven as a closer, but it showed he could adapt to be a bit more tactical, something that gives Kendrick Carmouche options on this Todd Pletcher trainee.

Race 11: Gazelle (G3), 1 ⅛ miles on the dirt - Nycon, Two Bits

FanDuel odds: 6-1 and 9-2

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Bids to the Kentucky Oaks are at stake Saturday in the Gazelle, a 100-50-25-15-10-point prep race that drew a field of nine. The race covers 1 ⅛ miles: the same distance as the Oaks, and a new challenge for every horse in the field. And, the distance could prove a challenge for morning-line favorite Paradise, who is by quality distance sire Gun Runner but out of Venetian Harbor – a mare whose pedigree is heavily sprint-oriented.

Among the horses with stakes experience, Nycon (6-1) has the most upside stretching out to this 1 ⅛-mile distance. She came close in the one-mile Cash Run at Gulfstream and was gaining ground late in the Busher last out at one mile on the Aqueduct main. Being by Kentucky Derby winner Nyquist out of an Awesome Again daughter of My Flag, her pedigree is all class and all route. She should be able to get a tactical trip over this two-turn distance, and with under-the-radar connections in trainer Whit Beckman and her regular jockey Jaime Torres, she is the price play here.

Two Bits (9-2) also has every chance to thrive at this distance. It took her a while to figure it out, and she was well beaten in her one two-turn mile try last year at Delaware, but in her last three starts at Aqueduct, she looks like a new horse. She broke her maiden at the one-turn Aqueduct mile, was then second in the Busanda, and most recently had a gritty stalk-and-pounce victory in the seven-furlong Ruthless. With some more time to develop, it’s a perfect time to try two turns again – and being by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah out of a Bernardini mare from the extended family of Feathered (and, thus, Flightline), there is upside with a bit of both age and distance for trainer Amelia Green, who is having a red-hot Aqueduct meet.

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