Irish War Cry Beats Out 2017 Wood Memorial Field, Earns Spot in Kentucky Derby

The 2017 Wood Memorial took center stage Saturday afternoon at Aqueduct Racetrack in South Ozone Park, New York, and Irish War Cry stole the show by taking home first place and 100 crucial Kentucky Derby qualifying points. 

By virtue of the win, Irish War Cry will now head to Churchill Downs with some considerable buzz as the Wood Memorial attempts to produce its first Kentucky Derby champion since Fusaichi Pegasus in 2000. 

Trailing Irish War Cry was Battalion Runner, who took home second place and 50 Kentucky Derby qualifying points, while Cloud Computing captured third-place honors and nabbed 20 points following a slow start out of the gate. 

Here's a rundown of the final race results: 

Place	Horse	Jockey	Trainer
1	Irish War Cry	Rajiv Maragh	H. Graham Motion
2	Battalion Runner	John R. Velazquez	Todd A. Pletcher
3	Cloud Computing	Irad Ortiz Jr.	Chad C. Brown
4	True Timber	Paco Lopez	Kiaran P. McLaughlin
5	Bonus Points	Luis Saez	Todd A. Pletcher
6	Glennrichment	Kendrick Carmouche	Rudy R. Rodriguez
7	Mo Town	Javier Castellano	Anthony W. Dutrow
8	Stretch's Stone	Manuel Franco	Bruce N. Levine

And here's a look at the final payouts from Saturday's race: 

Horse	Win	Place	Show
Irish War Cry	$9.00	$4.70	$3.20
Battalion Runner	—	$3.60	$2.50
Cloud Computing	—	—	$2.60

Race Replay

Race Recap 

Battalion Runner entered Saturday as the morning-line favorite with robust 2-1 odds, per BloodHorse, and it wasn't hard to see why the three-year old colt had earned that designation.

Although Battalion Runner trotted into the Wood Memorial with just three career starts, he finished second or better on each occasion. Furthermore, he won each of his last two starts—both of which came at Gulfstream Park in Hallandale Beach, Florida. 

And early on, it looked like he was destined for another victory.

Battalion Runner set the pace from the jump, and he appeared comfortable leading the pack around the far turn and into the stretch. But with Irish War Cry conserving his energy at the instruction of jockey Rajiv Maragh, the victor turned on the jets late and snagged a four-length win. 

ESPN's Lane Gold noted those two horses will likely be the only two from Saturday's field to shine under the sun at the year's first Triple Crown race: 

"

Doubt we will see more than the top two from the Wood Memorial move on to the @KentuckyDerby

— Lane Gold (@lanegold) April 8, 2017"

As far as Irish War Cry's trajectory is concerned, the win was an overwhelming positive for a horse that registered a seventh-place finish at the Fountain of Youth Stakes last month following three consecutive wins to start his career. 

Elsewhere, Cloud Computing showed excellent composure despite a less than stellar start. 

The Chad Brown trainee was relegated to the back of the pack following a clumsy start out of the starting gate, but he made steady progress and blitzed past the likes of Mo Town and True Timber to keep his faint Kentucky Derby hopes alive with a third-place finish.  

Post-Race Reaction

"It's extremely gratifying to get this horse back on track. That was huge," trainer Graham Motion said, per BloodHorse's Claire Novak. "I don't remember having a situation like this, when I felt so much was on the line."

"I think Rajiv must have felt like he had a lot of horse because he moved to the leaders so confidently," Motion added, per Novak. "He probably could have waited a little longer, if he had needed to. It seemed like he had a lot of horse."