Frosted Finds Redemption in the Wood Memorial
The $1,000,000 Wood Memorial (G1) brought redemption for Frosted and his trainer Kiaran McLaughlin. The Kentucky Derby trail had been fraught with disappointment for McLaughlin when his promising barn of three-year-olds did not live up to expectations. In the Wood, Frosted turned his trainer and owner, Godolphin Racing, into Derby contenders with an impressive 2-length off the pace victory at Aqueduct.
For Frosted the move back to Aqueduct brought the gray son of Tapit back to New York and the track on which he had won his only career race, a maiden special weight on October 14, 2014. A month later Frosted followed that first victory with a very competitive second place in the Remsen (G2).
McLaughlin moved Frosted to his Florida base to run in the Derby prep races at Gulfstream Park. In the Holy Bull (G2) Frosted finished second again, this time behind Upstart. In the Fountain of Youth (G2), Frosted put blinkers on and went to the lead and looked like he would be a big winner that day only to stop very badly in the stretch to finish fourth.
For McLaughlin it was time to make changes and try to figure out what had gone wrong with Frosted. “This has been a top, special project for my team, my Brother, the grooms, etc.,” said McLaughlin. “We knew he had a ton of ability and the last race really made us scratch our heads, asking ‘why?’ He would go to the lead and throw his head up and stop. We did everything we could to change everything we possibly could that we though went wrong, including the jockey just because we were changing everything. It all worked out and it’s just a special win for our team and Godolphin.”
The race began with Toasting Master and Daredevil carving out the steady early fractions of :24.50, :49.04, and 1:13.41. All the while Frosted had sat in sixth place on the outside in position, waiting to make his move. After six furlongs, jockey Joel Rosario began to ease Frosted closer to the leaders. Into the final turn they had advanced to third place. At the same time long shot Tencendur had made a move to the front. At the top of the stretch Frosted had engaged Tencendur and easily went by him down the stretch.
Rosario was confident throughout the race, “He broke fine. He didn’t break that sharp and I didn’t want to send him out of there and be on the lead. He was always there for me. I tried to get to the outside where he’d be comfortable. The whole way he was taking me. That was a very good race.”
The victory gave Frosted another 100 Derby qualifying on top of the 13 that he had previously won and $590,000. Frosted was send off as the 2.20-1 second choice, paying $6.40 to win.
Second place finisher, Tencendur, picked up 40 Derby points to go with the one point he earned in the Withers. That should be enough points to send to qualify for the Derby. His trainer George Weaver said, "I'm from Louisville and I'd love to run in the Derby. As long as the horse is in good shape, I'd be inclined to go."
El Kabeir closed from last place to finish third. His trainer John Terranova was not disappointed with his horse, "He was running at the end. I watched him gallop out and he passed everybody. He was finishing really well but there wasn't any pace to soften up the front runners. We'll see how he is and figure it out from there. If he comes back out of this well, I think we'll get a lot stronger pace in a race like the Derby, and he can sit back and close. He's done that twice. I thought he made up a lot of ground there in the stretch."