Kentucky Derby Betting Odds Ignore Wood Memorial Jinx for Verrazano

Normally, winning an important Kentucky Derby prep race in April is a great springboard to success in the Run For the Roses.

But winning the Wood Memorial Stakes, as current Derby favorite Verrazano did on April 6, has jinxed more than a dozen thoroughbreds since 2000.

The Wood winner is guaranteed a spot in the Kentucky Derby and often goes off as one of the morning line favorites. But since Fusaichi Pegasus won 13 years ago, no Wood winner has won.

And in recent years, Wood winners have been cursed with injuries and other problems. Gemologist was the second betting choice last year but faded to 16th in the Kentucky Derby.

The three Wood winners before that did not even run in the Derby. And since 2004, the best two finishes were a fourth and a seventh.

“Maybe it is a curse or just really bad luck,” said veteran handicapper Michael Dempsey of TurfnSport.com, who has covered the New York circuit for three decades and ranked Kentucky Derby contenders.

“And remember his trainer Todd Pletcher has a bit of a curse going as well, as he is just 1-for-33 in the Derby.”

With a pair of Bob Baffert runners declared out of the Derby, the rest of the field of 20 has taken shape with Verrazano at the top. The full field will be announced Tuesday, with the post draw thereafter.

The list of Wood memorial winners and their eventual Derby placing are listed below.

Year	Horse	Jockey	Time	Derby
2000	Fusaichi Pegasus	Kent Desormeaux	01:47.8	1
2001	Congaree	Victor Espinoza	01:47.8	3
2002	Buddha	Pat Day	01:48.6	DNR
2003	Empire Maker	Jerry Bailey	01:48.6	2
2004	Tapit	Ramon A. Dominguez	01:49.6	9
2005	Bellamy Road	Javier Castellano	01:47.2	7
2006	Bob and John	Garrett Gomez	01:51.5	17
2007	Nobiz Like Shobiz	Cornelio Velasquez	01:49.5	10
2008	Tale of Ekati	Edgar Prado	01:52.4	4
2009	I Want Revenge	Joseph Talamo	01:49.5	DNR
2010	Eskendereya	John Velazquez	01:50.0	DNR
2011	Toby's Corner	Eddie Castro	01:49.9	DNR
2012	Gemologist	Javier Castellano	01:51.0	16
2013	Verrazano	John Velazquez	01:50.3	?